Ten Degrees and Getting Colder

(Gordon Lightfoot)

He was standing by the highway
With a sign that just said Mother
When he heard a driver coming
About a half a mile away
So he held the sign up higher
Where no decent soul could miss it
It was ten degrees or colder
Down by Boulder Dam that day

He was raised up in Milwaukee
Though he never was that famous
He was just a road musician
To the taverns he would go
Singing songs about the ramblin'
The lovin' girls and gamblin'
How the world fell on his shoulders
Back in Boulder I don't know

Chorus
And she told him she would take him
For a ride in the morning sun
Back in Boulder he had told her
I don't know when, I've had a better friend

It was out in Arizona
That he heard the lady listening
To each word that he was saying
To each line that he would write
So he sat down at her table
And they talked about the weather
98.6 and rising down by Boulder Dam that night

Chorus

Now he's traded off his Martin
Though his troubles ain't over
His feet are almost frozen and the sun is sinking low
Won't you listen to me brother, if you ever loved your mother
Please pull off on the shoulder, if you're goin' Milwaukee way
It's ten degrees and getting colder down by Boulder Dam today