i wish i could see bakersfield

Lyrics

i was takin' a walk through a small country city, just seem' what there was to see, i sat down to read a historical marker, when i felt someone sit down by me, he leaned on the tank that was helping his breathing, said it's bad when your body is gone, i said this is sure a nice town that you've got here, he said yeah, but there's no place like home, i wish i could see bakersfield, where the oil wells are pumpin', the oranges are bloomin', and the grapevine winds down from the hill, when i close my eyes i can touch the clear skies, at the corner where i used to live, oh i wish i could see bakersfield, he said you don't ever know where life's gonna lead you, when you go ramblin' off down the track, sometimes i wish i'd never left california, then i couldn't want to go back, he said "you know, i used to be a well-known country singer, made my first record back in 1953, at one time buck owens was my lead guitar player, and ol' hag once wrote a song about me", i wish i could see bakersfield, where the oil wells are pumpin', the oranges are bloomin', and the grapevine winds down from the hill, when i close my eyes i can touch the clear skies, at the corner where i used to live, oh i wish i could see bakersfield, oh i wish i could see bakersfield