I was a bootlegger   prohibition never slowed me down   the secret knock on my back door   would get you into my side of town   the pretty women...the handsome men   the boys straight out of the holding pen   I was a bootlegger   oh...for those desperate days again      The same railroad tracks   that cut the town in two   they took all I had   when they took you   but that Uncle Sam   he made me who I am   I was a bootlegger   for your rules I could give a damn      first in war   first in peace   last in the American league   you didn't need a gun   in Washington   you'd just tell me what you need   you'd just tell me what you need      I was a bootlegger   a free market devotee   no selling apples on the street   no...none of that shit for me   I fought the great war   well I never knew what for   I was a bootlegger   trapped in a tug-of-war      a year in a trench   will make you dry   can't remember where you've been   you came home to find   they moved the bottom line   making that same old mistake again   making that same old mistake again      I was a bootlegger   prohibition never slowed me down   the secret knock on my back door   would get you into my side of town   the pretty women...the handsome men   the boys straight out of the holding pen   I was a bootlegger   oh...for those desperate days again   oh...for those desperate days again   oh...for those desperate days again