John Doe No. 24

Album: Stones In The Road (1994)
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  • I was standing on this sidewalk
    In 1945 in Jacksonville, Illinois
    When asked what my name was there came no reply
    They said I was a deaf and sightless, half-wit boy

    But Lewis was my name though I could not say it
    I was born and raised in New Orleans
    My spirit was wild, so I let the river take it
    On a barge and a prayer upstream

    They searched for a mother and they searched for a father
    And they searched till they searched no more
    The doctors put to rest their scientific test
    And they named me John Doe No. 24

    And they all shook their heads in pity
    For a world so silent and dark
    Well, there's no doubt that life's a mystery
    But so too is the human heart

    And it was my heart's own perfume
    When the crape jasmine bloomed on St. Charles Avenue
    Though I couldn't hear the bells of the streetcars coming
    By toeing the track I knew

    And if I were an old man returning
    With my satchel and pork-pie hat
    I'd hit every jazz joint on Bourbon
    And I'd hit every one on Basin after that

    The years kept passing as they passed me around
    From one state ward to another
    Like I was an orphaned shoe from the lost and found
    Always missing the other

    They gave me a harp last Christmas
    And all the nurses took a dance
    Lately I've been growing listless
    Been dreaming again of the past

    I'm wandering down to the banks of the Great Big Muddy
    Where the shotgun houses stand
    I am seven years old and I feel my daddy
    Reach out for my hand

    While I drew breath no one missed me
    So they won't on the day that I cease
    Put a sprig of crape jasmine with me
    To remind me of New Orleans

    I was standing on this sidewalk
    In 1945 in Jacksonville, Illinois Writer/s: MARY CARPENTER
    Publisher: Sentric Music
    Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Comments: 1

  • Karma Charms Kittens from Huntington Beach, CaThis song is one of the most deeply moving tributes I have heard honoring those forgotten ones who amble through our world and cease, seemingly invisible in life, but granted grace and wings of beauty to soar life eternal through melody and harmony of simple and beautiful song
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