Sage Francis - Li(f)e Little Houdini

Lyrics

Christopher Daniel Gay was arrested on a Friday
In Florida at the Daytona International Speedway.
He was a fugitive on the run. Christopher made a quick escape.
While being transported in a van that was picking up convicts state to state.
He did it during a bathroom break by hot wiring somebody's pick up.
In fact, Christopher a long history of theft involving trucks.
He was en route to Alabama for stealing a travel trailer.
Grand theft auto. He was a career criminal jailbird who also
had three outstanding warrants in his home state of Tennessee.
But it was an outstanding performance that set him free. Little Houdini.
He stole a big rig, then a tour bus that belonged to Crystal Gayle
To evaded a 5-state manhunt that wanted to put that birdy back in jail.
But they failed.

'Cause Christopher wasn't just running from cops. Christopher gay was now racing a clock.
His mother was dying and there was no time to be held inside of a cage with locks.
So y'all can turn up your nose and then suck on your teeth and then wag your finger.
Like "tsk tsk"...but he had to take the risk. Little Houdini.
There wasn't a single thing sinister in his decision to break from the prison.
His only motive was to go back to his childhood home while his mom was still living.
It wasn't a house, more like an old mobile camper
Where she was bed ridden, diagnosed with colon cancer.
Sometimes the only answer that we're left with when a loved one's name is on the death list
Is to head for the exits and go home, so Christopher got the hell out of Texas.
His abandonment was reckless and it prolonged his sentence.
Forget it. He had numerous convictions but none were as strong as this.
Unless you consider the other instance he went the distance
In a similar situation. It was a bizarre coincidence
When he escaped from prison the first time. Not this time, but the one before.
He visited is dad because he was dying inside of a mental ward.
Suffering from Alzheimer's. He paid respects, made his peace.
When he was done, he didn't run, he brought himself back to the police.
That's when his mother made her plea. She said...

"He knows what he done was wrong
But he knows his father don't got long.
He's not a fugitive on the run.
He's not dangerous, he's our son and he ain't never hurt no one.
He knows what he done was wrong
But he knows his father don't got long.
He's not a fugitive on the run, he's our son!"
And this ain't no country western song.

Christopher wasn't just running from cops. Christopher Gay was now racing a clock.
His mother was dying and there was no time to be held inside of a cage with locks.
So y'all can go on and toss your rocks and talk your talk like "tsk tsk"
Meanwhile Chris is stealing a tractor trailer from Walmart.
An 18 wheeler, he's peeling rubber, the bird takes flight down turnpikes.
With $300,000 worth of merchandise...but it ain't worth her life.
He ran it off the road and abandoned it 50 yards from his mom's
To avoid the cops. That's a half a football field from her feeble arms.
After all this stuff; tour bus, the pick up trucks,
the tractor trailer, interstate chases, he put on his breaks and couldn't get close enough.
The news reporters told people to lock their doors
Like there was a monster on the loose but there was no truth to those reports.
His mom had weeks to live. And Chris had years to serve.
They were within shouting distance but I don't think he heard her final words.
I don't think he heard her final words.
She made her plea to the T.V.

"He knows what he done was wrong
But he knows his momma don't got long.
He's not a fugitive on the run.
He's not dangerous, he's my son and he ain't never hurt no one.
He knows what he done was wrong
But he knows his momma don't got long.
He's not a fugitive on the run, he's my son!"
And this ain't no country western song.

The third time he escaped from a state cop at a Georgia pit stop
He just slipped out of the handcuffs, he jumped ship and he took off.
With no father to visit and no mom to go home to.
Just an open road where he could be free. Little Houdini.
With no father to visit and no mom to go home to.
Just a wide open sky where he could fly.
With no father to visit and no mom to go home to.
Just an open road where he could be free. Little Houdini.