Used to Be a Cop - Drive-By Truckers

Used to be a cop, but I got to be too jumpy

I used to like to party till I coughed up half a lung

Sometimes late at night I hear the beat a-bumping

I reach for my holster and I wake up all alone

Used to have a wife but she told me I was crazy

Said she couldn’t stand the way I fidget all the time

Sometimes late at night I circle round the house

I look through the windows and I dream that she’s still mine

I got scars on my back from the way my Daddy raised me

I used to have a family until I got divorced

I’ve gone too far from the things that could save me

I used to be a cop, but they kicked me off the force

I used to be a cop, till they kicked me off the force

Used to have a car, but the bank came and took it

Paying for a house that that bitch lives in now

Children that we had won’t even look at me

Guess there’s nothing left to lose, nothing matters anyhow

Got a scar on my arm from the bullet that once grazed me

I keep it in a box to remind me where I’ve been

That thin blue line was the only thing that could save me

I used to have a badge but they made me turn it in

And I used to play football, but I wasn’t big enough for college

But I passed the entrance exam first try, and on my way

Police Academy gave me the only thing I was ever good at

But my temper and the shakes, and they took that thing away

Used to have a wife, but she just couldn’t deal

With the anger and the tension that was welling inside of me

Sometimes late at night, I circle round the house

I look through the window and I remember how it used to be

I look through the windows and I remember how it used to be