Kay with all your singing talent back in Houston
Nashville's all you talked about
I sold everything I owned to bring you here now you'll be famous
There's no doubt
Last week you knocked 'em out in New York
Tonight Chicago's going wild
Kay your new record on the jukebox don't sound bad
Kay I'm livin' yet I'm dyin' starin' out at music city from my cab
Caution lights blink out their warning some old Big Ben clock chimes 3 A.M.
Starvin' hound dogs search the trash cans my gas tank could stand a dollars worth of gas
All those chunk holes here on main street jar my rib cage I could cuss
Kay the crowd of night life people look so sad
Kay I'm livin', yet I'm dyin' starin' out at music city from my cab
Two young soldiers from Fort Campbell told me how they hate that war in Vietnam
Sirens echoed through an alley and some woman said some fellow stabbed a man
I rushed miss teenage to a doctor she begged to give the child my name
I've lost count of cups of coffee that I've had
Kay I'm livin', yet I'm dyin' starin 'out at music city from my cab
The rose petals on my front seat fallen from the bouquet Jimmy took to June
Jim kept mumbling through his tear drops God she'll leave this world with flowers in her room
Kay, I showed some drunk your picture and he made some smart remark
So I hit him in the mouth boy was I mad oh
Kay I'm livin', yet I'm dyin' starin'out at music city from my cab
Guitars, organs, horns, violins and pianos, how they play
Grinding out the latest sounds from music city, USA
Kay, although I know I lost you to the swinging music world
I kiss pictures of those happy times we had
Kay I'm livin', yet I'm dyin' starin' out at music city from my cab
Kay I'm livin', yet I'm dyin' starin' out at music city from my cab
Nashville's all you talked about
I sold everything I owned to bring you here now you'll be famous
There's no doubt
Last week you knocked 'em out in New York
Tonight Chicago's going wild
Kay your new record on the jukebox don't sound bad
Kay I'm livin' yet I'm dyin' starin' out at music city from my cab
Caution lights blink out their warning some old Big Ben clock chimes 3 A.M.
Starvin' hound dogs search the trash cans my gas tank could stand a dollars worth of gas
All those chunk holes here on main street jar my rib cage I could cuss
Kay the crowd of night life people look so sad
Kay I'm livin', yet I'm dyin' starin' out at music city from my cab
Two young soldiers from Fort Campbell told me how they hate that war in Vietnam
Sirens echoed through an alley and some woman said some fellow stabbed a man
I rushed miss teenage to a doctor she begged to give the child my name
I've lost count of cups of coffee that I've had
Kay I'm livin', yet I'm dyin' starin 'out at music city from my cab
The rose petals on my front seat fallen from the bouquet Jimmy took to June
Jim kept mumbling through his tear drops God she'll leave this world with flowers in her room
Kay, I showed some drunk your picture and he made some smart remark
So I hit him in the mouth boy was I mad oh
Kay I'm livin', yet I'm dyin' starin'out at music city from my cab
Guitars, organs, horns, violins and pianos, how they play
Grinding out the latest sounds from music city, USA
Kay, although I know I lost you to the swinging music world
I kiss pictures of those happy times we had
Kay I'm livin', yet I'm dyin' starin' out at music city from my cab
Kay I'm livin', yet I'm dyin' starin' out at music city from my cab
×
![]()
(Hank Mills)
"Kay" is about a taxicab driver in Nashville, Tennessee. The narrator's wife has left him to become a country music singer, and the song describes some of the customers that he drives. Among them are soldiers from Fort Campbell who tell him that they "hate that war in Vietnam". This line has been cited as an example of the anti-war movement's presence in country music in the late 1960s.