Ballad of the Devil's Backbone Tavern

Look up the Pierpont hotel in Ventura, California Real compared to what, right Life's too short to worry Life's too long to wait Too short not to love everybody Life's too long to hate I meet a lot of men who haggle and finagle all the time Tryin' to save a nickel and then make a dime Not me, Lord, no siree But I ain't got the time Old Miss Virgie tended bar At this shack out in the hills It never made her no money, boy But it always paid the bills She might have been 80 years old Her heart was warm and her beer was cold She gave away more than she ever sold And she be smiling all the time I used to sing off in the corner Every Friday night To a loud crowd of cowboys Bikers and barroom fights They was drinking beer and carrying on Not a one of them had listened to one of my songs But old Miss Virgie sang along She said, she knew all my songs by heart And then one night after she closed up She poured me a beer She said, "Come over here and sit down, you little shit I got something that you need to hear" She said, "Life ain't easy getting through Everybody gonna try to make it tough on you I tell you right now, if you dig what you do They'll never gonna get you down" Sing, she said, "Life's too short to worry Life's too long to wait Too short not to love everybody And life too long to hate I meet a lot of men that haggle and finagle all the time Trying to save a nickel made and make a dime" Not me, oh no, siree for I ain't got no time" I ain't seen ol' virgie It's probably been 15 years I've been bumming around this country I'll sing my songs for tips and beers, mostly beers 'Cause now that driving are long and the nights are tough The hotels are weird and the pay sucks But I can't dig what I do enough Lord, it never, ever gets me down Help me sing, if you know, say Life's too short to worry Life's too long to wait Too short not to love everybody Life's too long to hate I meet a lot of men who haggle and finagle all the time Tryin' to save a nickel and then make a dime Not me, Lord, no siree I ain't got no time