All Along the Flood Wall

(Revised lyrics, 2025)

Johnny's got his draft card stuffed in his jeans.
He's got a crown on his head just like a rock n roll king.
Judy's got a mini-skirt and long blonde curls.
She's the best little chicken out of all of Johnny's girls.

Johnny checks his wallet, but there ain't no bread.
Just a B-52 buzzin round his head.
He's a 1-A boy and he's cold cut prime.
This time tomorrow he'll be marchin double time. 

(chorus)
There’s a big yellow moon on the river tonight
Where the towboats blow by the power plant lights.
If you listen real close, you can hear the call
Of the ghosts of teen age dreams, all along the flood wall.

Johnny says to Judy, “We can make our way
If we only had the keys to your daddy’s Chevrolet.
Get us north to the border, babe, and we’ll be free.
I know a guy in Alberta with a job for me.”

Well, they steal the wheels, and they ram the door,
With a shotgun blastin through the liquor store.
The cops get the call at a quarter past ten,
Joe Don Martin's been robbed again.

(chorus)

Judy puts the money in her go-go boot,
With the deputy sheriff in hot pursuit.
Calling all cars from the county round,
Every road's blocked on the edge of town.

Johnny gets cornered up on Franklin Hill,
By the Buick dealer and the bar and grill.
He spins to the left and he spies his fate,
About a half a mile down is the flood wall gate.

(chorus)

Well, the moon on the river ain't far away,
Doing a hundred miles an hour in a Chevrolet.
Johnny says to Judy, “Where’d you put that cash?”
Then they hit that wall with a mighty crash.

The fire trucks come and they hose away
The blood and the oil of the Chevrolet.
The fire man says, “It's a lousy world.
Just another dumb punk and his crazy girl.”

(chorus)

(1989; April 18, 2025)

Copyright © 1991 by Michael Kim Roos