Cafe on the Corner Lyrics
With a lost look on his face
There ain't no fields to plow
No reason to now
He's just a little out of place
But neither does farmin' these days
And the coffee is cold
And he's fifty years old
And he's got to learn to live some other way
With a lost look on his face
There ain't no fields to plow
He's busin' tables now
He's just a little out of place
And the bank shall repossess it
This job don't pay half what it's worth
But it's a thankful man that gets it
With a lost look on his face
There ain't no fields to plow
He's wishin' for one now
He's just a little out of place
And hometown boys without a home
Farmers without fields
Dealers without deals
And they sit here drinking coffee all alone
With a lost look on their face
There ain't no fields to plow
They're wishin' for one now
They're just a little out of place
This song is generally well understood, the man used to work on a farm, but then had to go live a new life around 50 years old, and ended up at a cafe. The song has themes about crony capitalism.
But the end of the song, they mention all these other people who are lost, and they sit there drinking coffee all alone. The live version of the song changes the ending to "They still remember how, their just a little out of place", which implies that maybe all these people befriended each other and now are less lost.
I used to work a cafe at the college and many lost people came in to talk to me, so this song has a special meaning to me. I also used to do small scale farming and really miss it now and live in apartment, where I have lots of plants and do a balcony garden, but long for the country life again.