With a backpack full of yesterdays On a freeway full of smoke and haze Where the power lines and fault lines double cross I left our yellow porch light on No one will notice no one's home And no one else will notice what was lost I lost my home when the deal went bust To the so-called security and trust I planned my life the way they said I should I sent my wife and kids ahead I'm right behind you, so I said I'll be there when I get there if that's good Chorus Now I'm leaving California for the dust bowl They took it all, there's nowhere else to go The pastures of plenty are burning by the sea And I'm just a homeland refugee There's a plastic sack by a barbwire fence
A burned out beer truck full of dents A dried up stock pond by an old can*l Between the towns the desert sands Filling up with empty cans Container trains, casinos and can*ls Chorus My Grandpa used to tell about The way the bankers drove them out In the wind and the dust in the crash of '29 They crossed the desert headed west They swore that it was for the best They rea**ured the ones they left behind There's some refugees from Mexico Behind an abandoned Texaco We nod and smile, it's clear we're all the same For everything this world is worth We're all just migrants on this earth Returning to the dust from where we came Chorus