I do a lot of driving through this country.
One night I was driving through one of these big East Coast
towns
about 3,
3.30 in the morning.
Hadn't eaten anything all day.
I was into sound
checks in the hotels and driving to the next gig.
I got real hungry
and I was, I
pulled off this freeway ramp and went downtown.
Spotted a 7-eleven.
I was real hungry for one of those hot dogs that goes around
on those little metal things.
Don't ask
me why.
So I pulled into 7-eleven,
had my truck,
my brights were on.
I was pulled up to another car and off the side of the
store there was this big garbage bin.
I saw something that reminded me back home
on the reservation.
I saw some eyes in the darkness shining back at me.
So I
turned the lights off and I looked.
There were these two young girls in their teens.
I don't know, 17 years old.
They're digging through the garbage back there in the
darkness.
They're dressed pretty, pretty badly.
Real skinny and didn't look too
good.
They were all freaked out,
looked at me,
dropped their stuff and ran.
I thought
man, that's an odd sight.
Sort of shocked me.
Walked into 7-eleven, ate my hot dog and
headed out on the road again.
Thought I'd never see those girls again.
Two blocks down
I saw these young girls
standing on a street corner with a bunch of older women.
All these
cars were pulling up with these strange men.
I pulled my truck over,
there was nothing I could do but say a prayer.
Next day on a holiday in I wrote this song.
It's called The Orphan Child.
An orphan child is always looking for a home.
A restless spirit with a burning desire to roam.
Nobody can hold her too long.
She's afraid she just might stay.
When the night bird starts a singing her song,
like a gypsy she's on her way.
Neither the wind or the rain
keep her from running away.
She's been on down that street through a dark alleyway.
And her tears won't come.
She's on her way inside.
Somebody say a prayer
for the orphan child.
Just
19 but she
looks much older than that.
Pulling tricks down the avenue and she's
working the streets at night like a cat.
And
the men she meets are all the same.
They don't even want to know her real name.
When the morning sun is on the rise,
she'll sigh and call it a night.
She's just another fatherless one.
And if nobody turns her around,
she'll live and die
in the streets of this town.
And the tears won't come.
Cause her way inside.
Somebody say a prayer for that orphan child.
An orphan child
is always looking for a home.
She's looking for a home.
Somebody help that girl.
Somebody say a prayer.
She's just looking for a home.
Just looking for a home.