Knees was at the top of his game in 1976. He was living in a wonderful big house on Melendres Street a few blocks from the best Mexican food in the world and a world class bookstore, COAS Books. By day he would swim at the Las Cruces Inn swimming pool and by night he would make music and merriment with Sage and Sand (later to become the Calhoon Brothers) at the bar. He was on the payroll at the LCI, which was a rarity for a musician, and every other semester or so he would take some classes at New Mexico State University, which had a fantastic library. A few years before Knees moved to Las Cruces the University had bought much of the inventory of the Gotham Bookstore in New York.
Written: Melendres Street, Las Cruces NM, 1976
A short story by J.D. Salinger called Pretty Mouth and Green My Eyes inspired this song. In the story a man gets a call from a frantic buddy who’s looking for his wife, who hasn’t come home. The man, who is in bed with a woman, assures him that she’ll return and hangs up. Later, just when we’re feeling sure the woman is the buddy’s wife, the buddy calls again and says his wife just drove up.
A telephone rings in a darkened room
And a sleepy voice
whispers “Hello.”
The clock on the
dresser says two a.m.
The chair is covered
with clothes
Then a cigarette lights
up her face
As she cries into the
phone
“Oh Billy I’m so glad
you called me here
I’m so lonely and I
want to come home.”
I can see it all right now
The way that she’ll
come back to me
But is this the way
it’ll be?
I think I’ll call her
now and see.
A telephone rings in a darkened room
And a sleepy voice
whispers “Hello.”
The clock on the
dresser says two a.m.
You can’t see the chair
for the clothes
Then a cigarette lights
up the tears in her eyes
As she cries into the
phone
“Oh Billy don’t call me
here anymore
It’s late and I’m not
alone.”
I can see it all right now
The way that she’ll
come back to me
But is this the way
it’ll be?
I think I’ll call her
now and see.
Triwindow
The CALHOON BROTHERS LIVE VERSION
(Sometime in the late 70s at the Las Cruces Inn, Las Cruces NM)
