How have you been, my darling children
While I have been away in the west
Though you are strangers I feel like I know you
By the way that you treat me and offer to feed me
And eagerly ask if I´ll stay for a rest

Now sit yourselves down in a pile here before me
I wish I had presents for each of your smiles
But I have been travelling without much to carry
Just a broken guitar case with paint on the sides
A bag and a few signs to help me get rides

But here are some beads from the throat of a Princess
Who lived in the years around 200 Bc
Divide them and wear them, but make sure to share them
'Cause I want you to have them in hopes that you'll be
As lovely as the lady who gave them to me

And here is a strange European guitar string
I found on the floor of a club in Marseilles
It´s fat for the third string and skinny for the fourth string
But I kept it in hopes that I´d use it some day
It´s funny how people just keep things that way

And here is a turtle from the Long Island Expressway
He says that his home has been covered with tar
So I gave him a ride on the back of my suitcase
And he says that he´d like to stay here in your yard
At long last his life won´t be quite so hard

And how have you been, my darling children
While I have been away in the west
Though you are strangers I feel like I know you
By the way that you treat me and offer to feed me
And eagerly ask if I´ll stay for a rest

And how have you been, my darling children