Mama she raised me on riddles and trances
Fatback, channel-cat, lily white lies
Rocked my cradle in a jimmy-crack fancy
Never met papa and I never asked why

And people say papa wasn't no account anyway
People say papa was a rollin' stone
I turned twenty on the Waccamaw throughway
Headed upriver in the dark alone

Sleepin' with a stranger in a no name town
Thanksgivin' 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 out of Memphis
Slavin' in a side show, pennies in a jar
Beetle-eyed jokers and hick town 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, ran off with the kitty
Crawled the Mississippi and I got away clean

I've been sSleepin' with a stranger in a no name town
Thanksgivin' 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 cattail thicket
Down in the shadow of a shady grove
There's a thatched roof risin' from a poke fence picket
White smoke billows from a coal black stove

Inside the house is the hall of mirrors
Inside the mirror is the temple of sin
Inside the temple is the face of mama
And mama she knows where I been
My mama knows exactly where her bad boy been

Been sleepin' with a stranger in a no name town
Thanksgivin' 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

See also:
JustSomeLyrics
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62.65
Étienne Drapeau Écrire l'amour Lyrics
Willie Nelson I've Just Destroyed The World Lyrics