As I was drivin' home along the boulevard late one night
I saw a guy in the corner, bummin' all alone
As I passed him by, I heard him holler out, "hey"
I slowed down to see what he said, he said um

"By any chance, are you goin' my way?"
I said, "sure baby, hop on in and give me a cigarette"
Then he reached out in his pocket
And that was the moment I regret

"Well now boy, reach for the sky"
Y'all said, "but I don't understand, sir"
"Don't you try no monkey business, I got a stopper in my hand"

And then he said, "you see this rock I got in my hand?
This is a 38 pistol built on a 45 frame
It shoots tombstone bullets and a ball and chain"
He said, "I ain't tryin' to shake you up, but I just want you to know
If the cops start crowdin' me in
You gonna be the first to go
So you just drive on like there ain't nothin' happenin'"
That's what he told me, he wouldn't even let me look back on nothin'

And he said, "when you get to that red light
I want y'all to jump back to your left and then switch back to your right"
He said, um, "I want you to park in the alley
Ah ah, not that, that one over there
And cool it behind that liquor store
And keep a sharp lookout at all times
While I sneak in that back door"
That's what he told me

He said, "keep your foot on the gas
And always be on guard
'Cause when I come runnin' out the liquor store with all that money"
He wanted me to mash on it real hard

He said, "now don't you come outta there and try me a double-cross
Because it's murder when the heat's on"

"Well now boy, reach for the sky"
"Yeah," but I said, "I don't understand, sir"
"Don't you try no monkey business, I got a stopper in my hand"

Oh wee, while I was sittin' there just tremblin'
A spotlight hit me dead in the face
The cops pulled up behind me and said
"Move up a bit man, we wanna take your place"

And then the guy come runnin' out of the store with the money in his hand
He said, "oh there you are"
He made a mistake in the dark and ran and leaped in a police car
As they put the handcuffs on him
I said, "child, your crime must have outgrew him"
And they said, "yeah, we gonna put him so far back in jail this time
That they gonna have to pump air into him"

"Well now boy reach for the sky"
Yeah but I said, "I don't understand sir"
"Don't you try no monkey business, I got a stopper in my hand" (oh yeah)

Copyright: BMG Rights Management, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Writer(s): ELLAS MCDANIEL