Tramping Down the Highway

LYRICS

Tramping Down the Highway
By J.J.

When your tramping down the highway
And you haven’t got a dime
And you spent the summer searching
For a job you couldn’t find.

When your clothes are all in tatters
And your shoes are wearing thin
And the tumble weeds remind you
Of the stubble on your chin.

When you’ve used up all your pony
And can’t pay your bed and board
And you’re tramping down the highway
Dreaming dreams you can’t afford.

As the sun sinks slowly westward
And the evening starts to chill
And you’re feeling cold and lonely
As the night grows dark and still.

There’s a hay-stack in the distance
And there’s warmth in the straw
And a good nights sleep is welcome
Even if a against the law.

For a ma that’s broken and homeless
is a vagrant by the code
Tho’ they say you’re free and equal
Just by going down the road.

Try and tell some burly spokesman
Or some hard-boiled railroad cop
You were only checking box cars
Looking for a place to flop.

Tell it to the judge next morning
Thirty days with no appeal.
How you couldn’t pay your mortgage
When laid-off at Sydney Steel.

He’s a high paid legal fellow
Sixty grand or more a year
And an un-empoyed statistic
Something he don’t want to hear.

We’ve a new found constitution 
That a British Monarch bought
Over which the politicians for a 
Hundred years have fought.

But you can’t buy beans and bacon
with a Charter of your Rights
Or find a place to hang your hat
On cold and windy nights.

And the whole darn Constitution
Wouldn’t buy a single meal
When you’re tramping down the highway
Or laid-off at Sydney Steel.

Still we laud the Trudeau Charter
There’s no other left to choose
As we’re tramping down the highway
With the cardboard in our shoes.

By Angelo Spinazzola

About Angelo Spinazzola

To call Spinazzola a gypsy traveller is an understatement… completing  a recent Canadian Tour on the Rails with artist Keith Mullins, Spinazzola eats up the miles like salty peanuts in an Irish pub.  With over 30 countries & a double trans-atlantic crossing under his belt the road keeps growing. He has shared the stage with such greats as Skunk Baxter (Steely Dan), Dutch Mason, Matt Minglewood, JP Cormier, Matt Andersen and Charlie A Court to name a few. Spinazzola’s energy is moving full speed ahead. Spinazzola was recently invited to perform at the Stan Rogers Folk Festival sharing the stage with USA Bluesman Guy Davis.