There's an old barn outside on the far edge of town where the ladies Keep dancing so fine their smiles Touch their ears, their dresses the ground They got all their men in a line And I thought for a second How fine it would be to get dancing and feeling so free Take a few turns and get me a girl and Bring one of them smiles home with me. But it just looked too easy Just too easy to be right And I'm out on the road walking alone One step ahead of the frost And your baby ain't no baby anymore He's doing the cross country waltz. I had a lover, she walked thru my dreams Til one day she drifted away And I got me a letter when some months had gone by Saying "Come back, I'll do what you say," But in a city I found a new wheel spinning round Like a carnival half of the time And though I'm walking alone now and counting my dimes I think I'll just let her go by. I got me a letter yesterday from home, Saying "How long you think you'll be gone?" As I looked at the sun, it was warming my hands That letter slipped down on the ground 'Cause there's riverboats and drifters and a silvery moon And the people they all ask your name And if you never left home you'd never have to go back, But once you go back you can't stay.