Everybody Thanks The Driver

True stories all around. The bus driver picked me up hitch hiking way back then, and still to this day almost everybody says “thank you” when they get off. Driver Annette is a blues harmonica player, and Sam Williams was one of the Flying Karamozov Brothers, a comedy juggling troupe. For his own reasons he became a bus driver, and one night – well, here’s to you, Sam the Driver. Thank you.

first first time I rode the bus I was hitchin’ a ride
I was just a kid, flat broke
I got on board, sat down down and got warm
and across town we rode
took me just about a block away
from exactly where I’s tryin’ to get
I said “thanks,” he said “see ya later”
and I still remember it yet

(chorus)
everybody rides the bus
everybody, that’s us
everybody rides the bus
and everybody thanks the driver

I used to know exactly how much money I had
just by just lookin’ in the palm of my hand
twenty five pennies right down to the number
just like I had it all planned
and I’d sit up front with the driver
and we’d have ourselves a chat
smoke ‘em if you got ‘em when it’s just us two
we’d ride the line like that

(chorus)

Sam was a driver, a juggler, and a clown
he just loved to make people laugh
he had a heart attack drivin’ on the viaduct
with no way to get off of that path
he said “I need a little help at the wheel up here
whatever little help you can give”
and all together they pulled it over
savin’ everybody’s life but his

(chorus)

my friend Annette, she’s singin’ the blues
and she’s blowin’ harmonica too
but it’s hard to make a livin’ ‘round here these days
in this six figure hullaballoo
so she drives the bus five days out of seven
on the other two she grooves
the wheels and the wherewithal
that’s how the world moves

(chorus)

so if you want my autograph
because you like the way I play the guitar
go ask a bus driver first
‘cause I’ll never get you that far

(chorus)