Ever Hope To Know

We ain't lived the blues yet How the hell would we know We ain't been there dying How the hell would any of us Ever hope to know We never even felt it The hunger and the crying The orphans and the widows We only heard the lying How the hell would we know Shelter from the storm Shelter for the dog Shelter for the garbage How the hell would any of us Ever hope to know Does your greed take control Is your heart on the wall Is it always on your mind Is your mercy hiding out Is your memory hard to find Take it to the finder You'll need it for the test Take it to the maker He's apt to bar the door Take it to your momma Take it to the smithy You know what he does He sharpens all the iron He knows what to use You know what he uses Your story's out You're on the run You think you got the blues You think you got a reason You think you know the news You ain’t really got a reason You ain't really got the blues Seven pairs of shoes You ain't got the news You ain't heard it yet Your momma got the blues She raised you better than that You'd rather frolic A feather in your hat How the hell would you know Jimmy Brown would tell you And the little shoe shine boy The little dark haired boy They all want something better They can taste the blues They got a reason They know where it's at They can hear the blues Might walk another path If they had some shoes Heaven knows there are two And yes, there's still time Rosemary and Sage And yesterday's wine Tomorrow is a long time Sell the news in heaven Shining in the shade Or on the hit parade They'll always have the blues They'll always have it made You can take a ball and chain And tie it to your blues You'll never slow it down You'll never see it drag It won’t even know You can't shake the blues It's like a big oak tree Not a bird would feel it Not a leaf would fall No acorns at all What makes you think You got the blues Not a thorn in sight Seven pairs of shoes You think you got the blues No shadows anywhere Not a cross to bear Life more than fair Not a soul to save Why should you care