Ten Degrees and Getting Colder
[GORDON LIGHTFOOT]
Transcribed from Nanci Griffith’s
“Other Voices, Other Rooms” CD

Capo: 3rd Fret

He was standing by the highway

With a sign that says just Mother

When he heard a driver coming

About a half a mile away

So he held the sign up higher

So 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 rambling

The loving girls and gambling

How the world fell on his shoulder

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

Well it was out in Arizona

And he heard the lady listening

To each word that he was saying

To each line that he would write

So he sat down by her table

And they talked about the weather

Ninety eight point six and rising

Down by Boulder Dam that night

Now he’s traded off his Martin

But his troubles are not 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 going Milwaukee way

It’s ten degrees and getting colder

Down by Boulder Dam today