Maria lays in the tannin' bed
And reads the Tuesday news
She's down there every week at the same time
With the same ol' blues

She reads the funny papers
And then the classifieds
And if she ain't too sleepy
There's a weather report on the flip side

And this Kansas life is a hard one
For a girl from Miami
You're just starin' out at the oil fields
And that's all that I can see

Her old man's in the same place
Since the company let him go
Just sippin' the Paps Blue Ribbon
An' cussin' Amoco

Maria drives home from the tannin' bed
And the black clouds roll across the sky
She pulls into the trailer park, and pops the
Trunk and calls the kids outside

Said, 'There's a twister comin'
And you haven't got a clue
I ain't going to sit here in this double
Wide and wait around for you'

' 'Cause I'm takin' the microwave oven
And I'm takin' the color TV
And I'm packin' up the Chevy
With the kids and what's left of me'

This Kansas life is a hard one
For a girl from Miami
Just starin' out at the oil fields