The Wall of Death used to be a show at Ottawa's annual summer fair. If you're not familiar with it, this is where the audience would stand around the top of a tall wooden cylindrical structure, while bikers rode motorcycles around and around the sides of the wall, coming perilously close to the top, all the while flirting with the girls watching.

The memory brought the whole scene to life in my head and the song pretty much wrote itself, giving shout-outs to Elvis and "Oh Susanna" in the process.

I met her at a carnival, by the Wall of Death
She was laughing her head off, I was holding my breath
I heard her say she likes whiskey, I had a small hip flask
When I offered her a shot, she said, I thought you'd never ask

refrain:
I knew she was wild, I didn't know she was crazy, too
Didn't know she was dangerous or what she might do
She's like an eighteen-wheeler chasing down the white line
Says the guy can keep up to me, I'll show him a good time

She says she knows Elvis, says she knows where he lives
Says it's not in Memphis, not anywhere you'd guess
Says he told her she was high class, told her she could go far
They had the chance to be real good friends, then she stole his car
    refrain

She didn't come from Alabama, banjo on her knee
She doesn't know about coincidence or serendipity
Says there's no such thing as fate, we're living wild and free
There's no one you were meant to meet, except for her and me
    refrain

bridge:
Sometimes late at night when the moon is high, I hear her crying in her sleep
I just hold her close till the feeling goes and she's smiling back at me

She was Tennessee born and bred, living up in the hills
If she hadn't joined the carnival, she'd be living there still
Her daddy makes moonshine, her mama's in the stir
Says she's got no problems, so long's I'm with her
    refrain

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