NEVER YOU, MY FRIEND

here's the good news
you've got the blues
kick off your shoes
and roll up your cuffs

tilt your cup and I'll fill it
we'll take time and kill it
watch now don't you spill it
this ain't the cheep stuff

bring Martha Pat and Billy
is there enough? don't be silly
I stir the chile
with a baseball bat

some folks fade
they get afraid
turn a paler shade
bunch of scaredy-cats

never you my friend
no never you

in the face of the law
at Mardi Gras
in your underwear and bra
in a courtroom

we dance freely and often
the floor boards soften
build our coffins
with some legroom

I've been mistreated
I've been defeated
I have not been depleted
I've only been increased

a shopping cart
full of old engine parts
in place of a heart
from the west to the east

never you my friend
no never you

he was a television actor
hardly a master
that's who I'm named after
bet you didn't know that

personal trainer
life-in-the-fast-laner
old time entertainer
in coattails and hat

bring folks together
the more the better
Jesuits and jet-setters
jacks of all trades

we're here by and by
'neath darkening skies
the whites of their eyes
flashing like blades

never you my friend
no never you

life gets harder
Elvis said to Colonel Parker
if you can't find a partner
use a wooden chair

where this ship my be bound
Punxsutawney or the Puget Sound
the sky of the ground
I'll see you there

for your time and trouble
I owe you double
I'll fill the tub with bubbles
the grill with coal

from the depth to the height
the realm of light
shipyards of night
all bodies and souls

Never you my friend
No never you