Child Bride (Nebraska Outtakes)

Friday night's pay night
Guys fresh out of work
Talking 'bout the weekend
Trying to scrub off the dirt
Some heading home to their families
Some wearing trouble on their shirts
Some driving down to Stovall
Just looking to get hurt

I work for the county
Out on 95
Just holding that red flag
Watching the traffic pass me by
All day, I keep a picture
Of my baby in my head
At night, I dream I'm with her
Laying in my bunkhouse bed

Seen her at the canteen
Down at the Legion Hall
She come in with her brothers
Standing back up against the wall
Me and her, we'd go walking
Down by them winding tracks
Well, one day I looked straight at her
And she looked straight back

Gray clouds stretch across
The white moon
Sitting in the backyard in my old car
We'd hum out of tune

Well, I saved my money
And I put it all away
I went to see her daddy
We didn't have much to say
He said, "Now, son
Can't you see she's just a little girl
Who don't know nothing
'Bout the meanness in this world?"

Took off down into Florida
Yeah, we got along alright
One day, her brothers came and got her
And they took me in a black and white
Prosecutor kept his promise
That he made on that day
Well, she was sad, and the judge was mad
They put me straight away

Well, they said she was too young
She was no younger than I've been
When she put her arms around me
And the night close in

Well, sometimes I dream of getting out of here
Heading down towards them old tracks
I swore l'd come and get her
But I know I ain't ever going back
There's nights I can't sleep
No matter how hard I try
So from my window, I watch the moonlight
Fall on the far hillside

I imagine I put on my jacket
Go down to this little roadside bar
Pick a stranger and spin around the dance floor
To a Mexican guitar