IT SURE CAN GET COLD IN DES MOINES
(Tom T. Hall)


Tom T. Hall - 1971





The Iowa weather was thirteen below
I had come to Des Moines for a radio show
I awoke in the evening from a traveller's sleep
With notions of something to eat

The old elevator slid down past the floors
My head and my eyes said you should have slept more
The man at the desk said the restaurant was closed
Outside it was fourteen below

The lounge was still open and so I walked in
In place of my food, I had two double gins
I looked round the room as a tourist would do
That's when I saw a girl in the booth

She sat there and cried in the smoky half dark
The silent-type crying that tears out your heart
Her clothes were not cut in the new modern way
And her suitcase had seen better days

Nobody asked her what caused her such pain
Nobody spoke up, yet no one complained
Without even askin' I knew why she cried
Life is just like that sometimes

The man at the desk said, "It's fifteen below"
The bellhop said, "Yeah, man, that's cold, that's cold"
I went back to my room and I wrote down this song
Oh, it sure can get cold in Des Moines






(Transcribed by Mel Priddle - July 2012)