Grateful Dead

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Sleepy Alligator in the noon day sun,
Lyin' by the river just like he usually done.
Call for his whiskey, he can call for his tea,
Call all he want to, but he can't call for me.

Oh no! I've been there before,
And I ain't gonna come around here any more.
Creepy alligator coming all around the bend,
Shoutin' about the times when we was mutual friends,
I checked my memory and I checked it quick, yes I will.
I checked it runnin' some old kind of trick.

Oh no! Well I've been there before,
And I ain't gonna come around here any more.

Sailin' down the river in an old canoe,
A bunch of and an old tennis shoe.
Out of the river all ugly and green,
Came the biggest old alligator that I've ever seen!

Teeth big and pointy and his eyes were buggin' out,
Contracted the union, put the beggars to rout.
Screamin' and yellin', he was pickin' his chops,
He never runs he just stumbles and hops.
Just out of prison on ten dollars bail,
Mumblin' bitches and waggin' his tail.

I've been balling a shiny black steel jack-hammer
Been chipping up rocks for the great highway
I'll live five years if I take my time
Balling that jack and drinking my wine

I been chipping them rocks from dawn till doom
While my rider hide my bottle in the other room (note 1)
Doctor say better stop balling that jack
If I live five years I'm gonna bust my back, yes I will (note 2)

Easy wind, cross the Bayou today (note 3)
'Cause there's a whole lotta women, Mama
Out in red on the streets today (note 4)
And the river keeps a talking
But you never heard a word it said

Gotta find a woman be good to me
Won't hide my liquor try, to serve me tea
'Cause I'm a stone jack baller and my heart is true
And I'll give everything that I got to you, yes I will

Annie laid her head down in the roses
She had ribbons, ribbons, ribbons in her long brown hair
I don't know, maybe it was the roses
All I know, I could not leave her there

I don't know, it must have been the roses
The roses or the ribbons in her long brown hair
I don't know, maybe it was the roses
All I know, I could not leave her there

Ten years the waves rolled the ships home from the sea
Thinking well how it may blow in all good company
If I tell another what your own lips told to me
Let me lay 'neath the roses and my eyes no longer see

One pane of glass in the window
No one is complaining, though, come in and shut the door
Faded is the crimson from the ribbons that she wore
And it's strange how no one comes round any more