(Gordon Lightfoot) He was standing by the highway With a sign that just said Mother When he heard a driver coming About a half a mile away So he held the sign up higher Where no decent soul could miss it It was ten degrees or colder Down by Boulder Dam that day He was raised up in Milwaukee Though he never was that famous He was just a road musician To the taverns he would go Singing songs about the ramblin' The lovin' girls and gamblin' How the world fell on his shoulders Back in Boulder I don't know Chorus And she told him she would take him For a ride in the morning sun Back in Boulder he had told her I don't know when, I've had a better friend It was out in Arizona That he heard the lady listening To each word that he was saying To each line that he would write So he sat down at her table And they talked about the weather 98.6 and rising down by Boulder Dam that night Chorus Now he's traded off his Martin Though his troubles ain't over His feet are almost frozen and the sun is sinking low Won't you listen to me brother, if you ever loved your mother Please pull off on the shoulder, if you're goin' Milwaukee way It's ten degrees and getting colder down by Boulder Dam today