Lord Have Mercy on the Crocodile Man

Too bad, really, about Steve Irwin. As Don said, at least he died doing what he loved. I didn't watch the show very often, and sometimes secretely imagined Irwin would meet his fate wrestling some creature. This, however, I never imagined. As much as I love the sea and all things in it, taking a poisonous sting ray barb in the chest would not be my preferred check-out method.

I had forgotten about this song, which I listened to on my walk yesterday morning. It's been recorded by a couple of other folks, but it's fun to listen to Tracy Grammer "rap" this bluesy tune. I thought of Irwin and his tireless love of critters, and how Dave Carter wrote a whole lot of critter songs before he likewise crossed over at an all too early age. I would really enjoy performing it sometime, just to see the look on people's faces.

Crocodile Man
©2000, Dave Carter/Dave Carter Music (BMI)


mama she raised me on riddles and trances
fatback, channel-cat, lily-white lies
rocked my cradle in a jimmy-crack fancy
never knew papa and i never asked why

well, now, people say papa wasn't no-account anyway
people say papa was rollin' stone
well i turned twenty on the waccamaw throughway
hitching up river in the dark alone

sleepin' with a stranger in a no-name town
thanksgiving dinner at the top hat lounge
christmas eve at the fantasy tan
lord have mercy on the crocodile man
lord have mercy on the crocodile man

well I hooked up with a carny little outta memphis
slavin' in a sideshow, pennies in a jar
beetle-eyed jokers and hicktown princes
rhinestone rubies and rubber cigars

wrassled me a gator up in omaha city
did me another down in new orleans
tangled with the barker, run off with the kitty
crawled the mississippi and i got away clean

sleepin' with a stranger in a no-name town
thanksgiving dinner at the top hat lounge
christmas eve at the fantasy tan
lord have mercy on the crocodile man
lord have mercy on the crocodile man

underneath the levee in a cat-tail thicket
hidden in the shadow of a shady grove
there's a thatched roof risin' from a poke fence picket
white smoke billows from a kettle-black stove

inside the house is the hall of mirrors
inside the mirror is the temple of sin
and inside the mirror is the face of mama
and mama she know just where i been
yeah, mama know exactly where her bad boy been

sleepin' with a stranger in a no-name town
thanksgiving dinner at the top hat lounge
christmas eve at the fantasy tan
lord have mercy on the crocodile man
lord have mercy on the crocodile man