He said he came from Memphis, he said he came from Dallas
Said he worked in Oklahoma at the Choctaw Bingo Palace
He said he was a ferry boat pilot in Vancouver
Said he had a job in Paris cleaning paintings at the Louvre
He said he lived in Vegas with a stripper named Lena
But everybody knew that he was Sammy from Massena
Sammy from Massena, Sammy from Massena
Always said he came from some place where the grass was surely greener
But everybody knew that he was Sammy from Massena
He said he was a fisherman up in Newfoundland
He said he blew the harp in an Austin blues band
He said he had quit drinking since the trouble with his liver
But still he liked to hang out in a joint down by the river
He said it was like a tavern he’d been to in Argentina
But everybody knew that Sam had never left Massena
Sammy from Massena, Sammy from Massena
Living down on Willow Street by the Cornell Cleaners
Everybody knew that he was Sammy from Massena
Massena is little town, though not as small as some
On the St. Lawrence Seaway, built on aluminum
Near the Eisenhower Locks and the Robert Moses dam
Home to twelve thousand people and one of them was Sam
When they pulled him from the river, his clothes were frozen stiff
The picture in the paper showed him in a snowdrift
They said he would have perished without the grace of God
Not to mention the assistance of the local rescue squad
He was laid up in the hospital for nearly three weeks
Then the musicians of Massena gave Sam a jamboree
While watching Jerry Springer one day Sammy saw
An ad that said, “Been injured? Call a counselor-at-law”
Sammy dialed the number and they figured out a plan
After paying off the lawyer, Sammy won a hundred grand
He bought himself a double-wide just outside of Helena
And that’s how it was that Sammy finally moved out of Massena
Sammy from Massena, Sammy from Massena
He used to live on Willow Street by the Cornell Cleaners
Everybody knew that he was Sammy from Massena