Marlee

There are tales passed around
On cold windy nights,
In a sideways highway bar named,
The Devil's Own Heights.

It was a lonesome little joint,
Hardly five regulars a day.
But always in its corner sat,
An old woman on the gray.

E'ry day she orders the same,
"A gimlet and lemon side."
Then to her table she would stay,
To drink, drink, and abide.

If a kind soul took to askin'
"For what do you wait so long?"
The only thing she would ever say,
Was "Some rain and a song."

Well rain it did on that land,
Perhaps once a lifetime!
For that little stretch of road,
Was too high for clouds to climb.

But still that little old woman,
Sat in that corner there.
Until finally, one windy night,
Rain fell through the air.

Some rain and a song indeed! By Jove,
The water came down like a flood.
And through the night air wafted in,
A song that be chillin' the blood.

That little old woman stood up then,
And strode to the bar smilin'
Said, "Today I'll have a gimlet for two."
And a voice outside be howlin':

"Marlee come out! It's Thunderhead Joe!
One you said you'd not regret.
And though it's been a many a year,
I've come to settle my bet!"

Marlee, for that was indeed her name,
Howled right back through the door:
"I bet I'd wait and so a bet I've won,
No matter how loud you'd roar!"

Well, the tale is misty here for,
No one could quite agree.
Just what happened when Thunderhead Joe,
Came in for his girl Marlee.

The door blew right down, to be sure,
And a man came astridin' in.
Some say his hair was braided lightnin'
And had bitter winds for skin.

Then the figure and Marlee were gone.
Even the two glasses of gimlet.
But there is no doubt, in any man's mind,
Exactly who won that bet.

There are tales passed around
On cold windy nights,
In a sideways highway bar named,
The Devil's Own Heights.

Though many tales had passed down
From one to one e'ery day.
There was always a tale about
An old woman on the gray.

Oh wild is wind and wild are storms
That rake 'cross that lonesome lee.
But wild is love and wilder was
The girl they had called Marlee.