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The Road to Bayamon

by Tom Russell

on The Long Way Around (1997)

Well, all you possum-belly queens, get outta here
Gypsy's out for blood tonight
She's got 'Love' and 'Hate' tattooed on her fists
She's drunk and she's ready to fight

She used to run a little shot and a beer joint
Now she's a jockey on the Astro ride
She took me for a whirl one night
It messed me up inside

Ai-yi-yi, oh, the rain
How long can the rain go on?
There's nothing sadder than a carnival
On the road to Bayamon

In a parking lot down in old San Juan
Out on the road to Bayamon
We set up the tents and the alibi joints
And the freak show from Leon

We had French Canadian racketeers
And rednecks from down south
And Puerto Rican pistol boys
With boa constrictor mouths

Ai-yi-yi, oh, the rain
How long can the rain go on?
There's nothing sadder than a carnival
On the road to Bayamon

Well, the wirewalker started drinking hard
The payroll checks never came
And somebody stole the little two-headed boy
And the midway drowned in the rain

Well, it rained through the month of April
And it rained through the month of May
And all across that little island
I could hear the children say

Ai-yi-yi, oh, the rain
How long can the rain go on?
There's nothing sadder than a carnival
On the road to Bayamon

Ai-yi-yi, oh, the rain
How long can this rain go on?
There's nothing sadder than a carnival
On the road to Bayamon