Black Car
8/14/2003
by Lorne Clarke copyright 2003

Dedicated to Jay L. Hunter "Red" Rountree, who at the age of 91 has not relaxed his personal war against banks.
In mid-August 2003 he was arrested for robbing a bank (without a weapon) in Abilene, Texas. It was his 3rd bank robbery since being forced
into bankruptcy at the age of 80. Go "Red"!!!

We welcome your comments.

Black car rolls through the empty town
Headlights out, it makes no sound
But the whisper of the tires in the midnight rain
Driver's naught but a silhouette
Etched by the glow from a cigarette
But every cop in town knows him by name

They call him "Public Enemy Number One"
'Cause he robbed the bank with an empty gun
Though when the bank robbed him it was quite alright
No shots were fired and no one got hurt
A working class hero in a dirty shirt
'Twas strange no one could describe him when the cops arrived

Whenever you chose to do what's right
It always comes down to fight or flight
And if you're really lucky you can get away

At the medical center at the top of the hill
A little girl's dying of unpaid bills
Til an angel of mercy arrives with the new-found cure
The young mother cries when she hears the news
May the Grace of God always be with you
And wherever you lay your head may you be secure

As the night rolls in on a heavy cloud
The cops are searching all over town
He calls his Mom and Dad just to say good bye
A sack of food and bit of cash
Hurried hugs by the railroad tracks
He can barely see the road through his tear filled eyes

Refrain

Four AM he's still rolling north
Wipers sawing back and forth
It's back roads to the border all the way
In the middle of nowhere he stops for gas
A fitful nap 'neath an overpass
Convinced he'll hear some cop shouting his name

Black car hidden in a grove of pines
Only half a mile from the border line
Already he can feel that great relief
And there's a trail of flattened grass
That shows the way to a stoney path
And a new life waiting in the land of the Maple Leaf

Refrain
 

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