Lyrics

I was far from home and lost and lonely And aimlessly bouncing around Spent too much time and money In this little Georgia town But nothing lights a fire just like Running out of cash will I had enough to buy a One-way ticket back to Nashville To a bed I know, owned by a friend Who's learned it the hard way If you invite me in for coffee I'll unpack my bag and stay Just like Paul Blanche Dubois I've also come to put my faith in The charity of strangers And honest transportations So I find myself aboard This silver bullet budget bus With that creepy guy in sunglasses Down the back looking sus And that old woman with her belongings In a busted plastic bag And all the nicotine devotees Marking time to take a drag We'd only just left Chattanooga town And I thought it prudent To sit beside this young and wholesome Graduating college student She was pondering where best to go To do her PhD She said she had two options Australia or Italy I said, 'Well, that's a no brainer 'Better come study with us' And that's about the time We both heard something hit the bus I counted six loud popping thuds That came in quick succession They went That's my impression I innocently thought of kids Just throwing rocks for fun But the guy sat up the back yelled 'Them be shots fired from a gun!' And everyone stopped talking We all looked at each other But unknowing if to write ourselves a will Or duck for cover Then underneath the small explosion The engine gave a hellish roar Like when the stick slips out of gear And your foot's flat to the floor But the bus lost all control And started swerving 'cross the freeway Just missed the concrete barrier With about two metres leeway I was seeing gruesome shots They'd use for the morning edition Then someone behind me moaned And we assumed the crash position Oh my god, I did not know That this was how I was meant to go I said, oh my god, please save my neck Don't want to die in this burning wreck But the driver kept her nerve For she had all our souls to save She stopped short on the verge Of what might've been our grave Now everybody's thrilled as if They've just been in the movies They're calling up their family, saying 'Guess what just happened to me' Within ten minutes flat Soon as you heard the sirens wail We're hemmed all around by squad cars Flashing like Boxing Day sale Officer Friendly got on board Took out his pad to take some names Patting the heads of children And flirting with the dames He said, 'Tell me now if any of you've 'Come to any harm' He had John chapter 3:17 Tattooed along his arm He said, 'You can go stretch your legs now 'You might be sitting for some time' So I jumped off with the smokers And from there surveyed the crime First shot, it grazed off the flank Second barely missed the tank The third shot went right through And lodged into the toilet door The fourth shot pierced the luggage lock The fifth shot struck the engine block Then the sixth shot popped the tire And then it shredded to the core After a while, little bits of The story filtered through The shooter had been local And the cops, they now knew who He was supposed the join the bus Back at the Chattanooga station He was late and tried to wave The driver down but she's impatient She's bent to her position And a timetable to honour So he tailed us to the freeway And let the bullets rain upon her Oh my god, how close we'd come To marching toward your kingdom drum I said, oh my god, how close we'd be To staring down eternity When the last cop pulled away We had been stuck out there for hours It didn't take too long Till the collective mood, it sours See my student friend, she's wailing that She's now gonna be late She's gonna have to call ahead And cancel tonight's date I said, 'Feel lucky you're not dead 'You're really giving me the blues' And the next day safe in Nashville It didn't even make the news In the history of America It was just another day Now I made it to that warm bed And there all day I'll stay So if you ever find yourself Riding the bus 'round Chattanooga Keep your eyes open for pockets With an outline like a luger What worries me the most Is that it's difficult to tell If you should fear those Who have missed the bus Or them who's punctual