american myths

and i'm standing in memphis,
sun studios to be exact,
or in the alley behind
sun studios to be
totally truthful

and i'm having a smoke,
and i'm imagining my ashes
are falling in the same place
as the ashes of elvis,
johnny cash,
jerry lee lewis (the killer),
or the great carl perkins
when they snuck out
to have smokes of their own

those young gods
of rock n roll

mama's boys, rebels,
southern punks,
go cat go,
great balls of fire,
that's alright mama,
i shot a man in reno
just to watch him die

some cloudy future day,
after america has rusted
and eaten itself to death,
some archaeologist
will dig this place up,
excavate the gold records,
guitars, and microphones

a timeline will be worked out,
and rock n roll gods,
and american myths,
will be born all over again

long live rock n roll