1) The Highwaymen was an Am… Read Full Bio ↴There are two artists sharing this name;
1) The Highwaymen was an American country music supergroup, composed of four of the genre's biggest artists, known for their pioneering influence on the outlaw country subgenre: Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson, and Kris Kristofferson. Active between 1985 and 1995, the group recorded three major label albums as The Highwaymen: two on Columbia Records and one for Liberty Records. Their Columbia works produced three chart singles, including the number one "Highwayman" in 1985.
Between 1996 and 1999, Nelson, Kristofferson, Cash, and Jennings also provided the voice and dramatization for the Louis L'Amour Collection, a four-CD box set of seven Louis L'Amour stories published by the HighBridge Company, although the four were not credited as "The Highwaymen" in this work.
Besides the four formal members of the group, only one other vocal recording artist appeared on a Highwaymen recording: Johnny Rodriguez, who provided Spanish vocal on "Deportee", a Woody Guthrie composition, from "Highwayman".
The four original members starred in a movie together: the 1986 film Stagecoach.
2) The Highwaymen were a collegiate folk group from the 1960s who had a significant impact on the folk scene of that time and remain famous for the song "Michael" and "Cotton Fields." Formed in 1958 while the band members were at college, the group broke up in 1964 after releasing eight albums and ten singles. They reunited in 1987, minus Chan Daniels (who died in 1975), for a concert for their 25th college reunion. Between then and 2009, the band has performed ten to twelve concerts a year. Today, two of the original five members (Steve Butts and Steve Trott) are still alive, with Dave Fisher dying on May 7, 2010, Gil Robbins (father of actor Tim Robbins) dying on April 5, 2011, and Bob Burnett dying on December 8, 2011.
Sugar Man
The Highwaymen Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Of the city streets at night,
And the alleyways and ugly things
Are hidden from the light.
And somewhere, son, my baby's
Gonna sell her soul again,
For a custom tailored lady-killer
They call Sugar Man.
I searched the backstreet barrooms,
And every cheap hotel,
Asking for my baby; they all knew her well.
Well, they said, "She's out there working
For the wages of her sin,
And if you want to find your baby, Baby,
Look for Sugar Man."
Well, tonight I found her
On the sorry side of town
Lying cold upon the bed
Where she had laid her body down.
I picked up the needle that had fallen from her hand
And stuck it through the money she had made for Sugar Man.
There are shadows on the sidewalks
Of the city streets at night
And the alleyways and ugly things
Are hidden from the light.
But the sun's gonna shine tomorrow
On some dirty gargage cans,
And a custom tailored lady-killer
They called Sugar Man.
The Highwaymen's song Sugar Man tells a bleak and tragic story of a woman who sells her soul and body to survive, ultimately dying on the sorry side of town after making money for a man called Sugar Man. The lyrics use powerful metaphors to convey the dark and seedy world of the city streets at night, with shadows and ugly things hidden from the light. The singer, who may be the woman's lover or just a concerned acquaintance, searches for her in backstreet barrooms and cheap hotels, where he learns that she is working for the wages of her sin. He eventually finds her dead, with a needle by her side and money earned from Sugar Man. The final verse offers a glimmer of hope with the promise of the sun shining on the next day, but the image of the custom-tailored lady-killer lingers on as a reminder of the evils that exist in the shadows.
Line by Line Meaning
There are shadows on the sidewalks
The dark parts of the city are hidden away on the streets by nightfall.
Of the city streets at night,
Under the cover of night, the city changes.
And the alleyways and ugly things
The parts of the city that most people don't want to see.
Are hidden from the light.
These parts of the city are avoided and neglected.
And somewhere, son, my baby's
The artist's child is lost in this world.
Gonna sell her soul again,
She'll do whatever it takes to survive.
For a custom tailored lady-killer
She's doing it for a man who only sees her as a sexual object.
They call Sugar Man.
The man's name is Sugar Man and he preys on vulnerable women.
I searched the backstreet barrooms,
The artist is trying to find his daughter in the seediest parts of the city.
And every cheap hotel,
The places where he thinks she might have gone.
Asking for my baby; they all knew her well.
Everybody in these places knew who she was, but none of them would help him find her.
Well, they said, 'She's out there working
They're insinuating that she's a prostitute.
For the wages of her sin,
They believe she deserves to be in this situation.
And if you want to find your baby, Baby,
The only way he's going to find her is to look for Sugar Man.
Look for Sugar Man.'
Sugar Man is the key to finding his daughter.
Well, tonight I found her
The artist has found his daughter, but it's too late.
On the sorry side of town
She's in one of the worst parts of the city.
Lying cold upon the bed
She's dead.
Where she had laid her body down.
This is where she died.
I picked up the needle that had fallen from her hand
She died while using drugs.
And stuck it through the money she had made for Sugar Man.
The man she had given her life to doesn't deserve to keep the money she made for him.
But the sun's gonna shine tomorrow
Despite everything that has happened, life goes on.
On some dirty garage cans,
The city may seem dirty but there's still beauty to be found.
And a custom tailored lady-killer
There will always be someone else like Sugar Man out there.
They called Sugar Man.
These people are vile but somehow they always find new prey.
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Written by: KRISTOFFER KRISTOFFERSON
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@lesley-annehay8051
Great song. One of my favourites. Kris is awesome.
@barbaranielsen2888
I have loved this song since I first heard it! These lyrics are so perfect to describe the wasted lives that spring forth from these life choices!
@omega14j1
Thanks for posting this, one of my all time favorites.
@JoeSmith-px7zi
Timeless. Life continues as before. Outstanding troubadour.
@childrenstoryteller
Listen to this cover by these 2 amazing people https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-LNmlbjUygY
@countrygirl2397
first time I've heard of this one. Loved it!
@Kine1
Love this one :-)
@childrenstoryteller
Listen to this cover by these 2 amazing people https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-LNmlbjUygY
@nirmalasgabriel3050
Stumbled on this awesome song last evening, really?? Super cool
@oswaldthree
Yep. A definite long-time favourite. RjB