Souvenir Bottles

He had been a road musician playing banjo in a band
He had a lot of souvenirs of a lot of one night stands
And they all were whiskey bottles, plain, glass and cheap
He poured his life out years ago and saved the memories

This bottle is Toledo I got drunk and missed the train
When a girl named Crazy Suzie took her clothes off in the rain
And this one's St. Louis where we all got the blues
From playing too much music and eatin greasy food
Where Wilcox lost his woman
And swore that he could swim
They found him in the river
But it didn't look like him.

It sounded strange and grown-up to hear him talk that way
He was an old man I brought his paper everyday
A stranger in our town he came one night and stayed
Like the sky had broke and dropped him there to wait for one more train

And here's to Bobby Taylor who always spoke so low
And he used to say that Heaven was a long way from home
It was cold in Kansas City the night he left the stage
And he broke his clarinet across some husbands's face
While Willie sat in his room and went out of his head
And screamed all night because he thought
His ear was going bad.

I started to feel sad in that superficial way
You tend to see things when you're young and wonder what to say
But he just looked right at me like he could read my mind
And laughed out loud like a man who done things in his time

This bottle is New Orleans walkin home at break of day
When the streets are dark and empty and there's no more songs to play
Remember last night and four men standing there
Makin something out of nothing
Makin music out of air
Did I tell you bout Toledo
I got drunk and missed the train
When a girl named Suzie took her clothes off in the rain
In the rain, in the rain…