Primer Coat

[Written by Mike Cooley]

The old man's out by the swimming pool

He goes there to think

He talks on the phone sometimes

Hardly mentions a thing

Says he needed it for his knees

He used to swim back in school

Graduated in '84

Quit drinking in '92

He used to call her a basket case

For going on like she did

The only girl of a foreman's wife

She'd never let him forget

It comes to women and they survive

But when the same comes to men

Someone comes for their babies

Something dies there and then

Slinging gravel in parking lots

Looking tough on the 'hood

A girl as plain as a primer coat

Leaves nothing misunderstood

Her mother and I through trembling lips

A steady hand on his own

The future of every rebel cause

When all the fighting is gone

My sister's marrying in the fall

And everything will be fine

'Cause mama's planning the wedding

Daddy's planning on crying

She's slipping out of her apron strings

You best leave him be

He's staring through his own tail lights

And gathering speed