Getting old; some people feel as though every year brings about the loss of another freedom. One of the most difficult to let go, is the freedom to drive a car.

Old Driver Blues

When I do my shopping
I drive into town,
The people in the streets
Look at me and frown,
The other drivers are terrible
They get in my way,
Why, the streets were much safer
Back in my day.

I've been driving
For something like 70 years,
Now it makes me so nervous
Unless I've had a few beers,
Because everyone else
Drives so gosh darn fast,
Like they're racing to the future
While I dwell in the past.

These new-fangled cars
Have so many dang buttons,
I think the kids of today
Are technological gluttons,
And by the time I have learned
What all of them are,
Ten years have gone by
And I need a new car.

I know some day I'll have to
Get someone else to drive,
But I swear to you now
Not while I'm alive,
I'm an independent man
And I'll have no drivin' slave,
I'll be behind the wheel
Till they drop me in my grave.

Fibril_late;
1997