Let Him Roll
He died and true, done about everything there is to do
He worked on freighters, he worked in bars
He worked on farms and he worked on cars
Now it was white port wine that put that look in his eye
That grown men get when they need to cry
And we sat down on the curb to rest
And his head just fell down on his chest
He said every single day
It gets just a little bit harder to handle
And yet, then he lost a thread and his mind got cluttered
And the words just rolled off down the gutter
He was an elevator man in a cheap hotel
In exchange for the rent on a one-room cell
And he's years old before his time
No thanks to the world and the white port wine
So he says, son, he always said
Call me, son
He said life for you has just begun
And then he told me the story that I'd heard before
How he fell in love with a Dallas *
He could cut through the years to the very night
That it all ended in a whorehouse fight
And she turned his last proposal down
In favor of being a girl about town
Now it's been 17 years
Right in line
And he ain't been straight none of the time
It's too many years of fighting the weather
And too many nights of not being together
So he died
Let him roll
Boys, let him roll
I'll bet he's gone to Dallas
Rest his soul
And let him roll
Boys, let him roll
He always thought that Heaven
Was just a Dallas *
When they went through his personal effects
In among the stubs from the welfare checks
Was a crumbling picture of a girl in a door
And a dress in Dallas, and nothing more
Well, the welfare people provided the priest
And the couple from the mission down the street
Sang Amazing Grace
Nobody cried except for some lady in black
Way off to the side
We all left and she's standing there
The black veil covering that silver hair
And old one-eyed John said her name was Alice
She used to be a * in Dallas
Let him roll, boys, let him roll
I bet he's gone to Dallas, rest his soul
Let him roll, boys, let him roll
He always thought that heaven was just a Dallas hole
Let him roll
Let him roll
Let him roll
Let him roll
Let him roll