CHEAP MOTEL

Joe Grushecky and The Houserockers' studio version

I've been drifting from state to state
From town to town chasing my fate
Working just enough to sleep and eat
A man never knows who he might meet

At a cheap motel - cheap motel
Where I've been I'll never tell
Riding down the highway bound straight for hell
And check into a cheap motel

I had a girl once but it didn't work out
She wasn't happy traveling about
She expected too much of me
She wanted a home and security

Instead of cheap motels - cheap motels
Where I've been I'll never tell
Riding down the highway bound straight for hell
And check into a cheap motel - a cheap motel

From the Motel Six in Tucson, Arizona
To the Do Drop In in Lawton, Oklahoma
Going to spend my winters in New Mexico
Where the nights are long and the days are slow
The nights are long and the days are slow

The cops come knocking one day at dawn
And I got arrested for building a bomb
Two days later they cleared the cell
And drove me back to this cheap motel

Cheap motel, cheap motel
Where I've been I'll never tell
Riding down the highway bound straight for hell
And check into a cheap motel

Page last updated: 19 Oct 2011

Info

CHEAP MOTEL is a song co-written by Joe Grushecky and Bruce Springsteen in July 1995, with Springsteen providing most of the music and Grushecky most of the lyrics. The song was released on Joe Grushecky and The Houserockers' 1997 album Coming Home. The album also includes three other songs that Grushecky co-wrote with Springsteen: 1945, I'M NOT SLEEPING, and IDIOT'S DELIGHT.

The above lyrics are transcribed from Joe Grushecky and The Houserockers' studio version of CHEAP MOTEL, as released on Coming Home.

Live History

As far as it's known, Bruce Springsteen has never performed CHEAP MOTEL live.

Credits

Thanks Steen Andersson (rosalita101 at Greasy Lake) for the Coming Home album scan.