Desert Freaks

Down where the pear tree cactus grows
Where you watch your step for horny toads
Where they used to set off atomic bombs
And all the children have four arms
Men get bored, their minds get baked
If you ain’t got a friend, you get by on drink
I don’t know why they’s all so strange
It’s the radiation, some folks say
Desert Freaks, they live like snakes
Nothing gambled, baby, nothing gained
Take your chances, honey
Dig your grave
And all you want to do is crawl away
Seen a man with a smile on his face
Trouble was it never went away
Sat there grinning day after day
Thumbing his gun with a cross-eyed aim
Long-legged, hot pants, satin-haired honey
Spends her life trying to make him money
It’s a loser’s way to pass the time
But no one down there really seems to mind
Artists and vagrants, a drunk or two
And no one knows for sure who’s who
Hang around in the bars and stew
Telling half-baked lies and homemade truths
Desert sand and cowboy teeth
They don’t even talk like you and me
If you ain’t got the good sense to leave
Trade your plastic Christ
For a dead man’s dream