If you don’t know the Bob Dylan tune it is available for a listen in the audio player at the bottom of the homepage. This is a Bob Dylan composition.

Early one mornin’ while layin’ in bed

I was thinkin’ bout Pigeon Falls

Listenin’ to the hotel sounds

Of people slammin’ doors in halls

She said a summer of three conventions

Ain’t been nuthin’ if it ain’t been rough

I said I’d love to take you

On a trip to Tahiti

But my checkbook isn’t big enough

So I pulled out the Atlas and was lookin’ at roads

When a thought occurred to me

If we headed due North up Lake Superior Coast

There’s some beauty we could see

And it’s for free

Pigeon River Massacree

She was sixteen when we first met

In the halls of PHS

It was love at first sight I suppose

But pretty soon I made her life a mess

We drove her Pinto everywhere we could

Even parking at the PVA

I tried to make it to second base 

And I can still feel her slap today

She tried to set me on the narrow path

But I kept walking away

I did all that I could to screw things up

And somehow she’d still stay

How can that be?

Pigeon River Massacree

I had a job pushing grocery carts

Working as a clerk for a spell

I stacked the bottles clearly too damn high

And one day they all just fell

But I made a bail fast as ever been seen

And spot-mopped the floor really well

I mixed ammonia and bleach in the bucket of water

And was nearly killed by the smell

But I got a promotion anyhow

I was issued my own price gun

I labeled a lot of cans of corn

But was always havin’ fun

At the Circle D

Pigeon River Massacree

She was workin’ at Walden Books

And I came in for a magazine

She said a man who’d been looking at smut

Had committed and act obscene

And later on when the lunch hour came

I asked if I could take her to Wags

She ordered the Tuna Melt on toast

And endured my teenage brags

I smelled the tuna fish on her breath

She studied my zits carefully

Young love ain’t always pretty

But sometimes it’s just meant to be

We were a sight to see

Pigeon River Massacree

We were married in the month of June

And started life for real

I thought you never were gonna ask, she said

I said, I thought I’d better seal the deal

The next thirty years were a hazy blur

Of grinding laughs and tears

Till one day we looked at each other

And said, what has happened to the years?

I said I’m sorry my dreams never came true

She said to me with a smile

They seldom do for any of us

But if you stay with me a while

You might still see

Pigeon River Massacree

So we loaded up the church van tight

Drove the wrong way down a one-way street

Bidding Minneapolis goodbye

For a road trip so sweet

Then we pulled into Duluth for a beer

But something about it felt wrong

Gazing out at Gitche Gumee

Thinking of a Lightfoot song

The clouds were building and the wind picked up

There was disaster in the air

We pushed on North through a thunderstorm

Like we were playing out a dare

About to pay the fee

Pigeon River Massacree

We hit the trail in a driving rain

With Canada now in sight

Slippin’ and slidin’ down the riverside

In a parka way too tight

Tryin’ to keep my camera dry

Ansel Adams visions in my head

Clamberin’ over slick, smooth boulders

With an uncanny sense of dread

She turned away, to look at the view

And that’s when my feet went out

The impact was so sudden and fierce

That I couldn’t even shout

Clavicle debris

Pigeon River Massacree

I righted myself with my glasses askew

Feeling like I’d jus been shot

Then she asked, what just happened to you?

As my saliva grew real hot

I explained that I had taken a fall

And felt I really hurt inside

I’ll walk it off, if I think I can

Bruised and battered was my pride

We walked on to look at the falls

I said we better call the Border Patrol

She said don’t be such a candyass

Which hurt me to my soul

But that’s just me

Pigeon River Massacree

800 miles of drivin’ home

Listenin’ to me moan

The next day they told me at Urgent Care

Dude you’ve broken your collarbone

They gave me a prescription

And put me in a sling

As soon as we arrived back home

I said, Jenny I’m not wearing this thing

She started laughing hysterically 

As she thought of my glasses awry

How did my shoulder become such a pain in my ass?

I now lay awake and cry

Oh, woe is me

Pigeon River Massacree