L J Booth - Swimming Hole

Back one barefoot summer I was tagging on with Tim
Already an eighth grader, man; I admired him
He was the first guy in our town to know what it was like
To ride with highrise handlebars
On a black banana bike

So when the streets were oozin' tar
And the heat pressed down like spikes
We'd gather up a posse; cirde 'round our bikes
And go lookin far the man who stole the shade
Tim showed us right where to catch him cold...
At the swimming hole

The swimming hole was relief from the pain
Of a sun that pushed the tar up through main
There wasn't a cooler way to get wet
Like to fizzle the tiame on a hot cigarette
The first dive sent a spark through your skin
A 'ough' in your throat and your face in a grin
Running for water; headfirst you'd lunge
Ready to deliver yourself like a sponge

Jeff could do his Monkey Jump
And me my cannonball
Before they'd have their clothes hung up
I'd have drenched them all
Sometimes we'd laugh so hard
Our throats would make no sound
It was easier to be kids when the parents weren't around
Tim stretched out one story
How his dad had lost three toes
He'd been wading out one day bumped a snapper's nose
Biggest sabertooth turtle in the world
And Tim says, 'He's still down there in the cold'...
Of the swimming hole

Tim didn't know what he'd just begun
We all glanced at the pool in the glare of the sun
Our imaginations started putting on shows
Of gigantic jaws just an inch from our toes
There were dozens ot stories; with all of the guys
How he was hungry for flesh and had sinister eyes
Though I laughed; my feet never forgot them
In six years of swimming they never touched bottom
So when the streets were oozin' tar
And the heat pressed down like spikes
We'd gather up a posse; cirde 'round our bikes
And go lookin far the man who stole the shade
Tim showed us right where to catch him cold...
At the swimming hole

Sure there was a cement pool at Harmon Park in town
With sanitary dressing rooms and lifeguards strung around
But we preferred the swimming hole
With cottonwoods and stone
Then one day Jeff slipped off the rope
And popped his collarbone
So all the nervous people that worked at city hall
Said it was too dangerous; 'That hole will drown you allSo they brought in seven tubs of rainbow trout
And a sign that said NO SWIMMING in the cold...
Of their fishing hole

Cause their fishing hole was relief from the pain
Of a work ethic worm that laid eggs in their brains
They were looking for ways to recover that time
When they were like us; with a kid's peace of mind
But that no swimming sign didn't phase us at all
It sure looked tine up on Tim's bedroom wall
They ain't made a fence that's too tall to dimb
And you can call us delinquents; but swimming's no crime

So when the night was oozin stars
And the heat pressed down like spikes
We'd gather up a posse; follow our flashlights
And go looking for the man who stole the shade
We'd sneak right down and catch him cold ...
At their fishing hole

'Cause their fishing hole was relief from the pain
Of a night as hot as steam from a train
There wasn't a cooler way to get wet
When that thick muggy air had greased you with sweat
That first dive sent a spark through your skin
Put a 'ough' in your throat and your face in a grin
Running for water; .head tirst you'd lunge
Soaking the cool of the pool like a sponge