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Earl’s Dead – Cadillac For Sale

written by Jimmy Buffett

from the album Songs From St. Somewhere

Lyrics

Earl’s dead – Cadillac for sale
An Eldorado sits out on the Tamiami Trail
Sign on the windshield tells the whole tale
Earl’s dead – Cadillac for sale

He was a circus man when they first met
He was fired from a cannon into a net
The money was good he always hit the bullseye
Savin’ for the car one day he would buy

No, he wasn’t thinkin’ of some average ride
A human cannonball has a lot of pride
If you’re gonna live large you need a hydramatic
Eldorado Biarritz for this wild acrobatic

And Earl’s is red with shark-like fins
And that is where this little love tale begins
The rear view mirror puts it all in scale
Earl’s dead – Cadillac for sale

She was an Everglades girl, partly Seminole
With the urge for goin’, and a wanderin’ soul
With a name like Moonvine she knew she’d never stay
That handsome human bullet stole her heart away

It was a Saturday night after the midnight show
She was starin’ at the car when he said “hello”
Didn’t take too much to move her off the reservation
Just a good lookin’ boy with the right transportation

And now Earl is wed, Moonvine’s got her veil
Towin’ that cannon down the Tamiami Trail
He’s got the talent, she’s got brains
Earl and Moonvine, left the land of sugar cane

So they drove down to Panama and back up to Maine
Had so much fun, hell, they did it again

Crossing cities off the map as they shot down the road
Knowin’ towin’ a cannon, things could explode

Now a Cadillac was always an Elvis thing
Polished chrome and gold it was the birth of bling
They came with personality they made you a star
God may have made the earth
But man made that car

Now all the way back to the time of James Dean
Car crash songs chewed up heroes and machines
Sick minds, stop signs and uncontrolled swerves
But Early and his Caddy could handle killer curves

So when the big top folded, Early took his last drive
Moonvine kissed her boy goodbye, his exit had arrived
She shot his ashes ‘cross the Gulf from that ancient rusty gun
Nomads know when the show is done

And Earl’s dead he’s been airmailed
And that Eldorado’s waitin’ on the Tamiami Trail
For some shameless entertainer to blow in like a gale
Earl’s dead – Cadillac for sale

Jimmy’s Note: