(D. Hickey)



He was a short order cook, and not too much to look at

And he traded in his foot, for a medal in the war

He loved a girl named Lila, in a bar across the highway

And you ought to see him smilin' at her comin' through the door



Lila always knew, she wasn't no ravin' beauty

She traded in her virtue to a trucker at sixteen

But she forgets to remember how he left her off in Denver

When she sees her Cooky smilin' as she opens up the screen



And he says

"Hi Lila, how about a cup of coffee?

Take a load off, take your shoes off, here's the sugar and the cream"

Cooky's been to war and Lila's been to Denver

And both of them are casualties of someone else's dream



Cooky pours the trucker's coffee, Lila serves the rigger's whiskey

And resists their invitations to go ridin' for a while

'Cause at a diner across the highway, on a shelf above the pastry

There's a cup reserved for Lila and the man who makes her smile



When he says

"Hi Lila, how about a cup of coffee?

Take a load off, take your shoes off, here's the sugar and the cream"

'Cause Cooky's been to war and Lila's been to Denver

And both of them are casualties of someone else's dream



Now as the nation rolls along, like a semi down the highway

Casting lonely broken bodies in the grass along the road

I've finally found a reason for believing in the future

Seeing Cooky and his Lila drinking coffee all alone



Oh yes

"Hi Lila, how about a cup of coffee?

Take a load off, take your shoes off, here's the sugar and the cream"

'Cause Cooky's been to war and Lila's been to Denver

And both of them are casualties of someone else's dream



Cooky's been to war, Lord and Lila's been to Denver

And both of them are casualties of someone else's dream



(c)1975 Everyday Songs/Baron Music Publ.