By townes van zandt
Among the strangest things i ever heard
was when a friend of mine said andquot;man, letand's get some thunderbirdandquot;
i said andquot;whatand's that?andquot; he just started to grin
slobbered on his shirt, his eyes got dim
he said andquot;you got fifty-nine cents?andquot;
i said andquot;yeah, i got a dollar, but donand't be a smart-aleck
i ainand't gonna spend it on no indian relicandquot;
and he said andquot;thunderbirdand's not an old indian trinket,
itand's a wine, man, you take it home and drink it.andquot;
i said andquot;it sure donand't sound like wine to meandquot;
and he said heand'd bet me the change from my dollar
we hustled on down to the nearest u-tate-um
the guy wanted my id, i whipped her out and showed him
he got a green bottle from the freezing vault
my friend started doing backward somersaults
through the cottage cheese
took it back to his house, started drinkinand'
pretty soon i set in to thinkinand'
andquot;man, this thunderbird tastes yummy, yummy, yummy
and i know itand's doing good things to my tummy, tum..., t...andquot;
itand's so you reason when your on that crap
got a few more bottles, chugged them down
i pulled myself up off the ground
decided i go see my dearest sweet wife
who met me at the door with a carving knife
said andquot;get them damn grape peel from between your teeth.andquot;
i could see weand're gonna have a little misunderstanding
i said andquot;dear, i better get in touch with you laterandquot;
she said andquot;forget it, man, youand're never touchinand' me again!andquot;
now iand've seen the light and heard the word
and iand'm staying away from that oland' dirty thunderbird
a message come from heaven radiant, and fine,
all i drink now is communion wine
six days a week