John Doe No 24 Lyrics

John Doe No 24 lyrics

I was standing on this sidewalk in 1945 in Jacksonville, Illinois
When asked
what my name was there came no reply
They said I was a deaf and sightless
half-wit boy
But Lewis was my name though I could not say it
I was born
and raised in New Orleans
My spirit was wild so I let the river take
it
On a barge and a prayer upstream

They searched for a mother and
they searched for a father
And they searched 'til they searched no
more
The doctors put to rest their scientific test
And they named me John
Doe No. 24
And they all shook their heads in pity
For a world so silent
and dark
Well there's no doubt that life's a mystery
But so too is the
human heart

And it was my heart's own perfume when the crape jasmine
bloomed on St. Charles Avenue
Though I couldn't hear the bells of the
streetcars coming
By toeing the track I knew
And if I were an old man
returning
With my satchel and pork pie hat
I'd hit every jazz joint on
Bourbon
And I'd hit every one on Basin after that

The years kept
passing as they passed me around
From one state ward to another
Like I
was an orphaned shoe from the lost and found
Always missing the
other
They gave me a harp last Christmas
And all the nurses took a
dance
Lately I've been growing listless
Been dreaming again of the
past

I'm wandering down to the banks of the Great Big Muddy
Where the
shotgun houses stand
I am seven years old and I feel my daddy
Reach out
for my hand
While I drew breath no one missed me
So they won't on the day
that I cease
Put a sprig of crape jasmine with me
To remind me of New
Orleans

I was standing on this sidewalk in 1945 in Jacksonville,
Illinois....