Tucson, Arizona rising in the heat like a mirage
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Tony keeps his Chevy like a virgin locked in his garage
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He brings it out at midnight and cruises down the empty boulevards
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And he prowls the darkened alleys that snake between the city's thirsty yards
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The lonely desert skies reflect the anger in his eyes and it is dawn
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His father died of drinking and left five children sinking with his mom
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His older brother Bobby never made it back from Viet Nam
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With high school well behind him he lives at home and works this shitty job
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And he thinks his '60 Chevy is the only true amigo that he's got
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His heart is filled with sadness and his soul is like some ugly vacant lot
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Mary Estelle Hanna came out from Louisiana for the sun
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A deal gone bad in Dallas left her burned and broke and on the run
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To make the rent and groceries she takes this job at $3.15 an hour
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Serving shots of whiskey and tequila in some smoky red-neck bar
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And she dreams some day she'll make her way to L.A. and become a movie star
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Tony saw her working, he swallowed hard and asked her for a date
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Mary laughed and answered "I would but every night I'm working late"
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He said he had some cocaine that she could have if she'd just ride along
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She said "what the hell, I may as well, I haven't had no fun in so damn long"
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He picked her up at closing time they pulled out on the road and they were gone
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Tony's mom got frantic when she found her son had not come home
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Mary's roommate panicked and called the sheriff from a public phone
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They asked her lots of questions
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She tried her best to tell them what she saw
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And late that night they found poor Mary lying in some narrow, dusty draw
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The coroner reported that she hadn't been deceased for very long
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Two weeks on they found it buried to the windshield in the sand
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There inside lay Tony with a small revolver in his hand
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The papers simply stated it must have been the drugs that drove him mad
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The neighbors speculated what could make a good boy go so bad
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Well, it might have been the desert heat
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It might have been the home he never had
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Tucson, Arizona (Gazette)
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| Dan Fogelberg |
