Time in Texas
Well I did a little time in Texas
Forgot to pay my taxes. What a drag.
So I did a little time in the joint
The Man got right to the point about good and bad.
Don’t it feel like something heavy’s always standing in the way?
And I know I’ve been lucky, lucky when I hear somebody say
Get out of Texas.
You don’t belong here anymore.
Well, I did a little time in the bars. Crawled in a whiskey jar, you know what I mean?
I used to work the door, can’t do that anymore now that I’m clean.
And it feels like something heavy just got lifted off of me
And I know that I’ve been lucky, lucky to live long enough to hear them say
Get out of Texas
You don’t belong here anymore.
Well, I might do a little time with you. Might even say “I do” one fine day.
Hell, I’ll even drive to Arkansas to ask your Ma and Pa if it’s ok.
And the Road is like a River set to carry us away.
Won’t you hold me when I shiver every time I hear somebody say
Get out of Texas
You don’t belong here any more.
You don’t belong here long-haired boy.
Mama Grady
Mama Grady, I stole potatoes. Yes’m, I was doing you wrong.
When the sun goes down tonight I might be in another town.
Well the moon was bright and I was not.
So I got caught in an awful spot. I’ll tell you more.
Mama G. came home too soon
and I got caught in Rosie’s room behind the door.
I made a break for the window sill rolled through the garden and down the hill.
And there she was.
With a frying pan in her hand she said “Whatcha doing here, young man”?
I just looked at her and said “Because…
Mama Grady, I stole potatoes. Yes’m I was doing you wrong.
When the sun goes down tonight I might be in another town.”
Well I guess you know she let me go
Because I’m still here to tell you so. So here it goes.
Rosie says her mom’s out late
and she’s gonna meet me by the garden gate in sleeping clothes.
Well it’s been 3 weeks since you-know-what and I ain’t told a soul
But I’ll tell you what.
We heard footsteps and Rosie ran. Left me there without a plan
Her Mama caught me one more time again…
Mama Grady, I stole potatoes. Yes’m I was doing you wrong.
When the sun goes down tonight I might be in another town.
Mama Grady, I stole potatoes.
Yes’m, I was doing you wrong.
Your daughter’s living in another town.
After it Rains
Okay, you forgot my name but I don’t really mind.
The clouds are always the same. It’s the sun that’s hard to find.
It’s getting hard to keep it all in my head.
Especially the morning after it rains.
Okay, we’e not the same but I don’t really care.
I know where we’re going isn’t anywhere.
It’s getting hard to keep on sharing the blame.
Especially in the morning after it rains.
Half my life I’ve been low half my life I’ve been high.
All alone on the ground with my hands to the sky
Never know when to run
…I don’t even know why…
Okay on the level, I need a little time.
To get rid of my devils I need to taste the wine.
Some days I feel able. Sometimes I feel Cain
Especially in the morning after it rains.
All is quiet. All is forgiven…
On the Tracks
Daddy, he’s an engineer. Lately he’s been far from here.
I steal his coat and I begin to walk like a man and talk like him.
One night before he got back, I took his coat and I walked the track.
I drank at a bar where they thought I was him
‘Cause both our fathers named us Jim.
Hey boy, don’t you lie on the track
And like an eight ball don’t you hide in the pack.
Hey boy, don’t you lie on the track and like it
Hey boy, don’t you lie on the track.
I got up and said goodnight and walked back home in the pale moonlight.
Stars were dancing all around so I broke the rule and I laid down.
Heave Mama, Ho Mama. Just a mile to go and they’re free.
They shot guards in prison yards and killed an Engineer in New Orleans.
I don’t know what woke me up but I rolled over and I’ll tell you what.
A Midnight freight train passed me by and that’s the day that my Daddy done died.
One Puff
I guess it started with this fever dream.
Three Velvet Witches around my old machine.
It was a ’71 ‘Stang with a 351 Cleveland.
Kind of begs the question what could I have been believing.
The first one, well she grooves right up and says to me.
“Baby, you could have your car back so easily.
Just take three breaths of this breeze I bring.
But before you do I’m warning you with every word I sing”
After one puff you’ll be alright for a while
After two puffs you might find you’ve lost your smile, but
After three puffs you might find you’re going blind and looking for a cure…
Coo coo, kind seer, you are Semper Hi
When you close you eyes do you find entire days go by?
It’s a funny thing watching you get shy
With your blue tattoos and matching shoes you don’t have to try. You’re always fly.
Now I find myself cutting my losses
swimming in a sea of manatees and albatrosses.
He who burns his bridges may soon be burning crosses
Ask yourself do you know who your Boss is?
After one puff you’ll be all right for a while.
after two puffs you might find you’ve lost your style, but
after three puffs you might find you’re going blind and looking for the door…
Long Way to the Bottom
I never was hipped to the light of day.
I never believed, not in that way.
I had a hand full of Aces and I threw ’em away.
I had the floor but I had nothing to say.
Can’t you see I’m a broken man and I’m soon forgotten.
Look at me and try to understand it’s a long, long way…
…to the Bottom.
Once upon a time I had powerful friends.
The kind that see life as a means to an end.
I got into a jam with a few that I knew
They looked right at me, and they said “Who are you”?
Can’t you see I’m a broken man and I’m soon forgotten.
Look at me and try to understand it’s a long, long way…
…to the Bottom of it all
And there’s nothing left that’s right
The bottom of your story
And you’ve wasted half your life if you believe
That there’s an easy way.
It’s a long way…
When the get you to fight they start winning the war.
They’ll tell you stand but won’t tell you what for.
When they tell you to Hate they got something to Sell
They got some kind of nerve. They’ll get some kind of hell.
Circle Seven
(Instrumental)
Used to Know
I get so down-hearted that I think I’m gonna die.
You should finish what you started but you don’t even try.
When I feel so empty I can’t never rise above.
Because I used to know what it was to be in love.
I used to know what it was to have enough
I used to know when a push turned to a shove.
I get so crazy when I think about what went wrong.
If I’d paid attention to it I’d have seen it all along
But I’d never believe it, so I’m back where I belong because I used to know…
They’re peeping through my window and listening through my radio
Someone’s rummaged through my brain and thrown out all the things
I used to know.
I went down to the corner to the place you used to stay.
To the bench where we used to sit. Where we’d drink the day away.
I got to feeling a little better but I lost another day.
Over and Back
I’m Jimmy Charon and it’s my boat.
I don’t pay taxes and I don’t care to vote.
I’m going over & back.
Half my life I’m giving people rides
I ain’t never made it to the other side
Over and back…
I go over and back, over and back.
Funny how everybody wants to do that.
Over and back, over and back.
Seems like everybody wants to do that.
Gonna row myself across tonight.
Hear the Music and see the city lights.
Over and back.
When I’m finally on the other side
I’ll walk the streets where my Daddy died.
Over and back.
New Orleans never seemed so far.
You and me shouldn’t have to try so hard.
Scratching and clawing for a little bit more than we actually are.
New Orleans never seems so far.
The Marketplace wears an Ancient Face.
You can lose your way without a trace.
When they’re buying and selling with their pieces of silver and gold.
New Orleans never seemed so cold…
Middle of the Night
In the middle of the night I have found my Baby’s car.
And she’s laying on the hood with somebody from the bar.
So I drive, recklessly, to a dive where no one’s gonna mess with me
In the middle of the night I have found her
In the middle of the night some other drunkard with his arms around her
In the middle of the night I have found my Baby out.
In the middle of the night I have found another star
With a twinkle in her eye and some money on the bar
So we kiss, with our eyes closed tight and I wish that I may and I think that I might…
In the middle of the night I have found her
In the middle of the night I want to put my lovin’ arms around her
In the middle of the night I have found another star.
All my life I’ve been waiting for a miracle to find me.
But every single time I see a little bit of light
It fades like a promise in the middle of the night.
In the middle of the night and I’m waiting for the dawn
Because her room is getting light and I’m wishing I was gone.
She’ll say “Aw say Baby, why yo got to treat me this way”?
And I know whoever’s cooking breakfast ain’t gonna see things my way.
So I dress, quietly, and the rest as they say, is history…
Sister Rosie
I’m gonna talk to you Sister Rosie ’cause you don’t hear me when I’m crying.
When I”m naked to the world.
I always catch you posing and there surely ain’t no denying
That you’re such a lovely girl.
But if I paint myself into a corner
there won’t be nothing to do but let it dry.
I’m getting old, I reckon I’m bold as a reporter.
You know I’ve meant each word I’ve said.
Let’s go to bed.
Now won’t somebody go talk to your Mama ’cause she thinks i’m stealing and I’m lying.
Well, she couldn’t be more wrong.
As she chases me in her pajamas and the neighbors are all dying
Dying to know what’s going on.
I guess I pushed a little too hard in the middle of the yard with a blushing daughter.
Now there’s nothing left to do but run and hide.
I’ve reaped and sowed. I’m laying low across the border
I’ll risk my neck. I’ll shave my head.
Let’s go to bed.
Won’t you talk to your sister Rosie ’cause she don’t hear me when I’m crying.
When I’m naked to the world
And I always catch her posing and there ain’t no denying
That she’s such a lovely girl.
But if I paint myself into a corner
There’ll be nothing to do but let it dry.
I’m getting old. I reckon I’m bold. These are in order.
I guess I’m in over my head.
Let’s go to bed.
People in the Middle
Well, her name was Katie so he took a chance.
She was a black belt in shady romance
But he was a fine man and he settled her down
And he moved her ass right out of town.
But I heard me a rumor that every once in a while
She sneaks out the backdoor and hitchhikes the mile
to the place in The Quarter where she’s greeted with smiles
And does things they ain’t seen in a while.
The people in the middle say that they’re fine
The people in the middle trains run on time
The people in the middle say that I can’t take another day.
If I could, then I would, but i’m so far gone by now.
Now there still are a few of those bars left in town
That remember the nights when Old Katie was around
Her money’s no good now, so she drinks for free
And ain’t that the way it should be?
If you stand on the corner of Bourbon and Orleans
You’ll see the sight there and you’ll know what it means.
There’s a shadow on the wall
That can show you the Light
As you wander your way through the night.
Then moving in silent deliberate circles through passers-by.
She’s a ghost at the door they no longer ignore when it’s closing time.
She points at the moon and it catches your sight
While she slips away, back into the night.
Running Girl
Running through the town. She turns her Walkman down.
Weaving Magic.
I watch her as she goes. She doesn’t even know
she’s stopping traffic.
And in one hand a collection of keys to a world I may never see.
On the other hand it may revolve around me.
Do you love me?
Do you love me, running girl?
Every day’s the same. I still don’t know her name
and she can’t hear me.
I barely see her face but both our hearts will race
as she runs near me.
One more day she runs away. Where is she running to?
One more dawn comes along. Without you.
Do you love me?
Do you love me, running girl
Don’t run away.
Don’t run away from me.