A Prairie Home Companion with Garrison Keillor

Streets of Rochester lyrics
Saturday, April 22, 2006
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As I walked out on the streets of Rochester
As I walked down by the clinic one day
I saw an old cowboy dressed in white linen
I could see he was old 'cause his hair had turned gray.

"I can see by your outfit that you are a doctor,"
He said to me quietly as I walked by.
"Please take a moment and hear my sad story,
I am an old cowboy and I don't want to die."
I've been having headaches and sometimes I'm dizzy
I'm always exhausted and that is no lie.
And I can't remember if it's Thursday or Friday
Or who's in the White House these days or why.

Could it be a reaction to certain food additives?
Or a lack of vitamins, or maybe the flu.
Or maybe my spine needs a very slight adjustment
Please help me doctor, what should I do?

The doctor leaned down and he took out his stethoscope
He listened for a minute and then he deduced
From the sound of the gurgling in the heart of the cowboy
That his mitral valve had come loose.

He was put on a gurney and shipped into surgery,
They opened him up, took a nip and a tuck,
And sewed him back up and shipped him to ICU
And there he awakened to his very good luck.

It makes a better song if the cowboy has perished,
And his comrades carry him in a coffin draped with black,
But this cowboy's grateful to be among he living,
And I thank my heart surgeon, Dr. Thomas Orszulak.

He is a cowboy who loves riding his Harley,
He's a fly fisherman who ties his own lures,
He tied up my heart so it beats with the best of them
And here is a song from my heart to yours.