Cherokee Rat
To the tune
of Tennessee Stud, by Johnny Cash, and dedicated
to the 11,520 miles that I helped put on the Ratodometer.
By Josué Packman
Back about nineteen and ninety
eight,
we left Long Island on a fine June day.
Headed down the Pike to see Ripken at the bat,
and we were riding in the Cherokee Rat.
We spent the day down in Baltimore
before the Blue Ridge Mountains we done saw.
In Tennessee we'd never've hung our hat,
if we hadn't been riding in the Cherokee Rat.
The Cherokee Rat is a tough machine,
with HazMat on the dash
and the color of green.
It got us to what we were drivin' at,
There never was a car like the Cherokee Rat.
Down to the Gulf and New Orleans,
and then Dallas we done seen.
We never would have made it 'cross Kansas flat,
if we hadn't been riding in the Cherokee Rat.
Through Boulder, Colorado to the Rocky Mountain passes,
roads like that could have pained our asses.
But we weren't hearin' none of that,
C ause the drivin' was easy in the Cherokee Rat.
The Cherokee Rat is a tough
machine,
with HazMat on the dash
and the color of green.
It got us to what we were drivin' at,
There never was a car like the Cherokee Rat.
We did Las Vegas and we did
it right,
we done made it in the middle of the night.
Scuppy was bitching, fell asleep in the back,
as T-Bone drove the Cherokee Rat.
Traveled California and we did it good,
saw lots of ocean and some tall redwood.
Hit a beach at dusk and there we sat,
though the sun never sets on the Cherokee Rat.
The Cherokee Rat is a tough
machine,
with HazMat on the dash
and the color of green.
It got us to what we were drivin' at,
There never was a car like the Cherokee Rat.
Went through Seattle then we
were ferry bound,
for a little beach house on the Puget Sound.
Raining pretty steady and the mud did splat,
but we didn't skid once in the Cherokee Rat.
Crossed the border to Vancouver town,
smoked legal greens with that Nigel clown.
Shoulda bought some more and thrown it in the back,
' cause Customs never searched the Cherokee Rat.
The Cherokee Rat is a tough
machine,
with HazMat on the dash
and the color of green.
It got us to what we were drivin' at,
There never was a car like the Cherokee Rat.
The state of Montana had no
speed law,
so we pushed the pedal and it hit the floor.
Got pulled over, twice in fact,
but the pigs would never bust the Cherokee Rat.
Through Glacier to Yellowstone without fail,
where we got pounded with some "ball" sized hail.
A few minor dents nothing more than that,
yeah we were plenty safe in the Cherokee Rat.
The Cherokee Rat is a tough
machine,
with HazMat on the dash
and the color of green.
It got us to what we were drivin' at,
There never was a car like the Cherokee Rat.
Like a bat out of Wyoming we
were gone,
but not before we saw some Grand Teton.
South Dakota Badlands and the hills of black,
ten thousand miles strong in the Cherokee Rat.
Down every road in this here land we did go,
eleven thousand and five-two-oh.
Never woulda made this country and back,
if we hadn't been riding in the Cherokee Rat.
The Cherokee Rat is wide and mean, the color of the sky in a
true Kansas dream.
Got us to what we were drivin' at, there ain't another ride
like the Cherokee Rat.