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10 Degrees and Getting Colder Lyrics
He was standin' by the highway
With a sign that just said "Mother"
When he heard a driver comin'
'Bout a half a mile away
Then he held the sign up higher
Where no decent soul could miss it
It was ten degrees or colder
Down by Boulder Dam that day
He was raised up in Milwaukee
Though he never was that famous
He was just a road musician
To the taverns he would go
Singin' songs about the ramblin'
The lovin' girls and gamblin'
How the world fell on his shoulders
Back in Boulder I don't know
It was out in Arizona
That he heard the lady listenin'
To each word that he was sayin'
To each line that he would write
So he sat down by her table and
They talked about the weather
Ninety-eight point six and risin'
Down by Boulder Dam that night
And she told him she would take him
For a ride in the mornin' sun
Back in Boulder he had told her
"I don't know when I had a better friend"
Now he's traded off his Martin
But his troubles are not over
For his feet are almost frozen
And the sun is sinkin' low
Won't you listen to me brother
If you ever loved your mother
Please pull off on the shoulder
If you're goin' Milwaukee way
It's ten degrees and getting colder
Down by Boulder Dam today
With a sign that just said "Mother"
When he heard a driver comin'
'Bout a half a mile away
Then he held the sign up higher
Where no decent soul could miss it
It was ten degrees or colder
Down by Boulder Dam that day
He was raised up in Milwaukee
Though he never was that famous
He was just a road musician
To the taverns he would go
Singin' songs about the ramblin'
The lovin' girls and gamblin'
How the world fell on his shoulders
Back in Boulder I don't know
That he heard the lady listenin'
To each word that he was sayin'
To each line that he would write
So he sat down by her table and
They talked about the weather
Ninety-eight point six and risin'
Down by Boulder Dam that night
For a ride in the mornin' sun
Back in Boulder he had told her
"I don't know when I had a better friend"
But his troubles are not over
For his feet are almost frozen
And the sun is sinkin' low
Won't you listen to me brother
If you ever loved your mother
Please pull off on the shoulder
If you're goin' Milwaukee way
It's ten degrees and getting colder
Down by Boulder Dam today
Song Info
Submitted by
butneveroutgunned On May 27, 2006
More Gordon Lightfoot
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Carefree Highway
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If Don Schlitz didn't 'borrow' this melody for his song, The Gambler (Kenny Rogers and many others) , it's a ridiculous coincidence.
This song details a down on his luck man near Hoover Dam who went west looking for his life and failed. At the point in the song, he is standing with a sign in his hand hitchhiking back to his home in Milwaukee.
This song brings hitchhiking from the POV of the hitchhiker. It details the hopelessness felt has everything passes you by and you're stuck standing still, hopes and dreams deferred and the only thing you feel is the icy chill of failure and neglect.