hobo jungle (rewrite 2)

down at the edge of town
where the river runs down
where the weeds grow high
just south of the county line
there's something you should know
about somewhere you shouldn't go
and they call it hobo jungle

back when I was a kid 
I remember my mama said
"son, if you don't walk the narrow and straight
boy, it will be your fate
you'll be just like those men
who meet their bitter end
down in hobo jungle"

          I wanted to visit
          mom said "no!"
          which made me 
          bound and determined to go
          undermining
          parental law
          trouble is
          I liked what I saw

people not wasting time in school
people making their own rules
people with books and no TV
people who were not like me
and I knew right then and there
my future might lie somewhere
there in hobo jungle

          now, I was scared 
          to talk to them
          but they up and 
          welcomed me in
          a cuppa joe
          espresso strong
          I felt like I belonged

 somehow the years flew by
 but I kept in mind
 the fate that waited for me
 on the day I'd be set free
 when my eighteenth birthday came
 I left my home and found my way
 back to hobo jungle

and now it's my home sweet home
out here in the great unknown
living where living's not too hard
far from my mama's yard
happy as a proverbial clam
being exactly who I am
down in hobo jungle
down in hobo jungle
down in hobo jungle