Agree that there is a definite reference to race in the lyrics: "shoe shine", "boy", "county line". The song (which I love) could refer to a black man, a civil rights worker, a salesman/con man, an itinerant worker. A drug dealer is a possibility, too.
Keep the Customer Satisfied was written shortly after the civil rights era, and the wording absolutely references being run out of a county in the South. (I am old enough to remember that era.)
Agree that there is a definite reference to race in the lyrics: "shoe shine", "boy", "county line". The song (which I love) could refer to a black man, a civil rights worker, a salesman/con man, an itinerant worker. A drug dealer is a possibility, too.
Keep the Customer Satisfied was written shortly after the civil rights era, and the wording absolutely references being run out of a county in the South. (I am old enough to remember that era.)
Excellent comments from all and great site.