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about

© 2000 David Robert Carter (BMI), administered by Tracy Grammer Music

lyrics

mama she raised me on riddles and trances
fatback, channel-cat, lily-white lies
rocked my cradle in a jimmy-crack fancy
never knew papa and i never asked why

people say papa wasn't no-account anyway
people say papa was rollin stone
i turned twenty on the waccamaw throughway
hitchin upriver in the dark alone

sleepin with a stranger in a no-name town
thanksgivin dinner at the top hat lounge
christmas eve at the fantasy tan
lord have mercy on the crocodile man
lord have mercy on the crocodile man

hooked up with a carny a little outta memphis
slavin in a sideshow, pennies in a jar
beetle-eyed jokers and hicktown princes
rhinestone rubies and rubber cigars

wrassled me a gator up in omaha city
did me another down in new orleans
tangled with the barker, run off with the kitty
crawled the mississippi and i got away clean

sleepin with a stranger in a no-name town
thanksgivin dinner at the top hat lounge
christmas eve at the fantasy tan
lord have mercy on the crocodile man
lord have mercy on the crocodile man

underneath the levee in a cattail thicket
hidden in the shadow of a shady grove
there's a thatched roof risin from a poke fence picket
white smoke billows from a kettle-black stove

inside the house is the hall of mirrors
inside the mirror is the temple of sin
inside the temple is the face of mama
and mama she know just where i been
yeah, mama know exactly where her bad boy been

sleepin with a stranger in a no-name town
thanksgivin dinner at the top hat lounge
christmas eve at the fantasy tan
lord have mercy on the crocodile man
lord have mercy on the crocodile man

credits

from Tanglewood Tree, released January 1, 2000

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Dave Carter & Tracy Grammer Portland, Oregon

American folk duo Dave Carter and Tracy Grammer blend tradition and
innovation into a potent musical elixir. They transcend singer/songwriter stereotypes, delivering evocative, clear-eyed ruminations on death and life, love and ruin, that result in "music of haunting beauty and uncommon intelligence" (The
Oregonian). Carter died in 2002; Grammer curates their legacy and now performs solo.
... more

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