Well I met you on a midway at a fair last year
And you stood out like a ruby in a black man's ear
You were playing on the horses
You were playing on the guitar strings
You were playing like the devil wearing wings
Wearing wings, you looked so grand, wearing wings
Do you tie them to your shoulders just to sing
Can you fly? I heard you can! Can you fly?
Just like an eagle doin' his hunting from the sky
I followed through a sideshow to another town
And I found you in a trailer on the camping grounds
You were betting on some lover, shootin' out the dice
And I thought I saw you cheating once or twice
Once or twice, I heard you did, once or twice
Were you wondering was the gamble worth the price
Now you've packed it in, I heard you did, packed it in
Was it hard to fold a hand you knew you could win?
Lately you've been hiding, it was somewhere in the news
And I'm still at these races with my ticket stubs and my blues
The man calls out the numbers, he sometimes mentions mine
But I feel like I've been working overtime
Overtime, I've lost my fire, overtime
Always playing one more hand for one more dime
Well I'm slowin' down, I'm getting tired, slowin' down
And I envy you the valley that you've found
'Cause I'm midway down the midway
Slowin' down, down