This Old Skin

It was '96 in South Carolina
That's the place and not the goddamn year
Sittin' on the porch out at Bobby's place
Just tuggin' on a Lukewarm beer

And there I was peepin' like an old sidewinder
Just an inch or so above the mud
The first to find out that it's rainin'
Is the last to find out it's a flood

And it was paradise valley Nevada
Not far from where the west was won
I am the only black face in the whole damn place
Just a raisin' in the blazing sun

And there I am like that old sidewinder
Just wishin' that her eggs ain't hatched
And the chain I wear has 'em wishin' for the day
When it came with a ball attached

So I'm gonna move, right outta this town
This old skin, stops weighing me down
This old skin

He was sittin' in the very same spot that Otis
Sat to watch the dock of the bay
In the very same spot,that the ships rolled in
Now there's nothin' but the mud and the clay

I'm gonna move,right outta this town
This old skin is weighing me down
This old skin

Outside Orlando in the sunshine state
Has just upped itself another degree
I am the very last orange of the whole year's crop
Hangin' dearly to the branch of the tree

And the wind and the spring couldn't do anything
So I'm burnin' in the sun of the south
That old sidewinder in the dust below
I'm just waiting till it opens its mouth

So I'm gonna move, right outta this town
When this old skin, finally touches the ground
This old skin

He was sittin' in the very same spot that Otis
Sat to watch the dock of the bay
And the very same spot the ships rolled in
Now there's nothing but the mud and the clay

Now, I'm gonna move, right outta this town
When this old skin, finally touches the ground
This old skin

This old skin
This old skin
This old skin