Talking Wheelchair Blues lyrics

I went for a jog in the city air
I met a woman in a wheelchair
I said `I`m sorry to see you`re handicapped.`
She says `What makes you think a thing like that?`

And she looks at me real steady
And she says, `You want to drag?`

So she starts to roll and I start to run
And she beat the pants off my aching buns
You know going uphill I`d hit my stride
But coming down she`d sail on by!

When I finally caught up with her
She says `Not bad for somebody ablebodied.
You know, with adequate care and supervision
You could be taught simple tasks.
So how about something to eat?`

I said that`d suit me fine
`We`re near a favorite place of mine.`
So we mosied on over there
But the only way in was up a flight of stairs.

`Gee, I never noticed that,` says I.
`No problem,` the maitre d` replies.
`There`s a service elevator around the back.`

So we made it upstairs on the elevator
With the garbage, flies, and last week`s potatoes
I said `I`d like a table for my friend and me.`
He says `I`ll try to find one out of the way.`

Then he whispers, `Uh, is she gonna be sick,
I mean, pee on the floor or throw some kind of fit?`
I said `No, I don`t think so,
I think she once had polio.

But that was twenty years ago.
You see, the fact of the matter is,
If the truth be told,
She can`t walk.

So he points to a table, she wheels her chair
Some people look down and others stare
And a mother grabs her little girl
Says `Keep away, honey, that woman`s ill.`

We felt right welcome.

Then a fella walks up and starts to babble
About the devil and the holy bible
Says `Woman, though marked with flesh`s sin,
Pray to Jesus, you`ll walk again!`

Then the waiter says `What can I get for you?`
I said `I`ll have your best imported brew.`
And he says `What about her?`
I say `Who?` He says `Her.`

`Oh, you mean my friend here.`
He says `Yeah.` I say `What about her?`
`Well, what does she want?`
`Well, why don`t you ask her?`

Then he apologizes.
Says he never waited on a cripple before.
We immediately nominated him for Secretary of the Interior.

Well, she talked to the manager when we were through

She says `There`re some things you could do
To make it easier for folks in wheelchairs.`
He says `Oh, it`s not necessary.

Handicapped never come here anyway.`

Well, I said goodnight to my newfound friend
I said, `I`m beginning to understand
A little bit of how it feels
To roll through life on a set of wheels.`

She says `Don`t feel sorry, don`t feel sad,
I take the good along with the bad
I was arrested once at a protest demo
And the police had to let me go.

See, we were protesting the fact
That public buildings weren`t wheelchair accessible.
Turned out the jail was the same way.
Anyway, I look at it this way--
In fifty years you`ll be in worse shape than I am now.
See, we`re all the same, this human race.
Some of us are called disabled. And the rest--
Well, the rest of you are just temporarily able-bodied