The Edward Hopper painting "Nighthawks"
was the idea behind this truck driver song.
We were nighthawks drinking coffee
In a truck stop café
A little town down in Florida
On the Choctawhatchee Bay
Got to talking to a waitress
And she said her name was Faye
She told me ‘bout her troubles
The luck that come her way
Her husband up and left her
With hungry kids to raise
There was just this waitress job
You know how it pays.
By the way she smiled at me I knew
Good times were overdue
She was livin’ with a touch of the blues.
She stopped talking for a moment
Turned to look away
Brushed her hair out her eyes
And then went on to say
“Don’t understand this living,
It wasn’t long ago
I was just a little country girl
Running barefoot down the road
But now I got a family
And a husband who knows where?
Sometimes I need a helping hand
Sometimes it’s just not there
But that ain’t nothing new
Poor folks payin’ dues
I just got a touch of the blues.”
I’m no stranger to heartache
I’ve seen dreams slip away
And I could not disagree
With a thing she had to say
What I know of living
Life it sure ain’t fair
There’s so many people
Got such heavy loads to bear
Like a ship out on the ocean
Driftin’ far from land
Where my life is headed
I still don’t understand
But that ain’t nothing new
Looks like me and you
Both got a touch of the blues.
The clock up on the wall
Says time for me to roll
To make Mobile by morning
Better get on down the road
Went to take my leavin’
Didn’t have much to say
Left some money on the counter
“Nice talking to you Faye”
But it truly touched my heart
When she smiled at me again
I knew when I was leaving
I might be leaving a friend
But that ain’t nothing new
Sometimes you gotta move
Livin’ with a touch of the blues.