Moonlight Motor Inn

 

In ‘46 we moved out here to Beaumont

To start a little business of our own

They built the freeway through in ‘62

Everything we have’s now lost and gone

 

I see them in the distance from my window

Faces in the car look straight ahead

They roll on by too loud for comfort

But too far away to rent a motel bed

 

So if you’re passing on your way

From Palm Springs to L.A.

Give a wave to good old Dave

Say hello to progress

And goodbye to the Moonlight Motor Inn

 

Mother sleeping in the back room

TV shows are the only life she has

Our son’s now a captain in the Air Force

He can’t find the time to write his proud old dad

 

Our daughter wants to leave the place at eighteen

Run away with a jobless Beaumont man

Hitchhike out to California

And make a life in this Rocky Mountain land

 

So if you’re passing on your way

From Palm Springs to L.A.

Give a wave to good old Dave

Say hello to progress

And goodbye to the Moonlight Motor Inn

 

Sun comes up behind the freeway

Sets down behind that dried up swimming pool

Can’t make the payments on the mortgage

Can’t turn this red ink into blue

 

New weeds growin through the gravel

Blacktop cracked and partly washed away

Well the neon sign points in the wrong direction

The Moonlight Motor Inn closed down today

 

So if you’re passing on your way

From Palm Springs to L.A.

Give a wave to good old Dave

Say hello to progress

And goodbye to the Moonlight Motor Inn