This Old Skin

It was '96 in South Carolina,
That's the place and not the goddamn year
Just sittin' on the porch out at Bobby's place,
Just tuggin' on a lukewarm beer.
And there i was peepin like an old sidewinder,
Just an inch or so above the mud.
The first to find out that its rainin'
is the last to find out it's a flood.

It was Paradise Valley, Nevada,
Not far from where the west was won.
I am the only black face in the whole damn place
Just a raisin in the blazing sun.
And there i am like that old sidewinder,
Just wishin' that her eggs ain't hatched.
And the chain i wear has 'em wishin' for the day when it came with a ball attached.

So I'm gonna move right outta this town.
When this old skin stops weighin' me down.
This old skin.

He was sittin' in the very same spot that
Otis sat to watch the dock of the bay
In the very same spot that the ships rolled in.
Now there's nothing but the mud and the clay.

I'm gonna move right outta this town.
This old skin, it's weighin' me down.
This old skin.

Outside Orlando when the sunshine state
Has just upped itself another degree.
I am the very last orange of the whole years crop.
Hangin' dearly to the branch of the tree.
And the wind and the spring couldn't do anything.
So im burnin' in the sun of the south.
That old sidewinder in the dust below,
I'm just waiting till it opens its mouth.

So I'm gonna move right outta this town
When this old skin finally touches the ground.
this old skin

He was sittin' in the very same spot that
Otis sat to watch the dock of the bay
In the very same spot that the ships rolled in.
Now there's nothing but the mud and the clay.

Now I'm gonna move right outta this town
When this old skin finally touches the ground.
This old skin
This old skin
This old skin
This old skin