Well, I was born in a town Audubon Southwest Iowa, right where it been Twenty-three houses, saloons, And a feed in nineteen-thirty. Had a sign, said "Squealer Feeds" And the bus came through they felt the need And they stopped at a place there in called The Old Home Cafe
Now my was a music lovin' man He six-foot-seven, had big ol' hands He'd two fingers in a chainsaw but he could still play the violin And Mom piana, just the keys in the middle And Dad a storm on his three-fingered fiddle 'Cause that's all there was to do there folks, except ta go downtown and watch haircuts
So I was raised on Bowl tunes, you see Had a six-tube an' no TV It was so dog-goned hot I had to wet the bed in the summer to keep cool. Yeah, a night I'd lay awake A-waitin' for a distant break Just a-settin' and an' a-lettin' that radio fry.
Well, I listened to Nashville and and Dallas And Oklahoma City gave my ear a And I'll forget them announcers at three A.M. They'd come on an' say "Friends, there's many a who needs us "So send letters an' cards ta Jesus "That's J-E-S-U-S friends, in a' Del Rio, Texas."
But the I remember, on the edge a' town Was the place you really got the hard-core sound Yeah, a place where the truckers used ta stop on their way to Dees was signs all over them windowsills Like "If the don't get ya, then Roosevelt will" And "The bank don't no beer, and we don't cash no checks."
Now them truckers never talked nothin' but haulin' And the four-letter was really appallin' thought them home-town gals was nothin' but toys for their amusement. Rode Chevys and and big ol' stacks They's always 'bout their livers an' backs But they was fast-livin', strung-out, son of a guns
Now the gal tables was really classy Had a rebuilt motor on a fairly new And she how to handle them truckers; name was Mavis Davis Yeah, she'd pour 'em a coffee, then she'd bat her Then listen to 'em tell 'er some big fat lies Then she'd ask 'em how the and kids was, back there in Joplin?
Now Mavis had all of her in a row Weighed ninety-eight pounds; put on quite a ya of a couple a' Cub Scouts tryin' ta set up a Sears, Roebuck pup tent There's no proposition that she handle Next ta her, nothin' could hold a Not a hell of a lot upstairs, but there on down, Disneyland!
Now the truckers, on the other hand, was crass They ya of fingernails a-scratchin' on glass A-stompin' on in, leavin' tracks all over the Montgomery linoleum Yeah, they'd them counters and kick them stools always pickin' fights with the local fools But one look at Mavis, and they'd turn into a bunch a'
Well, I'll never forget them days by I's just a kid, 'bout foot high But I never forgot that lesson an' pickin' and singin', the way Yeah, them walkin', talkin' truck blues back ta life in seventy-two As "The Old Home Filler-up An' On A-Truckin' Cafe"
Oh, the Old Home Filler-up An' Keep On Oh, the Old Filler-up An' Keep On A-Truckin' Oh, the Old Filler-up An' Keep On A-Truckin' Cafe Oh, the Old Home An' Keep On A-Truckin' Oh, the Old Home Filler-up An' On A-Truckin' Oh, the Old Home Filler-up An' Keep On Cafe