There comes a time when people have let you down,
just that
once too often when you say,
I'm going to manage on my own,
thank you very much,
and I'm going to live exactly how I please.
This is a song of somewhat vulgar independence,
written by Lal Waterson from the Waterson family.
I come from Hull in England.
This is called Red Wine and Promises.
I live in the street and I'm drunken here.
There's bright water all
around me.
And the cheap red wine in my drunken brain
has left a burning flame in my belly.
I don't want nobody helping me.
I don't want nobody's arms around me.
If I was a black beetle upside down,
I'd kick all night and never turn around.
But I'm flat on my back in the rainbow rain.
Still I know in the morning I'll be on my feet again.
I just can't get a grip on the ground.
I'm upside down the right way round.
It's you I miss,
my shameless lady,
who laughs out loud in the sad, patient night.
Always do be honestly, lead
in me waking
dreams and me drunken nights.
I don't fear the yawning sunshine morning.
I'm forwards running back again.
I live in the street and I'm drunken here.
There's bright water all
around me.
And the cheap red wine in my drunken brain
has left a burning flame in my belly.
I don't want nobody helping me.
I don't want nobody's arms around me.
I don't want nobody helping me.
I don't want nobody's arms around me.