I'll move to N'awlins, its there I will flee
I'll become a jazz bum, live a life that is free.
I'll get me a nickname, "Carolina" or "Teach".
I'll stand on the corner and there I will preach.

They'll toss me their quarters and I'll sell'em salvation.
On the corner across from Bienville bus station.
I'll get me a room with an old army cot.
Hang out in the jazz clubs, drink coffee at Z'Otz's

I'll get oh so skinny, "What do you live on?"
Why java and beignets from Cafe du Monde.
I'll wear a beret and grow a goatee,
I'll settle down there and ne'er go away.

"But what of the floods? They come right to your door?"
To hell with that stuff, I was drownin' before.
"A dangerous town", that's what they all cry.
But I've decided to live before I do die.

I'll learn to play sax or to bang on the drum.
Just me and my sticks, man, a beatnik jazz bum.
My friends will be jealous, but I'll be no ly'a.
For my pals Bradjolina I make jambalaya.

My daughter will sing like an angel on corners
and my wife will cook chile for those saxaphoners.
The life will be good, we'll be happy as larks
If we are evicted will sleep in their parks.

I'll hang out in the Quarter, way down by the Mint.
When the cops come to roust me, I'll tell'em "Get bent."
"Town's too rough for you, you're the sensitive type."
That's why up my sleeve I will carry a pipe.

Not the kind that you puff on, not the type that you smoke.
It'll be a lead pipe, man, for poppin' jamokes.
I'll protect all the gypsies that live in the streets.
You mess with them fella's, you answer to me.

I'll survive as a scrounger, it'll be quite a hoot.
From that couch on the corner I'll make me a suit.
It's been out for a week now, in the rain it got soaked.
I'll slice the upholstery and make me a coat.

In my suit I will be so damn slick I will slide.
"Why its 'Teacha tha' Preacha', dressed in nalgahide!
The spirit it leaps from his mouth like a bird!
That man's gettin' down, just a preachin' tha' word!"

If you come to N'awlins, just look me up, man.
"The Nalgahide Preacher? Why, he's down on Saint Anne's.
'Teacha' tha' Preacha' exceeds all expectations.
For a buck or a bourbon, he will sell you salvation!"