(Bob Dylan)
Old Reilly stole a stallion
But they caught him and they brought him back
And they laid him down on the jailhouse ground
With an iron chain around his neck.
Old Reilly's daughter got a message
That her father was goin' to hang.
She rode by night and came by morning
With gold and silver in her hand.
When the judge he saw Reilly's daughter
His old eyes deepened in his head,
Sayin', "Gold will never free your father,
The price, my dear, is you instead."
"Oh I'm as good as dead," cried Reilly,
"It's only you that he does crave
And my skin will surely crawl if he touches you at all.
Get on your horse and ride away."
"Oh father you will surely die
If I don't take the chance to try
And pay the price and not take your advice.
For that reason I will have to stay."
The gallows shadows shook the evening,
In the night a hound dog bayed,
In the night the grounds were groanin',
In the night the price was paid.
The next mornin' she had awoken
To know that the judge had never spoken.
She saw that hangin' branch a-bendin',
She saw her father's body broken.
These be seven curses on a judge so cruel:
That one doctor will not save him,
That two healers will not heal him,
That three eyes will not see him.
That four ears will not hear him,
That five walls will not hide him,
That six diggers will not bury him
The festival was over the boys were all plannin' for a fall
The cabaret was quiet except for the drillin' in the wall
The curfew had been lifted and the gamblin' wheel shut down
Anyone with any sense had already left town
He was standin' in the doorway lookin' like the Jack of Hearts
He moved across the mirrored room
"Set it up for everyone", he said
Then everyone commenced to do
What they were doin' before he turned their heads
Then he walked up to a stranger and he asked him with a grin
"Could you kindly tell me friend what time the show begins?"
Then he moved into the corner face down like the Jack of Hearts
Backstage the girls were playin' five-card stud by the stairs
Lily had two queens she was hopin' for a third to match her pair
Outside the streets were fillin' up the window was open wide
A gentle breeze was blowin' you could feel it from inside
Lily called another bet and drew up the Jack of Hearts
Big Jim was no one's fool he owned the town's only diamond mine
He made his usual entrance lookin' so dandy and so fine
With his bodyguards and silver cane and every hair in place
He took whatever he wanted to and he laid it all to waste
But his bodyguards and silver cane were no match for the Jack of Hearts
Rosemary combed her hair and took a carriage into town
She slipped in through the side door lookin' like a queen without a crown
She fluttered her false eyelashes and whispered in his ear
"Sorry darlin' that I'm late", but he didn't seem to hear
He was starin' into space over at the Jack of Hearts
"I know I've seen that face before", Big Jim was thinkin' to himself
"Maybe down in Mexico or a picture up on somebody's shelf"
But then the crowd began to stamp their feet
And the house lights did dim
And in the darkness of the room there was only Jim and him
Starin' at the butterfly who just drew the Jack of Hearts
Lily was a princess she was fair skinned and precious as a child
She did whatever she had to do she had
That certain flash every time she smiled
She'd come away from a broken home had lots of strange affairs
With men in every walk of life which took her everywhere
But she'd never met anyone quite like the Jack of Hearts
The hangin' judge came in unnoticed and was being wined and dined
The drillin' in the wall kept up but no one seemed to pay it any mind
It was known all around that Lily had Jim's ring
And nothing would ever come between Lily and the king
No nothin' ever would except maybe the Jack of Hearts
Rosemary started drinkin' hard and seein' her reflection in the knife
She was tired of the attention tired of playin' the role of Big Jim's wife
She had done a lot of bad things even once tried suicide
Was lookin' to do just one good deed before she died
She was gazin' to the future riding on the Jack of Hearts
Lily washed her face took her dress off and buried it away
"Has your luck run out?", she laughed at him
"Well I guess you must have known it would someday
Be careful not to touch the wall there's a brand-new coat of paint
I'm glad to see you're still alive you're lookin' like a saint"
Down the hallway footsteps were comin' for the Jack of Hearts
The backstage manager was pacing all around by his chair
"There's something funny going on" he said "I can just feel it in the air"
He went to get the hangin' judge but the hangin' judge was drunk
As the leading actor hurried by in the costume of a monk
There was no actor anywhere better than the Jack of Hearts
Lily's arms were locked around the man that she dearly loved to touch
She forgot all about the man she couldn't stand
Who hounded her so much
"I've missed you so" she said to him and he felt she was sincere
But just beyond the door he felt jealousy and fear
Just another night in the life of the Jack of Hearts
No one knew the circumstance but they say
That it happened pretty quick
The door to the dressing room burst open and a cold revolver clicked
And Big Jim was standin' there ya couldn't say surprised
Rosemary right beside him steady in her eyes
She was with Big Jim but she was leanin' to the Jack of Hearts
Two doors down the boys finally made it through the wall
And cleaned out the bank safe it's said that they got off with quite a haul
In the darkness by the riverbed they waited on the ground
For one more member who had business back in town
But they couldn't go no further without the Jack of Hearts
The next day was hangin' day the sky was overcast and black
Big Jim lay covered up killed by a penknife in the back
And Rosemary on the gallows she didn't even blink
The hangin' judge was sober he hadn't had a drink
The only person on the scene missin' was the Jack of Hearts
The cabaret was empty now a sign said "Closed for repair"
Lily had already taken all of the dye out of her hair
She was thinkin' 'bout her father who she very rarely saw
Thinkin' 'bout Rosemary and thinkin' about the law
(Woddy Guthrie)
Down in the scrub oak country
to the southeast Texas Gulf
There used to ride a brakeman,
a brakeman double tough.
He worked the town of Kilgore,
and Longview twelve miles down,
And the travellers all said
little East Texas Red
he was the meanest bull around.
If you rode by night or the broad daylight
in the wintery wind or the sun,
You would always see little East Texas Red
just a sportin' his smooth-runnin gun.
And the tale got switched down the stems and mains,
and everybody said
That the meanest bull
on them shiney irons
was that little East Texas Red.
It was on a cold and a windy morn'
it was along towards nine or ten,
A couple of boys on the hunt of a job
they stood that blizzardy wind.
Hungry and cold they knocked on the doors
of the workin' people around
For a piece of meat
and a carrot or spud just a boil of stew around.
East Texas Red come down the line
and he swung off that old number two.
He kicked their bucket over a bush
and he dumped out all of their stew.
The travellers said, "Little East Texas Red,
you better get your business straight
Cause you're gonna ride
your little black train just one year from today."
Well Red he laughed and he climbed the bank
and he swung on the side of a wheeler,
The boys caught a tanker to Seminole
then west to Amarillo.
They caught them a job of oil-field work
and followed a pipeline down.
It took them lots of places
before that year
had rolled around.
Then on a cold and windy day
they caught them a Gulf-bound train.
They shivered and shook with the dough in their clothes
to the scrub oak flats again,
With their warm suits of clothes and overcoats
they walked into a store.
They paid that man
for some meat and stuff
just a boil of stew once more.
The ties they tracked down that cinder dump
and they come to the same old spot
Where East Texas Red just a year ago
had dumped their last stew pot.
Well, the smoke of their fire went higher and higher
and Red come down the line.
With his head tucked low in the wintery wind
he waved old number nine.
He walked on down through the jungle yard
and he came to the same old spot
And there was the same two men again
around that same stew pot.
Red went to his kness and he hollered
"Please, don't pull your trigger on me.
I did not get my business straight."
But he did not get his say.
A gun wheeled out of an overcoat
and it played that old one two,
And Red was dead when the other two men
I?ve got 800 miles of open border
Right outside my door
There?s minute men in little pick up trucks
Who?ve declared their own damn war
Now the government wants to build
A barrier like old Berlin 8 feet tall
But if uncle Sam sends the illegals home
Who?s gonna build the wall?
Who?s gonna build your wall boys?
Who?s gonna mow your lawn?
Who?s gonna cook your Mexican food
When your Mexican maid is gone?
Who?s gonna wax the floors tonight
Down at the local mall?
Who?s gonna wash your baby?s face?
Who?s gonna build your wall?
Now I ain?t got no politics
So don?t lay that rap on me
Left wing, right wing, up wing, down wing
I see strip malls from sea to shining sea
It?s the fat cat white developer
Who?s created this whole damn squall
It?s a pyramid scheme of dirty jobs
And who?s gonna build your wall?
Who?s gonna build your wall boys?
Who?s gonna mow your lawn?
Who?s gonna cook your Mexican food
When your Mexican maid is gone?
Who?s gonna wax the floors tonight
Down at the local mall?
Who?s gonna wash your baby?s face?
Who?s gonna build your wall?
We?ve got fundamentalist Moslem's
We?ve got fundamentalist Jews
We?ve got fundamentalist Christians
They?ll blow the whole thing up for you
But as I travel around this big old world
There?s one thing that I most fear
It?s a white man in a golf shirt
With a cell phone in his ear
Who?s gonna build your wall boys?
Who?s gonna mow your lawn?
Who?s gonna cook your Mexican food
When your Mexican maid is gone?
Who?s gonna wax the floors tonight
Down at the local mall?
Who?s gonna wash your baby?s face?
The lights of the town were just shutting down
The sun was fresh on the rise
I met momma at the door, she'd been walking the floor
She said, "Boy, you've got stars in your eyes"
And momma, I was walking on the moon last night
And two loving arms held me tight
As the stars danced around so bright
I was walking on the moon last night
Now momma she did weep
"Boy you've been walking in your sleep
You can't keep your feet on the ground
It's not always what it seems
Young love may be a dream
And some angels fly high just to fall down"
But momma, I was walking on the moon last night
And two loving arms held me tight
As the stars danced around so bright
I was walking on the moon last night
Now the lights of the town are glowing yellow brown
The moon is beginning to rise and I left momma at the door
I said, "Don't worry any more
I've seen daddy put those same stars in your eyes"
And momma, I'll be walking on the moon tonight
And two loving arms will hold me tight
As the stars dance around so bright
I'll be walking on the moon tonight
And I'll be walking on the moon tonight
And two loving arms will hold me tight
As the stars dance around so bright
Panco Villa crossed the border in the year of ought sixteen
The people of Columbus still hear him riding through their dreams
He killed seventeen civilians you could hear the women scream
Blackjack Pershing on a dancing horse was waiting in the wings
Tonight we ride, tonight we ride
We'll skin ole Pancho Villa, make chaps out of his hide
Shoot his horse, Siete Leguas, and his twenty-seven brides
Tonight we ride, tonight we ride
We rode for three long years till Blackjack Pershing called it quits
When Jackie wasn't lookin' I stole his fine spade bit
It was tied upon his stallion, so I rode away on it
To the wild Chihuahuan desert, so dry you couldn't spit
Tonight we ride, you bastards dare
We'll kill the wild Apache for the bounty on his hair
Then we'll ride into Durango, climb up the whorehouse stairs
Tonight we ride, Tonight we ride
[solo]
When I'm too damn old to sit a horse, I'll steal the warden's car
Break my ass out of this prison, leave my teeth there in a jar
You don't need no teeth for kissin' gals or smokin' cheap cigars
I'll sleep with one eye open, 'neath God's celestial stars
Tonight we rock, Tonight we roll
We'll rob the Juarez liquor store for the Reposado Gold
And if we drink ourselves to death, ain't that the cowboy way to go?
Tonight we ride, tonight we ride
Tonight we fly, we're headin' west
Toward the mountains and the ocean where the eagle makes his nest
If our bones bleach on the desert, we'll consider we are blessed
Tonight we ride, Tonight we ride
[solo]
There?s a Mexican dead on a power line
He?s deader than yesterday?s communion wine
He was trying to get something he couldn?t afford for free
A poor man stealing electricity
His heart when d-da, d-da, d-da, d-da, d-da
D-da, d-da, d-da, d-da, d-da
D-da, d-da, d-da, d-da, d-da-da
Ten thousand volts, now he's gone
Hanging on a cross high above Babylon
Hey baby, ain?t that just like you and me?
Love is like stealing electricity
Two hearts go d-da, d-da, d-da, d-da, d-da
D-da, d-da, d-da, d-da, d-da
D-da, d-da, d-da, d-da, d-da-da
When the poverty of your spirit and the weakness of your flesh
Go dancing every night through other people?s trash
You love yourself women, what the hell you?re doing with me
You?re gonna burn baby, burn from stealing electricity
Two hearts go d-da, d-da, d-da, d-da, d-da
D-da, d-da, d-da, d-da, d-da
D-da, d-da, d-da, d-da, d-da-da
We climb so high in search of a kindred soul
Till we grab hold of a live wire up on a high line pole
The laws of nature say you get nothing for free
And love is like stealing electricity
Two hearts go d-da, d-da, d-da, d-da, d-da
D-da, d-da, d-da, d-da, d-da
D-da, d-da, d-da, d-da, d-da-da
There?s a Mexican dead on a power line
He?s deader than yesterday?s communion wine
He was trying to get something he could not afford for free
A poor man stealing electricity
His heart went d-da, d-da, d-da, d-da, d-da
D-da, d-da, d-da, d-da, d-da
D-da, d-da, d-da, d-da, d-da
D-da, d-da, d-da, d-da, d-da
D-da, d-da, d-da, d-da, d-da
D-da, d-da, d-da, d-da, d-da
Well, I had an old dog and his name was Blue,
Had an old dog and his name was Blue.
Had an old dog and his name was Blue...
Betcha five dollars he's a good dog too...
"Here old Blue"
"Good dog you"
Well, I shouldered my axe and I tooted my horn,
Went to find 'possum in the new-grown corn.
Old Blue treed and I went to see,
Blue had 'possum up a tall oak tree.
Mmm, boy I roast'd 'possum, nice and brown,
Sweet po-ta-toes, n' all a-round...
And to say "Here old Blue (here-boy)
You can have some too"
Now, Old Blue died and he died so hard,
Made a big dent in my back-yard.
Dug his grave with a silver spade,
Lowered him down with a link of chain.
Ev-er-y link I did call his name...
Singing "Hereâ¦old...Blue-ue...
"Good dog you"
Now, when I get to heaven, first thing I'll do.
When I get to heaven, first thing 'awm do.
When I get to heaven first thing I'll do,
Pull out my horn and call old Blue...
I'll say, "Here Old Blue come-on dog"
"Good dog you."
I'll say, "Here Blue-e"
"I'm a coming there too"
(Marty Robbins)
Out in the West Texas town of El Paso
I fell in love with a Mexican girl
Nighttime would find me in Rosa's Cantina
Music would play and Felina would whirl
Blacker than night where the eyes of Felina
Wicked and evil while casting a spell
My love was strong for this Mexican maiden
I was in love, but in vain I could tell
One night a wild young cowboy came in
Wild as the West Texas wind
Dashing and daring, a drink he was sharing
With wicked Felina, the girl that I loved
So in anger I challenged his right for the love of this maiden
Down went his hand for the gun that he wore
My challenge was answered, in less than a heartbeat
The handsome young stranger lay dead on the floor
Just for a moment I stood there in silence
Shocked by the foul evil deed I had done
Many thoughts ran through my mind as I stood there
I had but one chance and that was to run
Out through the back door of Rose's I ran
Out where the horses were tied
I caught a good one, it looked like it could run
Up on his back and away I did ride
Just as fast as I could from the West Texas town of El Paso
Out thru the badlands of New Mexico
Back in El Paso, my life would be worthless
Everything's gone in life nothing is left
It's been so long since I've seen the young maiden
My love is stronger than my fear of death
I saddled up and away I did go
Riding alone in the dark
Maybe tomorrow a bullet may find me
Tonight nothing's worse than this pain in my heart
And at last here I am on the hill overlooking El Paso
I can see Rose's Cantina below
My love is strong and it pushes me onward
Down off the hill to Felina I go
Off to my right I see five mounted cowboys
Off to my left ride a dozen or more
shouting and shooting, I can't let them catch me
I've got to make it to Rose's back door
Something is dreadfully wrong for, I feel
A deep burning pain in my side
Something is dreadfully wrong, for I feel
A deep burning pain in my side
Although I am trying to stay in the saddle
I'm getting weary, unable to ride
It's getting harder to stay in the saddle
I'm getting weary, unable to ride
But my love for Felina is strong and I rise where I've fallen
Though I am weary, I can't stop to rest
I see the white puff of smoke from the rifle
I feel the bullet go deep in my chest
From out of nowhere, Felina has found me
Kissing my cheek as she kneels by my side
Cradled by two loving arms that I'll die for
He had a blue wing tattooed on his shoulder
Well it might have been a blue bird I don't know
But he'd get stone drunk and talk about Alaska
The salmon boats and 45 below
He said he got that blue wing up in Walla Walla
And his cellmate there was Little Willy John
And Willy he was once a great blues singer
And Wing and Willy wrote 'em up a song. They saidâ¦
CHORUS:
It's dark in here; can't see the sky
But I look at this blue wing and I close my eyes
And I fly away beyond these walls
Up above the clouds where the rain don't fall
On a poor man's dream.
They paroled Blue Wing in August, of 1963
He moved north picking apples to the town of Wenatchee
Then winter finally caught him in a run down trailer park
On the south side of Seattle where the days grow gray and dark
And he drank and he dreamt of visions when the salmon still ran free
And his fathers' fathers crossed that wild old Bering Sea
And the land belonged to everyone and there were old songs yet to sing
Now it's narrowed down to a cheap hotel and a tattooed prison wing
CHORUS:
Well he drank his way to LA, and that's where he died
And no one knew his Christian name and there was no one there to cry
But I dreamt there was a funeral, a preacher and a cheap pine box
And half way through the service, Blue Wing began to talk. He saidâ¦
CHORUS:
Hey hey, On a poor man's dream
"Benedicto: May your trails be crooked, winding, lonesome, dangerous, leading to the most amazing view. May your mountains rise into and above the clouds. May your rivers flow without end, meandering through pastoral valleys tinkling with bells, past temples and castles and poets' towers into a dark primeval forest where tigers belch and monkeys howl, through miasmal and mysterious swamps and down into a desert of red rock, blue mesas, domes and pinnacles and grottos of endless stone, and down again into a deep vast ancient unknown chasm where bars of sunlight blaze on profiled cliffs, where deer walk across the white sand beaches, where storms come and go as lightning clangs upon the high crags, where something strange and more beautiful and more full of wonder than your deepest dreams waits for you beyond the next turning of the canyon walls."
He said my name is Nakashima
And I'm a proud American
I came here in '27
From my homeland of Japan
And I picked your grapes and oranges
Made some money, bought a store
Until 1942
Pearl Harbor and the war
Came those relocation orders
They took our house, the store, the car
And they drove us through the desert
To a place called Manzanar
The Spanish word for "apple orchard"
And though we saw no apple trees
Just the rows of prison barracks
With barbed wire boundaries
And we dream of apple blossoms
waving free beneath the stars
Till we wake up in the desert
the prisoners of Manzanar
Manzanar...
Fifty years, have all but vanished
And now I'm an old man
But I don't regret the day
That I came here from Japan
But on moonliss winter nights
I often wish upon a star
That I'd forget the shame and sorrow
That I felt at Manzanar
And we dream of apple blossoms
waving free beneath the stars
Till we wake up in the desert
the prisoners of Manzanar
And we dream of apple blossoms
waving free beneath the stars
Till we wake up in the desert
the prisoners of Manzanar
Oh Happy Lands, Oh Happy Lands
We have paid for our admission
And our dancing clothes are freshly cleaned
Now we're drivin' towards the judgement
On a dollar's worth of gasoline
Julio hits the boulevard runnin' scared and filled with hateful love
Was a dollar's worth of flaming petrol thrown inside the social club
Where upstairs his Honduran friends were drunk on the American Dream
Yah they were ready for, ready for their glory ride on a dollar's worth of gasoline
Oh Happy Lands, Oh Happy Lands
We have paid for our admission
And our dancing clothes are freshly cleaned
Now we're drivin' towards the judgement
On a dollar's worth of gasoline
Oh, the banana daiquiris, the exotic drinks from many foreign lands
But when the smoke hit their lungs, they died with their drinks in their hands
Oh Julio, poor Julio, all twisted up with his romantic need
Poor real estate developers all twisted up with their greed
Oh Happy Lands, Oh Happy Lands
We have paid for our admission
And our dancing clothes are freshly cleaned
Now we're drivin' towards the judgement
On a dollar's worth of gasoline
87 people with a smoky taste of hell on earth
87 coffins lined up all around the big cathedral church
"Building Violations!" the politicians beat their chests and screamed
Well they got a lot of mileage on a dollar's worth of gasoline
Oh Happy Lands, Oh Happy Lands
We have paid for our admission
And our dancing clothes are freshly cleaned
Now we're drivin' towards the judgement
On a dollar's worth of gasoline
Oh Happy Lands, Oh Happy Lands
We have paid for our admission
And our dancing clothes are freshly cleaned
Now we're drivin' towards the judgement
On a dollar's worth of gasoline
Now we're drivin' towards the judgement
Rolled out of bed, threw some water on my face
Twenty-five sit-ups and I run in place
I put the coffee on but the pot ain’t clean
Yeah, all you little devils of alcohol and caffeine
A handful of vitamins, drop them on the floor
My ex-girlfriends’ are laughin’ from the icebox door
I put their photos up there, yeah, we talk all the time
But they ain’t talkin’ back now, the pugilist is 59
Cold chicken salad, a glass of iced tea
Phone bills, gas bills, electricity
And the mortgage and the junk mail, one old Father’s
Day card
Yeah, go sweat it out, kid, it’s 108 in the yard
Water the lawn, trim them old trees
Pray that your gut don’t fall down to your knees
And Archie Moore whispers in your ear: Get up, kid,
you’re in your prime
Now, now the champ’s on the ropes, Arch, the pugilist
is 59
And the rock and the roll
And the fight for your soul goes on and on
You put on the gloves
You’re always ready for love
Pray your passion ain’t used up and gone, yeah
The harder we love, the harder we fall
It’s cauliflower hearts and old medicine balls
And back street affairs in all the water tank towns
Well, there’s a mighty thin line between a heavyweight
champ and a used up old clown
But this is Hollywood, kid, fear strikes out
Miracles turn around one-sided bouts
Get off the floor, kid, the sweet science of them old
romantic lines
Hey, the champs comin’ back, boys, the pugilist is 59
And the rock and the roll
And the fight for your soul goes on and on
You put on the gloves
You’re always ready for love
Pray your passion ain’t used up and gone, yeah
Roll out of bed, water on your face
Twenty-five sit-ups - run in place
You put the coffee on but the pot ain’t clean
I said, all you little devils of alcohol and caffeine
Yeah, all you little devils of alcohol and caffeine
Old man on the corner, singin' my life
Playin' guitar with a rusty old knife
And every line that he's singin' rhymes with the truth
And a promise of something - beyond the blues
You and me, darling, took the long way around
Through the wide open countries and the heart attack towns
To every fork in the road, where we've all got to choose
Between darkness and light out beyond the blues
Beyond the shadows, beyond the rain
Beyond the darkness and all the pain
When you're walkin' in circles with holes in your shoes
Love is the road that leads beyond the blues
Old man on the corner, he's been gone for years
And the guitar and the knife blade are rusty with tears
But there's a song that he left us, we'll never lose
I was born in Oklahoma, 1931
Outside the town of Spavinaw
Where the red dust clouds the sun
And I ran beneath your diamond skies
And I drank your waves of grain
My name is Mickey Mantle, boys
And baseball is my game
My father's name was "Mutt", boy
And he worked down in the mines
He pitched to me in the evening
At least a thousand times
A thousand times again, in my nightmare and my dreams
You're going to live in the house that Ruth built, kid
You're going to make that Yankee team
Sure enough, the Yankee scout comes drivin', right down route 66
He'd have never come to Spavinaw class D ball in the sticks,
but I happened to be playing in an old wood ball park way out on the mother road
That Yankee scout he signed me and I went up to the the show
Strike 1, that was the drinkin'
Strike 2, there go the knees
Then my old man died in Denver
Some type of lung disease
When God starts throwing change ups
You can't swing with fame or wealth
If I'd known I's going to live this long
I'd have taken care of myself.
I don't miss the lights of Times Square
I don't miss Toots Shore's bar
I miss my old man pitchin' baseball
Near the shed in our backyard
I wish that he were still alive
To see these trophies on my shelf
If I'd known I was going to live this long
I'd have taken better care of myself
I was born in Oklahoma, 1931
Outside the town of Spavinaw
Don't wanna be standing here with this ticket for that outbound plane
I've been here before yet somehow this doesn't feel the same
Talk is cheap though we can talk all night long
You may never figure out, yeah, where our love's gone wrong
And I don't wanna be standing here
And I don't wanna be talking here
And I don't really care who's to blame
If love won't fly on its own free will
It's gonna catch that outbound plane
Old people say love's not forever anymore
Young people walk away from love alone to pace the floor
Young or old, I say that love is still the same
You can walk away from love but you'll fall head and heels again
And I don't wanna be standing here
And I don't wanna be talking here
And I don't really care who's to blame
If love won't fly on its own free will
It's gonna catch that outbound plane
Two lonely hearts in this airport knowin'
Ain't neither heart knows which way the other heart's goin'
If love won't fly on its own free will
It's gonna catch that outbound plane
That frown you're wearin' that's your halo turned upside down
Where's the laughter we once shared back in the lost and found
These broken wings they're gonna leave me here to stand my ground
You can have that ticket for that lonely plane that's headed out
And I don't wanna be standing here
And I don't wanna be talking here
And I don't really care who's to blame
If love won't fly on its own free will
It's gonna catch that outbound plane
If love won't fly on its own free will
My name is Hallie Lonnigan I married Walter Jones
for better or for worse so said the Reverend Dr. Stone
but the better times are all used up and the worse times took control
then drinking took my Walter may the lord protect his soul
along with two young kids to raise out on the western plains
my children harmonized with wolves and sang just like the rain
but haulin hay and water were the desperate daily facts
and the years have carved their memories in the muscles of my back
Hallie Lonnigan will tell these truths to you
hard times the only times I ever new
hard luck's the only horse I ever drew
hard work's the only way I made it through
then I married for convenience sake a trader from in town
a blacksmith named Charlie Hawk who'd court me on his rounds
but he'd paw me like a wolverine and there's cheatin' in his blood
he fell upon my butcher knife and crawled off through the mud
well no one was the wiser when ol Charlie disappeared
and me and them poor children never shed one single tear
we can run this place on our own don't need no drunks or cheats
and the men they step aside now when I walk down market street
Hallie Lonnigan will tell these truths to you
hard times the only times I ever new
hard luck's the only horse I ever drew
hard work's the only way I made it through
this land was conquered by brave men your history books will say
proud men upon fast horses drove the indian away
my name is Hallie Lonnigan I'll have you all to know
that the secret of your history is in a workin woman's soul
Hallie Lonnigan will tell these truths to you
hard times the only times I ever new
hard luck's the only horse I ever drew
hard work's the only way I made it through
I slept through the Nineteen Sixties, I heard Dory Previn say
But me I caught me the great white bird, to the shores of Africay
Where I lost my adolescent heart, to the sound of a talking drum
Yeah, East of Woodstock, West of Vietnam
And on the roads outside Oshogbo, Lord I fell down on my knees
There were female spirits in old mud huts,
iron bells ringing up in the trees
And an eighty-year-old white priest, she made juju all night long
Yeah, East of Woodstock, West of Vietnam
Raise high the roof beams carpenter boy, yeah we're coming through the rye
In the cinema I saw the man on the moon, I laughed so hard I cried
It was somewhere in those rainy seasons, that I learned to carve my song
Yeah, East of Woodstock, West of Vietnam
Oh Africa, Mother Africa, you lay heavy on my breast
You old cradle of civilization, heart of darkness blood and death
Though we had to play you running scared, when the crocodile ate the sun
Yeah, East of Woodstock, West of Vietnam
Well I think it's going to rain tonight, I can smell it coming off the sea
As I sit here reading old Graham Greene I taste Africa on every page
Then I close my eyes and see those red clay roads,
and it's sundown and boys I'm gone
Yeah, East of Woodstock, West of Vietnam
Raise high the roof beams carpenter boy, yeah we're coming through the rye
It was a moveable feast of war and memory, a dark old lullaby
It was the smoke of a thousand camp fires, it was the wrong end of a gun,
Yeah, East of Woodstock, West of Vietnam.
My name is Juan Hano de Castro
My father was a Spanish Grandee
But I won my wife in a card game
To hell with those lords o'er the sea
In my youth I had a Monterey homestead
Creeks, valleys, mountains all mine
I built me a snug little cabin
And I roofed it with Monterey pine
And I had me a bronc, was a buckskin
Like a hawk he could glide over the trail
We rode 40 miles every Friday
To get me some grub and my mail
But the South Coast is a wild coast and lonely
You may win a card game in Jolon
But the lion still rules the Barranca
And a man there is always alone
I sat in a card game at Jolon
I played there with an hombre named Juan
And after I'd taken his money
He set all against my daughter Dawn
I picked up the ace... I had won her
My heart which was down at my feet
Jumped up to my throat in a hurry
Like a warm summer's day she was sweet
He opened the door to the kitchen
And he called the girl out with a curse
Saying "Take her, Goddamn her, you've won her
She's yours now for better or worse"
Yeah the South Coast is a wild coast and lonely
You may win a card game in Jolon
But the lion still rules the Barranca
And a man there is always alone
Her arms had to tighten around me
As we rode up the hill from the south
Not a word did I hear from her that day
Or a kiss from her pretty red mouth
We got to the cabin at twilight
And the stars twinkled over the coast
She soon loved the orchard, the valley
But I knew that she loved me the most
Oh that was a gay happy winter
I carved on a cradle of pine
By a fire in that snug little shanty
I sang with that sweet wife of mine
But the South Coast is a wild coast and lonely
You may win a card game in Jolon
But the lion still rules the Barranca
And a man there is always alone
And then I got hurt in a landslide
Crushed hip and twice broken bone
She saddled up Buck just like lightning
Rode off for a doctor in Jolon
But the lion screamed in the Barranca
Bucky he bolted and he fell on a slide
My young wife lay dead in the moonlight
My heart died that night with my bride
Oh the South Coast is a wild coast and lonely
You may win a card game at Jolon
But the lion still rules the Barranca
And a man there is always alone
They buried her out in the orchard
They carried me down into town
I lost my Chiquita, me?
I'm an old broken man all alone
The cabin still stands on the hillside
Its doors open wide to the rain
Both the cradle and my heart are empty
I never can go there again
Yeah the South Coast is a wild coast and lonely
You may win a card game at Jolon
But the lion still rules the Barranca
I'm just trying to make a living
I'm an old man at 39
Two kids and an ex-wife
Moved up to Riverside
Working down on the border
Driving back roads every night
Mountains east of El Cajon
North of the Tecate Line
Well the California summer sun will burn right to your
soul
In the winter you can freeze to death
In the California snow
I catch the ones I'm able to
Watch the others slip away
I know some by their faces
And I even know some by name
Guess they think that we're all movie stars and
millionaires
Guess that they still believe that dreams come true up
here
But I bet the weather's warmer down in Mexico
And no one ever tells them 'bout the California snow
Last winter found a man and wife
Just about day break
Laying in a frozen ditch
South of the interstate
I wrapped 'em both in blankets
But she'd already died
Next day we sent him back alone
Across the borderline
Don't know where they came from
Or where they planned to go
But he carried her all night long
Through the California snow
Sometimes when I'm alone out here
I get to thinking about my life
Maybe I should go to Riverside
And try to fix things with my wife
Maybe just get in my truck
And drive as far as I can go
Away from all the ghosts that haunt
The California snow
Well the California summer sun can burn right to your
soul
In the winter you can freeze to death
In the California snow
In the winter you can freeze to death
The Dutchman's not the kind of man
To keep his thumb jambed in a dam that holds his dreams
In but that's a secret only Margaret knows
When Amsterdam was gold and Margaret brings him
Breakfast she believes him
He thinks the tulips bloom beneath the snow
He's mad as he can be but Margaret only sees that
Sometimes.
Sometimes she sees her unborn children in his eyes
Let us go to the banks of the ocean
Where the walls rise a-bove the Zuider Zee
Long a-go, I used to be a young man
Now dear Margaret re-members that for me
The Dutchman still wears wooden shoes his coat and cap
Are patched with love that Margaret sowed in
Sometimes he thinks he's still in Rotterdam
He watches tugboats down canals and calls out to them
when he thinks he knows the captain til' Margaret comes
To take him home again
Down unforgiving streets that trip him though he holds
Her hand sometimes he thinks he's alone and calls her
Name
Let us go to the banks of the ocean
Where the walls rise a-bove the Zuider Zee
Long a-go, I used to be a young man
Now dear Margaret re-members that for me
The windmills whourl the winter in she winds his
Muffler tighter they sit in the kitchen some tea with
whisky keeps away the dew he sees her for a moment
Calls her name out humming some old love song
They learned it when the tune was very new
They hum a line or two they hum together in the night
The Dutchman falls asleep Margaret blows the candle out
Let us go to the banks of the ocean
Where the walls rise a-bove the Zuider Zee
Long a-go, I used to be a young man
HE HAD A (C)VISION OF ANNE MARIE WITH A R(F)OSARY IN
HER H(C)AND
SO ITS E(F)XIT THE RAINM(C)AKER, THE OLD G(F)REY
FLANNEL M(G)AN
WITH A C(C)LOSET FULL OF BUSINESS SUITS, HE LEFTA
L(F)ETTER NEAR THE
(C)PHONE,
IT SAID I'M (F)ON MY WAY TO (Dm)PARADISE, TO SEE THE
(Bb)ANGEL OF (G)LYON"
(same as first)
AND THEN HE CAUGHT THE TRAIN TO BRUSSELS, HE ORDERED
COGNAC AND CROISSANTS,
HE MADE A MENTAL LIST OF THINGS HE OWNED BUT DIDN?T
WANT,
ALL THE BUILDINGS, ALL THE REAL ESTATE, THE ANTIQUE
GLASS AND STONE,
HE?D TRADE A VOW OF POVERTY TO SEE THE ANGEL OF LYON
AND HE S(Am)ANG (Em)AVE MARIA, OR AT (F)LEAST THE PARTS
(G)HE (C)KNEW
AND (Am)WATCHED THE SHADOW (Em)OF THE TRAIN
ON THE (F)TOWNS THAT THEY ROLLED (G)THROUGH
AND HE (Am)CLOSED HIS EYES AND HE (Em)SAW TWO RIVERS
THE (F)RHONE AND (G)THE (C)SAONE
(Am)THE MALE AND FEMALE SPIRIT OF THE (Bb)CITY OF
(G)LYON
THEN HE WAITED ON THE BRIDGE, WHERE THEY MET THE YEAR
BEFORE
BUT THE DAYS TURNED INTO WEEKS AND THEN THE SEASONS
NUMBERED FOUR
AND HIS CLOTHES GREW WORN AND RAGGED AS THROUGH THAT
TOWN HE ROAMED,
SEARCHING EVERY OPEN WINDOW, FOR THE ANGEL OF LYON
AND HE SANG AVA MARIA, OR AT LEAST THE PARTS HE KNEW,
AND WATCHED HIS SHADOW ON THE WALLS OF THE STREETS THAT
HE WALKED THROUGH,
AND HE CROSSED THOSE HOLY RIVERS, THE RHONE AND THE
SAONE
THEY'D NOT GIVE UP THE SECRET OF, THE ANGEL OF LYON
NOW THERES A(C) THOUSAND CANDLES BURNING IN
THE(F)BASILICA(C)TONIGHT,
WHERE SISTER(F) EVE MARIA IS THE KEE(F)PER OF THE(G)
LIGHT
AND DOWN(C)A DREAM OF ALLEYWAYS WALKS A (F)SAINT OF RAG
AND(C) BONE,
THE(F) MADMAN TORN (Dm)ASUNDER, BY THE (Bb)ANGEL OF(G)
LYON
AND HE SANG AVA MARIA, OR AT LEAST THE PARTS HE KNEW,
AND WATCHED HIS SHADOW ON THE WALL OF THE STREETS THAT
HE CRAWLED THROUGH
AND HE CROSSED THOSE HOLY RIVERS, THE RHONE AND THE
SAONE,
C G C
These dance hall girls, they'll treat you kind
C F C
They'll give you their bodies, but you'll never touch
their minds
F C F Em F
They'll fill you up, with lipstick lies
Then they'll put you down son
G Am D
Don't be surprised
D C G F C G C
Is this the way it always is here in Baltimore?
C G C
I held her mountains, I kissed her plains
C F C
I touched her sunshine, Lord then I drank her rains
F C F Em F
But I went too far, I broke too fast
I thought I had a winner picked
G Am D
But I came in last, again
D C G F C G C
Is this the way it always is here in Baltimore?
Refrain:
Em F C
I must have chosen the wrong season to come down
Em F G
I never realized they call this sacred ground
G C G C
My sense of time, hell I'm a week behind
C F C
I sent a letter home, but this all takes time you know
F C F Em F
I gotta get some money, I wanna go back home
But these dance hall girls
C G Am D
Know how to make a man feel alone
D C G F C G C
Is this the way it always is here in Baltimor
Repeat Refrain
G C G C
My sense of time, hell I'm a week behind
C F C
They'll give you their bodies, but you'll never touch
their minds
F C F Em F
They'll fill you up, with lipstick lies
These dance hall girls say
G Am D
They can't stand to see a grown man cry
D C G F
Is this the way it always is here in Baltimore?
F C G F
Is this the way it always is here in Montreal?
F C G F C G
Is this the way it always is here in Baltimore?
Down a one lane road there's a dusty fairground
Where I learned the bronc trade and I fell in love
With a blue eyed twister and her smoky whisper
She said "they call me the Cimarron Dove"
We'd spool our bedrolls on down together
My calloused hands combed through her hair
She'd stare at a star through an old mesquite tree
"See that moon shadow, there's a bucking horse there"
Sweet bird of youth, no easy keeper
Flown with the seasons all too soon
Beneath Montana's blue roan skies
Nevada starlight and a bucking horse moon
Our love reeled out like a Western movie
Down hard worn highways through the rodeo towns
Wrapped in her wings for the midnight flight
That bucking horse moon kept shining down
Bucking horse moon on the hood of the truck
She'd smile and say "that means good luck
Bucking horse shadow through the purple sage
We'll ride forever our love won't age"
But heart and bone are made for breaking
The Cimarron Dove's flown with the wind
Then a bronc in Prescott rolled on my back
I'll never ride rough stock again
Sweet bird of youth, no easy keeper
Flown with the seasons all too soon
Beneath Montana's blue roan skies
Nevada starlight and a bucking horse moon
I lost my youth on the dusty fairgrounds
I'm an old bronc fighter long past high noon
But on a haunted night wind I can hear her whispering
As I search the heavens for the bucking horse moon
The Cimarron Dove and the bucking horse moon
Sweet bird of youth, no easy keeper
Flown with the seasons all too soon
Beneath Montana's blue roan skies
Nevada starlight and the bucking horse moon
Capo 2
(C) (F) (C) (G) (C)
What happened to the kid in the (F)baseball (C)cap?
Well he’s trying to get home but I (G)think he lost the
(C)map
What happened to the kid with the (F)braces on his
(C)teeth?
He had an autographed picture of Mu(G)hammad (C)Ali
He’s just a (F)wise-assed, buck-toothed, (Bb)near-
sighted fool (F)
Always (C)staring at the girls in the (G)swimming
(C)pool
(F)Thirty years later and he’s (Bb)staring again (F)
He’s (C)searching for the place where the (G)dreams
be(C)gin
Searching for the (Am)place where the dream be(Dm)gins
Then he bought a bunch of records and he (F)heard a man
(C)sing
He said if I could write a song I be(G)lieve I’d be a
(C)king
But it took him twenty years un(F)til he got the
(C)nerve
He’s got boxes full of papers and (G)papers full of
(C)words
And the (F)words fly away like (Bb)swallows on the
(F)wind
But they (C)never flew back to the (G)nest a(C)gain
Never took him to the (Am)place where the dream
be(Dm)gins
(C)(F)(C)(G)(C)
Then he finally got married and he (F)had two little
(C)girls
But he didn’t see ‘em much cause he (G)had to see the
(C)world
And the lie that he told ‘em is I’m (F)like most (C)men
It’s always down the road that the (G)dream be(C)gins
And the (F)girls grew up to be (Bb)pretty and wise (F)
They said “you (C)could have seen the dream by
(G)looking in our (C)eyes
(F)You were always living in the (Bb)world of pretend
You kept (C)running away from (F)where the dream
(C)begins
Running a(Am)way from where the dream be(Dm)gins" (C)
Now he’s living with a woman out on (F)Borderland
(C)Road
But her love’s turned bitter, and her (G)eyes turned
(C)cold
She said we came to the desert, let the (F)sickness
(C)mend
But Hell ain’t the place where the (G)dreams be(C)gin
(F)Look out boys I’m (Bb)gaining on you (F)
He’s old (C)Blind Joe Death in his (G)alligator
(C)shoes
He’s got a (F)pocket full of pills and a (Bb)pint of
sloe gin (F)
He’s gonna (C)show you to the place where the (G)dream
be(C)gins
Follow him (Am)down where the dream be(Dm)gins
(C)(F)(C)(G)(C)
At the end of the road there ain’t (F)nothing but
(C)fear
Just a big old room with a (G)big old (C)mirror
And the man in the mirror his (F)hair’s turning (C)gray
And his hands begin to shake in a (G)funny kind of
(C)way
He’s knows (F)everything you bring for to (Bb)save you
soul (F)
(C)Everything denied will con(G)demn you to the (C)hole
With his (F)hand on his heart he (Bb)picks up his pen
He goes (C)searching for the place where the (G)dream
be(C)gins
Looking for the (Am)place where the dream be(Dm)gins
What happened to the kid in the (F)baseball (C)cap?
He’s trying to get home but I (G)think he’s lost the
(C)map.
How's the weather in Winnipeg?
The broke-down nags with the bandaged legs
At Assinboa Downs?
The night we painted the town
A dark, dark blue
Stolen Thunder in Thunder Bay
Woke up knowin' that we came the wrong way
So we turned it all around
To the cold hard sound
To the turnin' of the gears
To the blood hard sound
The turnin' of the years
I was thinkin' of you last night
North of the border in the Northern Lights
One horse town with the Indian name
And all the gentle words - I could never say
Love shines in the night - in the morning it's gone away
Cup of coffee in old Moose Jaw
Used to be the hideout of a bad outlaw
Named Al Capone
His fedora on
Walkin' in the snow
We headed west, then it all broke up
Skull-Smashed-In-Buffalo-Jump
Rockin' and a reelin'
That old buffalo feelin'
Of fallin' through the air
And never really knowin' how the hell
We ended up there
I was thinkin' of you last night
North of the border in the Northern Lights
One horse town with the Indian name
And all the gentle words - I could never say
Love shines in the night - in the morning it's gone away
How's the weather in Winnipeg?
When the ice melts
On the first of May
On those desolate streets
One old Sikh
In a powder blue cab
Is there an Indian name
For the love and trouble we had...?
I was thinkin' of you last night
North of the border in the Northern Lights
One horse town with the Indian name
And all the gentle words - I could never say
If I may trust your love, she cried
And you would have me for a bride
Ride the wild plain and bring
A flask of water from the Mustang Spring
Fly as o'er the eagle's wing
On the Llano Estacado
He smiled and left without a word
Grabbed up saddle, bit, and spur
Cinched his horse and rode away
through prickly pear and old Maguey,
vanished with the dying day
on the Llano Estacado.
All through the night he gallops on
Daylight broke, he rode alone
Spurred his horse and drew no rein
Across that dry, forsaken plain
Until the Mustang Spring he gained
On the Llano Estacado.
Crazy with love, in Enamorado!
Alone out on the Llano Estacado.
A bitter rest, a few short drinks
Across the spring a buzzard waits
His flask was full and so he turned
To gain the bride he soon would earn
But the sky bright red it burned
On the Llano Estacado
Oh how this shining desert glow
His eyes were burning as he rode
Was this the dream or drunken one
Or was he really riding on
Was that a skull that gleamed and shone
On the Llano Estacado
Oh hold onto his horse he cried
Ignore the devils in the sky
Bear up a little longer yet
His cracked lips he longed to wet
His mouth was black with blood and sweat
On the Llano Estacado
Crazy with love, in Enamorado!
Alone out on the Llano Estacado.
Still against his chest he held
The water flask for her he filled
He longed to drink but well he knew
If empty her love he'd lose
But his raging thirst it grew
On the Llano Estacado
His horse went down he wandered on
Dizzy, blinded and alone
And you out there with watery eyes
Think of how it is to die
Beneath the cruel, uncloudy sky
Of the Llano Estacado
At last he stumbled, then he fell
His race was run he knew full well
Raising to his lips the flask
His face a blistered, painful mask
Drank too, no more could she ask
Of the Llano Estacado
Crazy with love, in Enamorado!
He died out on the Llano Estacado.
That night at the Presido
Beneath the torchlights way below
She danced and never thought of him
A victim of a woman's whim
Lying with that death like grin
On the Llano Estacado
Crazy with love, in Enamorado!
Alone out on the Llano Estacado.
Crazy with love, in Enamorado!
E A E
WE'LL THE CHUTE GATE WINGS OPEN, HERE WE GO AGAIN
E A E
THE DESPARATE DANCE, THE KICK AND THE SPIN
E C#m G#m
DUST RISIN FROM A CROSS BRED BULL, FIRE MEETS WITH
PRIDE
G#m A E
A MAN COME A LONG WAY, JUST FOR THE SHORT RIDE
HIS WIFE'S IN THE GRANDSTANDS, TRYIN TO SWALLOW THE
FEAR
A LITTLE BABY INSIDE HER, WHO'S TIME'S DRAW NEAR
THE BULL FLYING HIGH NOW, THEN HE FALLS TO HIS SIDE
THEIR LOVE CAME A LONG WAY, JUST FOR THE SHORT RIDE
E C#m G#m
TWO HEARTS IN THE DARKNESS, SING A BLUE LULLABY
G#m A E
BEAT THE DRUM SLOWLY, FOR A COWBOY'S LAST RIDE
WHEN THE DUST IT ALL SETTLED AND THE CROWD DISAPPEARED
THE SIRENS STILL ECHO, IN AN UNBORN CHILDS EAR
LITTLE BOYS DUE IN APRIL, HE'll HAVE DADDY'S BLUE EYES
HE'LL ALWAYS REMEMBER, HIS FATHER'S LAST RIDE
E C#m G#m
THEY PREACHED AT THE SERVICE, FROM JOHN 25
G#m A E
HOW CHRIST CAME ALONG WAY, JUST FOR THE SHORT RIDE
E G#m A E
BEAT THE DRUM SLOWLY, FOR A COWBOY'S LAST RIDE
E A E
Mezcal is free in Amanda's saloon
For the boys from the old Broken O
Saturday nights in the town of Sonora
Are the best in all Mexico
They've got guitars and trumpets and sweet senoritas
Who won't want to let you go
You'd never believe such a gay happy town
Had a street named Sonora's Death Row
Well inside Amanda's we were all dancin'
With all of Amanda's gals
I won some silver at seven card stud
So I was outdoin' my pals
But the whiskey and mezcal and peso cigars
Drove me outside for some air
Where somebody whispered "Your life or your money"
I reached but my gun wasn't there
I woke up face down in Amanda's back alley
A ware of the fool I had been
I rushed to my pony, I grabbed my Winchester
And I entered Amanda's gain
Where I saw my partners twirlin' my pistols
And throwin' my money round
Blinded by rage, I pulled the trigger
And one of them fell to the ground
Well Amanda's grew silent like night in the desert
My friends stared in pure dis belief
Amanda was kneeling be side the dead cowboy
Plainly expressing her grief
And as I bowed my head, a tremble shot through me
My six-gun was there at my side
I felt in my pockets and there was my money
I fell to my knees and I cried
For a nightmare of mezcal was all that it was
No one had robbed me at all
I wish I was dreamin' the sound of the gallows
They're testin' just outside the walls
And the mezcal's still free in Amanda's saloon
For the boys from the old Broken O
And I'd give a ransom to drink there today
And be free of Sonora's Death Row
Yeah I'd give a ransom to drink there today
I give to you a box of visions
I give to you a jar of hearts
I'll give to you the gypsy's ear
To hear the sacred harp
I'll give to you a house of mirrors
A thousand eyes they belong to you
A labyrinth of wild roses
I know you'll find your own way through
Wait a while and you'll grow older
Never mind what the old/wise folks say
Just keep an angel on your shoulder
Never throw your dreams away
For they will save your life one day
A song is just a box of visions
you can's unlock it with a key
A message rolled up inside a bottle
And dropped into the stormy sea
A song is just a box of visions
A jar of hears and a gypsy's ear
A labyrinth of wild roses
A journey though the house of mirrors
Wait a while and you'll grow older
Never mind what the old/wise folks say
Just keep an angel on your shoulder
Never throw your dreams away
Come gather round me children, a story I will tell
I´ve been around since Jesus met the woman at the well
I´ve walkes these roads ten thousand years, I´m a
ragtime millionaire
I am the rake and the ramblin saint, the man from god
knows where.
Oh, they hung me in Downpatrick, up near St.Patrick´s
tomb
But my ghost rose up in the peat fire smoke toward the
rising of the moon
Now as I drift through your villages, all the maidens
stop and stare
There goes old Tom the vagabond, the man from god knows
where.
So its rise up all you ancestores, and dance upon your
graves
I´ve come to hear your voices now so maybe I´ll be
saved
Cursed are we who forget the past, but pray and don´t
despair
My song is might haunt your dreams tonight, I´m the man
from god knows where
I´ve slept beneath your bridges near your oil
refineries
I´ve gambled on your river boats, Shenandoha; Kanakee
I´m the homeless lad, I´m the orphan child, leaves of
grass sewn through my hair
Yeah, me and old Walt Whitman, we´re the men from god
knows where
I´ve rode the rods on steam trains with a banjo on my
knee
While the ghost of Stepan Foster whispered lines to me
Of the storefront curch and the chain gang choir; Black
sorrow filled the air
Then Stephen died on a dross house floor, like a man
from god knows where
I´ve heard the sound of Indian drums, I´ve heard the
bugles blow
Before they re-wrote history, into a Wild West show
My kin sailed toward America to steal their Indian
ground
They passed bill Cody´s ships, European bound
So lock up all your daughters, your whiskey and your
gold
I have come to claim my bounty, for the lies that I´ve
been told
And as I look out on this crowd tonight, I see most of
you don´t care
Come lift your glass, reveal your past, to the man from
Carlos Zaragoza left his home in Casas Grandes when the moon was full
No money in his pocket, just a locket of his sister framed in gold
He rode into El Sueco, stole a rooster called "Gallo del Cielo"
Then he crossed the Rio Grande with that rooster nestled deep beneath his arm.
Well, Gallo del Cielo was a warrior born in heaven, so the legends say
His wings they had been broken, he had one eye rollin' crazy in his head
And He'd fought a hundred fights, but the legends say that one night near El Sueco
They'd fought Cielo seven times and seven times he'd left brave roosters dead.
Hola, my Theresa, I am thinking of you now in San Antonio
I have 27 dollars and the good luck of your picture framed in gold
Tonight I'll put it all on the fighting spurs of Gallo del Cielo
And Then I'll return to buy the land that Villa stole from father long ago
Outside of San Diego in the onion fields of Paco Monteverde
The Pride of San Diego lay sleeping on his fancy bed of silk
And they laughed when Zaragoza pulled the one-eyed del Cielo from beneath his coat
But they cried when Zaragoza walked away with a thousand dollar bill.
Hola, my Theresa, I am thinking of you now in Santa Barbara
I have fifteen hundred dollars and the good luck of your picture framed in gold
Tonight I'll put it all on the fighting spurs of Gallo del Cielo
And then I'll return to buy the land that Villa stole from father long ago.
Now the moon has gone to hiding and the lantern light spills shadows on the fighting sand
Where a wicked black named Zorro faces Gallo del Cielo in the night
But Carlos Zaragoza fears the tiny crack that runs across his rooster's beak
And he fears he has lost the fifty thousand dollars riding on the fight
Hola, my Theresa, I am thinking of you now in Santa Clara
Yes, the money's on the table, I'm holding to your good luck framed in gold
And everything we dreamed of is riding on spurs of del Cielo
I pray that I'll return to buy the land that Villa stole from father long ago
Then the signal it was given, and the roosters rose together far above the sand
Then Gallo del Cielo sunk a gaff into Zorro's shiny breast
They were separated quickly but they rose and fought each other thirty seven times
And the legends say that everyone agreed del Cielo fought the best
Then the screams of Zaragoza filled the night outside the town of Santa Clara
As the beak of del Cielo lay broken like a shell within his hand
And they say that Zaragoza screamed a curse upon the bones of Pancho Villa
When Zorro rose up one last time and drove del Cielo to the sand.
Hola, my Theresa, I am thinking of you now in San Francisco
There is no money in my pocket, I no longer have your good luck framed in gold
I buried it last evening with the bones of my beloved del Cielo
And I'll not return to buy the land that Villa stole from father long ago
Do the rivers still run muddy outside of my beloved Casas Grandes?
And does the scar upon my brother's face turn red when he hears mention of my name?
Do the people of El Sueco curse the theft of Gallo del Cielo?
He said his pride and joy was that old John Bull Tin.
He said it saved him from a bullet once - but I did not believe
He was just an old man in the park, half drunk on rum
As he rolled another smoke and closed the John Bull Tin
He said,"I've carried that since 1931."
Rubbed and worn shiny silver - blue letters chipped away
Old memories and tobacco fit within
He had one religious medal that he carried near his heart
But his pride and joy was that old John Bull Tin
He said, "it used to be a tyre-patch kit but that was long ago...
It's memories and tobacco now, my friend.
Ya know some folks need a magic lamp to conjure up their dreams
But mine are kept inside the John Bull tin."
Rubbed and worn shiny silver - blue letters chipped away
Old memories and tobacco fit within
He had one religious medal that he carried near his heart
But his pride and joy was that old John Bull Tin
I found it lyin' in the grass,
in a park near Shepherd's Bush
I never saw that old man again
I guess he rolled his final smoke and went to his reward
Why else would he have dropped the John Bull Tin?
Rubbed and worn shiny silver - blue letters chipped away
Old memories and tobacco fit within
He had one religious medal that he carried near his heart
But his pride and joy was that old John Bull Tin
His pride and joy was that old John Bull Tin
In a land the Spanish once had called the Northern Mystery
Where rivers run and disappear
And the Mustang still lives free
By the Devil's wash and the coyote hole
In the wild Owyhee Range
Somewhere in the sage tonight
The wind calls out his name
Aye Aye Aye
Come gather 'round me buckaroos
a story I will tell
Of the fugitive Claude Dallas
Who just broke out of jail
You may think this tale is a history
From before the West was won
But the events that I'll describe took place in 1981
He was born out in Virginia
He left home when school was through
And in he deserts of Nevada
He became a buckaroo
And he learned the ways of cattle
And he learned to sit a horse
He always packed a pistol
And he practiced deadly force
And then Claude became a trapper
And he dream't of the bygone days,
And he studied bobcat logic
And the wild and silent ways
In the bloody runs near paradise
And the monitors down south
Trapping cats and coyotes
And livin' hand to mouth
Aye Aye Aye
And then Claude took to livin' all alone
Out many miles from town
A friend Jim Stevens brought supplies
And he stayed to hang around
That day two wardens Pogue and Elms
Drove in to check Claude out
They were seeking violations
And to see what Claude's about
Now Claude had hung some venison
He had a bobcat pelt or two
Pogue claimed they were out of season
He said "Dallas, you're all through"
But Dallas would not leave his camp
He refused to go to town
And the wind howled through the bull camp
They stared each other down.
It's hard to say what happend next
Perhaps we'll never know
They were gonna take Claude into jail
And he vowed he'd never go
Jim Stevens heard the gunshot
And when he turned around
Bill Pogue was fallin' backwards
Conley Elms he fell face down
Aye Aye Aye
Jim Stevens walked on over
There was a gun near Bill Pogue's hand
It's hard to say who'd drawn his first
But Claude had made his stand
Claude said "I am justified...
They were gonna gun me down...
And a man's got a right to hang some meat...
When he's livin' this far from town."
It took 18 men, 15 months
To finally hunt Claude down
In the sage outside of paradise
They ran him to the ground
Convicted up in Idaho
Manslaughter by decree
Twenty years at maximum
But soon Claude would break free
There's two sides to the story
There may be no right or wrong
The lawman and the renegade
Have graced a thousand songs
The story is an old one
A conclusion's hard to draw
But Claude's out in the sage tonight
He may be the last outlaw
Aye Aye Aye
In a land the Spanish once had called the Northern Mystery
Where rivers run and disappear
And the Mustang still lives free
By the Devil's wash and the coyote hole
In the wild Owyhee Range
Somewhere in the sage tonight
The wind calls out his name
Alkali... here's mud in yer eye
You've been lost in the desert 25 years or more
Ah yer whiskey streams
And yer gold field dreams
Well Lady Luck won't let you dark her door
And they tell me your a ghost of a man
Lord, I believe it's true
And they say you had a woman once
But she turned her back on you
You old gold minin' hobo
Dry well desert rat Alkali
Put the bacon on to fry
Well, the sun's comin' up and the mule's waitin' for his grain
Just a one room shack
By the Santa Fe track
It's an old lick of earth
That's screamin' for a drop of rain
And there's a time for work
And a time for play
And a time for lyin' down
And the road might lead to the rainbow's end
A dusty old desert town
You old gold minin' hobo
Dry well desert rat Alkali
Alkali... there's a buzzard in the sky
And he's a-countin' his chances on a-pickin' your skinflint bones
Ah, raise your hand
Throw a curse on the land
They're gonna find you one day
Lyin' 'neath an unmarked stone
Well the desert is a lonely place
For a man to lose his head
They tell me when you start to talkin' to yourself
Lord, you might as well be dead...
You old gold minin' hobo
Dry well desert rat Alkali
Alkali
Alkali
You old gold minin' hobo
Dry well desert rat Alkali
Alkali
Alkali
You old gold minin' hobo
My father was a mountaineer
His fist was a knotty hammer
He was quick on his feet like a runnin' deer
And he spoke with a Yankee stammer
And some are wrapped in linen fine
And some like a godling's scion
But I was cradled on twigs of pine
In the skin of a mountain lion
I lost my boyhood and found my wife
A girl like a Salem clipper
A woman as straight as a hunting knife
With eyes as bright as the Dipper
We cleared our camp where the buffalo feed
Unheard of streams were our flagons
And I sowed my sons like apple seed
On the trail of the Western wagons
They were right, tight boys, never sulky or slow
A fruitful, goodly muster
The eldest died at the Alamo
And the youngest fell with Custer
The letter that told it burned my hand
I smiled and said, "So be it!"
But I could not live when they fenced my land
Oh it broke my heart just to see it
I saddled the red, unbroken colt
I rode him into the day there
But he threw me down like a thunderbolt
And he rolled on me as I lay there
Now I lie in the heart of the fat, black soil
Like the seed of a prairie thistle
It has washed my bones in honey and oil
And it's picked 'em as clean as a whistle
And my youth returns, like the rains of Spring
My sons, like wild geese flying
And I lie and I hear the meadowlark sing
And there's much content in my dying
Go play with the town you have built out of blocks
The towns where you may have bound me
I sleep in the earth like a tired old fox
And my buffalo have found me
I sleep in the earth like a tired old fox,
I'm a rambler, I'm a gambler
I'm a long way from my home
You people, you don't like me
Well just leave me alone
For it's a dark night and it's rainin'
Lord, the moon gives no light
My pony can't hardly travel
On this dark road tonight
You know I once had me a sweetheart
Lord, her age was just sixteen
She was the flower of Belton
She was the rose of Saline
But her parents they didn't like me
And now she's gone the same
If I'm writ on your book love
Just you blot out my name
And there's changes in the weather
And there's changes in the sea
There's changes in my true love
But there ain't no change in me
I'm a rambler, I'm a gambler
I'm a long way from my home
You people, you don't like me
Rayburn Crane he rode these mountains
like the streams he rode 'em through
Through the Farewell Gap and the Franklin Lakes
Up North to Chagupa Plateau
With the government men and the hunters and the dudes
And the leaders of the business world
Yah, Rayburn Crane was a packhorse man
And a mighty good hand with a mule.
Rayburn Crane, Rayburn Crane
The Mountains and the Valleys and the Trees
Remember your name.
He rode 45 years through the mountains and the
valleys just a-pullin' them strings of mules
And the ropes and the chaps and the halters & the
saddles well these were Rayburn's tools
Sittin' down at night by the firelight talkin'
and a-pullin' at the whiskers on his chin
You didn't need no music when Rayburn went to talkin'
'bout the mountains and the packhorse men.
Rayburn Crane, Rayburn Crane
The Mountains and the Valleys and the Trees
Remember your name.
Well the business men they bought these
mountains for a big time ski resort
An Ol' Rayburn he's gone down to die
in a Three Rivers' trailer court
And the canvas-flapjack-cooktent moans
with the bushes and the trees in the wind
'Cause there ain't no place in a ski resort
for a mule skinnin' packhorse man.
Rayburn Crane, Rayburn Crane
The Mountains and the Valleys and the Trees
Remember your name.
Rayburn Crane, Rayburn Crane
The Mountains and the Valleys and the Trees
Well the runway rushed up at him
As he felt the wheels touch down
He stood out on the blacktop
And took a taxi into town
He got off down on main street
Went into a local bar
He ordered a drink
and found a seat in a corner off the dark
Well she called up her mama
Made sure the kids were out of the house
She checked herself out in the dining room mirror
Undid an extra button on her blouse
He felt her lying next to him
When the clock said 4 AM
He was staring at the ceiling
And he could'nt even move his hands
Oh mama mama mama come quick
I've got the shakes and I'm gonna be sick
Throw your arms around me in the cold dark night
Hey there Mama don't you shut out the light
don't you shut out the light
don't you shut out the lights
don't you shut out the light
don't you shut out the lights
Well on his porch they'd spread a banner
It said Johnny welcome home
Bobby pulled his Ford out of the garage
And they polished up the chrome
His mama said Johnny Oh Johnny
I'm so glad to have you back with me
His Pa said he was sure they'd give him his job back
Down at the factory
Oh mama mama mama come quick
I've got the shakes and I'm gonna be sick
Throw your arms around me in the cold dark night
Hey there Mama don't you shut out the light
don't you shut out the light
don't you shut out the lights
don't you shut out the light
don't you shut out the lights
Well deep in the darkest forest
The forest filled with rain
Beyond a stretch of Maryland Pine
There's a river without a name
In the cold dark waters
Johnson Lineir stands
He stares across the lights of the city
And dreams about where he's been
Oh mama mama mama come quick
I've got the shakes and i'm gonna be sick
Throw your arms around me in the cold dark night
Hey there Mama don't you shut out the light
don't you shut out the light
don't you shut out the lights
don't you shut out the light
don't you shut out the lights
don't you shut out the light
C Am C Am
Bus station, at sun-up, lookin' for a new, place to go
C Am
He sips his coffie, and he pulls his ring,
and thinks of how she looked years ago
C Am C Am
And she curls up, with a blanket, in a yellow, plastic
seat
C Am
He touches her, and she looks out the window,
at an empty morning street
Chorus:
Am F C
Well, he musta had a screw loose, in his head
Am F C
To end up like this after all he said
F C F G C
He lies to her, she kisses him, gettin' tired of love
Bus station, at sun-up, she reads the ticket, in her
hand
It's a different name, for the same old town, and this
ain't the life
that they had planned
And so he tries to tell her, it won't be like the,
times before
It's a different town, and a brand new start, and he's
gonna work a whole lot more.
Chorus
Bus station, at sun-up, another hour, left to blow
He touches her, but she'd like to leave,
and there's no place left to go
Chorus
Am F C
Well, she musta had a screw loose, in her head
Am F C
How could she believe all the things he said
F C F G C
She lies to him, he kisses her, gettin' tired of love
Am F C Am F
When people twist your words, Woodrow, ah, they'll
twist at every whim
It's thugs that run the unions now and use your songs
like hymns
Once, your music danced on women's thighs and the arch
of a hobo's brow- ow
Aw, Mrs. Guthrie look what they done to your brown-eyed
baby now
Oh, the trains leave every morning, some go east and
some go west
And the clacking of the iron is the sound you love the
best
It's the great escape from railroad bulls and the Coney
Island girl s
Aw, Mrs. Guthrie, look what we done to your brown eyed
boy with curls
Chorus:
Sing the truth, scream it loud (2nd time: sing it loud)
Aw, Mrs. Guthrie, look what they done to your brown-
eyed baby now
(2nd time: we done)
All those boxcars full of Chinese junk, the caboose has
been junk piled
And we're all buying g roceries now from men with
crooked smiles
You were a drunken, wild mis ogyneer and your politics
were crude
As you s at home writing nursery rhymes and drawing
women nude
And all those politicians breaths stink bad, be they
left or be they right
And the ones who play with rhetoric are not the ones to
fight
Don't go coming 'round here, Woodrow, they'll stretch
you from a rope
And your corpse won't ever find a bar where a man can
drink and smoke
Repeat Chorus
Instrumental (chorus)
C G C Em
Did you hear the scre en door sl am, Ma, Woodrow' s
gone again
G C G Em
He's writin' obscene letters now, the Feds might bring
him in
C G Em D
But every song he ever wrote is hangin' on the bree ze
C G C D G
With the l aundry in the Guthrie yard full of Hunting
ton's dis ease
C G C Em
So, Woodrow, rest in peace, old pal, there ain't
nothin' for you here
G C G Em
We're in the scrub oak country now, the land of dread
an' fear
C G Em D
And whitey's in the wood pile and the writing's on the
wall
C G C D G
But your ring of truth still echoes down the Greystone
clinic hall
Repeat Chorus
So here's to all outsiders, all the ones who could not
The troubadour, the prisoners, the drunken Ind ian
Ah, the circus freaks, the wounded lovers will make it
through someh ow
Ah, Mrs. Guthrie, we are ridin' blind with your brown
eyed baby now
Sing the truth scream it loud
Ah, Mrs. Guthrie, look what we done to your brown-eyed
baby now
Sing the truth, scream it l oud
Ah, Mrs. Guthrie, look w hat we done to your brown-eyed
Farewell to the lights of Madera
I'm leaving with the wind at my back
Tell all of my friends in Dos Palos
I'm gone but I'll be circling back
Now I'm crossing the Chowchilia River
By the light of a ragged moonbeam
And I'll miss
the Rose
of San Joaquin
I'll miss the sun on the Sierra Nevada
adobe moon on the rise
Shining down on my love in Madera,
shining into her dark Spanish eyes
Oh she taught me those Mexican love songs
"Volver, Volver" in my dreams
And I miss
the Rose
of San Joaquin
Caught somewhere between
The road
and the Rose
of San Joaquin
now her black hair fell on the blanket
in the tall grass wet with the dew
Making love through the night by the river
Oh Magdalene how my heart cries for you
Alone on this highway of darkness
You are the light of my dreams
And I miss
the Rose
of San Joaquin
Caught somewhere between
The road
and the Rose
Well it's three eggs up on whiskey toast
And home fries on the side
You wash it down with the truckstop coffee
That burns up your inside
It was a canyon, Colorado diner
A little waitress I did love
Well we sat in the back 'neath the old stuffed bear
And a worn out Navajo rug.
Well, Old Jack, the boss, he closed at six
And it's, 'Katie bar the door'.
She'd pull down that Navajo rug
And spread it on the floor,
Hey, I saw lightning in the sacred mountains
Saw the dance of the turtle doves
When I was lying next to Katie
On that old Navajo rug.
Ai-yi-yi, Katie
Shades of red and blue
Ai-yi-yi, Katie
Whatever became of the Navajo rug and you?
Katie
Well I saw old Jack about a year ago
He said the place burned to the ground
And all he'd saved was an old bear tooth,
And Katie she left town
"Ah but Katie, she got her souvenir too..."
Jack spat out a 'bacco plug
He said, "You shoulda seen her a-runnin' through the smoke
A haulin' that Navajo rug."
Ai-yi-yi, Katie
Shades of red and blue
Ai-yi-yi, Katie
Whatever became of the Navajo rug and you?
Katie
So every time I cross the sacred mountains
And lightning breaks above
It always takes me back in time
To my long lost Katie Love
Ah but everything keeps a movin'
And everybody's on the go
Well you don't find things that last anymore
Like a double woven Navajo.
Ai-yi-yi, Katie
Shades of red and blue
Ai-yi-yi, Katie
Whatever became of the Navajo rug and you
Katie
Shades of red and blue
Ai-yi-yi, Katie
Whatever became of the Navajo rug and you
Sundown on the San Joaquim an old woman walks home from
work
Another day in the fields another day in the dirt
She lights a sacred candle next to a faded photograph
And she says a prayer for a young man who fell between
the cracks
She stares at the photo of the young man who caused her
so much pain
In countless twelve round blood baths when Kid Hey Zeus
was his name
He was the pride of the valley until the night he
stayed down on his back
He took the dive and he disappeared down between the
cracks
She said Jesus was just a poor boy on the wrong side of
the tracks
He rose again but not before he fell down between the
tracks
She re-reads all his letters that he wrote her from L.A
He said please don't worry about me I'm coming home
again someday
Then she remembers the other stories that were
whispered behind her back
About a shooting outside a grocery store somewhere
between the cracks
She said Jesus was just a poor boy on the wrong side of
the tracks
He rose again but not before he fell down between the
tracks
Sunrise on the San Joaquim an old woman walks off from
work
Another day in the fields another day in the dirt
She stares at all the children dropping rich mens fruit
in their sacks
And she says a prayer for all the souls trapped between
the cracks
She said Jesus was just a poor boy on the wrong side of
the tracks
And he rose again but not before he fell down between
the tracks
He rose again but not before he fell down between the
"Do you know who I am?" said Bill Haley
In a pancake house down near the Rio Grande
Well the waitress said, "I don't know you from diddley...
To me you look like one more tired old man"
Well he walked all alone down on Main street
Was a hot wind blowin' up from the south
There were two eye's starin' in a pawnshop window
A whiskey bottle lifted to his mouth
There was no moon shinin' on the Rio Grande
A truck of migrants pulled through town
The jukebox was busted at the bus depot
When Haley's comet hit the ground
Well he blacked out all the windows in his bedroom
He was talkin' to the ceiling and the walls
Then he closed his eyes and hit the stage in 1955
And the screams of the women filled the hall
There was no moon shinin' on the Rio Grande
A truck of migrants pulled through town
The jukebox was busted at the bus depot
When Haley's comet hit the ground
Well a cop walks in a pancake house in Texas
And he orders up two coffees to go
He tells the waitress, "Baby, we just found the body...
Of someone who was famous long ago."
There was no moon shinin' on the Rio Grande
A truck of migrants pulled through town
The jukebox was busted at the bus depot
When Haley's comet hit the ground
Barcelona is a woman's town - women everywhere
Barcelona is a woman's eyes, raven gypsy hair
I got drunk in Barcelona and then she walked away from me
My tears ran down a bottle of Spanish burgundy
And I drank until I slept and I slept until I dream
In every dream her lips did taste of Spanish burgundy
There was once a gypsy saying, it may come from Catalan
First the man he takes the drink
and then the drink it takes the man
It may lead you to destruction or a love that's meant to
But beware of Barcelona girls and the Spanish Burgundy
And we drink until we sleep and we sleep until we dream
We dream of Barcelona girls and Spanish burgundy
So I will join the old men down in the sad cafe
The sun goes up the sun goes down, shadows cross our face
As we sing of how it might of been oh and how it used to
And the moon shines through the bottles of Spanish
burgundy
And we drink until we sleep and we sleep until we dream
We dream of Barcelona girls and Spanish burgundy
And we drink until we sleep and we sleep until we dream
Has anybody here seen Roberto Duran?
I met him once, yeah I shook his hand.
I looked in his eyes and now I understand,
yeah, the love and the anger in the eyes of Roberto
Duran.
Has anybody here seen that mexican girl?
She lives up on third street in her own little world.
a saint in the window, and the rosary beads in her
hand, yeah, the smile of an angel and the eyes of
Roberto Duran.
chorus:
Panama City, it's three in the morning, they're talkin'
bout the hands of stone
New York City, lord the suns comin' up
my baby's throwin' everthing she owns
Has anybody here seen the woman I love?
she'll fight down and dirty when push comes to shove,
she'll win every round if the fight goes according to
plan, with the
smile of an angel and the eyes of Roberto Duran.
solo
repeat chorus (change baby's to lady's)
I stare out every evening at the distant Northern Star
It leads us ever northwards and tells us that we are
Lost below the Yellowstone in a land unknown to me
Ten thousand miles from loved ones and my home across the sea
We travel through an empty land, the benches are all strewn
With bison bones that shine ghost white with the rising of the moon
The grey wolf howls and answer as i try to sing on guard
Indentured to these Texans, in a land so wild and hard
When I hired on to Bill Ducharm in the heat of the Texas sun
I was unawares of his darker side or his swiftness with a gun
But I had made a solemn promise to ride with him through hell
And to deliver the herd to the ends of the earth or the mouth of the Musselshell
I turned just about 17 when we hit the first cowtown
I drank my first strong liquor there - and the women spun me 'round
But of all the barroom angels and their soft forbidden charms
I was stuck on Blue-eyed Annie - who belonged to Bill Ducharm
And the boy became a man that night in Annie's arms
But Annie cried and begged me... "Beware of Bill Ducharm"
We left that Texas cowtown and pointed the herd North
But the first night when the moon was down, I rode back to Old Fort Worth
They were closin' down the barroom and rollin' up the floor
My heart was in my throat - as I knocked on Annie's door
And the boy became a man that night in Annie's arms
But Annie cried and begged me... "Beware of Bill Ducharm"
Bill Ducharm had one bad eye - his face was a devil's red
The result of a bygone prairie fire where he'd crawled back from the dead
And every night in dreams as I rolled in Annie's arms
Only to wake to face old Satan - in the guise of Bill Ducharm
And each night 'cross the campfire - I'd face that one bad eye
Did he know that I'd betrayed him? Had my hour come to die?
One promise he did make good - yes, we followed him through hell
Driven by this one-eyed Lucifer towards the banks of the Musselshell
And as we near the Yellowstone, the snow begins to fall
And soon this wretched enterprise shall be ending for us all
It's then I'll need fast horses to fly to Annie's arms
The young boy scrapes his knee
Or he falls out of a tree
And his Mama hears his screams from far away
She runs to dry his eye
She say's its O.K to cry
'Cos everything that hurts will go away
It goes away it might take years
Or a hundred thousand tears
But one day the sky will clear it goes awa......y
Oh the boy's just turned sixteen
He's bashful lives in dreams
And his heart breaks when the girls go by his way
He's chokin' deep inside
From swallowing false pride
'Til he remembers that od prayer it goes away
It goes away it might take years
Or a hundred thousand tears
But one day the sky will clear it goes awa.......y
The older that we grow
Oh the less we seem to know
But we still recite the old prayers every day
Yeah we hope the bomb won't drop
And all the wars will stop
And when our heartbreaks
That the pain will go away
It goes away it might take years
Or a hundred thousand tears
But one day the sky will clear it goes awa.......y
It goes away it might take years
Or a hundred thousand tears
There once was a man who thought love was warm
Hey Stop me if you've heard this story before
He's got a purple heart who's keeping score
There's a lot of purple hearts in the purple heart
store
he was a commandant now he's a penitent
On Ash Wednesday
There once was a woman a pretty young thing
She sold her soul for a diamond ring
She heard about love in a magazine
Saw it every friday night on a movie screen
She was a debutante now she's a penitent
On Ash Wednesday
They were love sick love tied
They strayed a little close to the edge of the fire
And their hands got burned their eyebrows singed
They're walking down the street to self oblivion
They got holes in their pockets holes in their minds
They are holy people in an unholy time
Heading for the church at the end of the line
Ash Wednesday
See them hanging out in every lonely place
They'll tell you now love can't hurt them now
But they've got ashes on their face
See them hanging out in every lonely place
They'll tell you now love can't hurt them now
But they've got ashes on their face
We were love sick we were love tied
We strayed a little close to the edge of the fire
And our hands got burned and our eyebrows singed
We're walking down the street to self oblivion
We got holes in our pockets holes in our minds
We are holy people in an unholy time
Heading for the church at the end of the line
Ash Wednesday
She was living in a Cadillac bedded down in the back
seat
On a back street of the Hollywood hills
With a scrap book museum a memory
Old photo's and telephone bills
She'd been a great actress
In two dozen movies
Played Shakespeare on the great London stage
Before the three husbands six kids and bad breaks
At sixty eight odd years of age
Well him they called fat boy
Wore a grey overall
And he clocked in at four hundred pounds
With a passion for food and film magazines
He'd been a great critic down town
But he'd seen all her movies
He worshipped her face
Stories by bitter end
Though she bore no resemblance to the star he adored
The films over boys real life begins
But she told him of a fountain of youth
in the hot Texas earth
It'll heal and renew us
It's somewhere west of Fort Worth
She'd met her old flame in the Crazy Water Hotel
And they danced down the street there
In the moonlight of Old Mineral Wells
So they boarded a greyhound in search of the fountain
Fat Boy and the aging film queen
Through the great painted desert
And on across Texas
Amarillo Plain View Abilene
Well they stopped off at Fort Worth for a fresh cup of
coffee
Come the local to old Mineral Wells
And he dropped her in front of
That boarded old castle
The Crazy Water Hotel
Disllusioned they found a cheap room off the highway
Drank vodka from a styrofoam cup
There'd be no healing return to the past
'Cos the fountain of youth had dried up
So the critic and the film star
Held hands and drank vodka
As the great Texas earth was unveiled
And drunk but still dreaming
Theey waltzed down the street
'Neath the moonlight of old Mineral Wells
But she told him of a fountain of youth
in the hot Texas earth
It'll heal and renew us
It's somewhere west of Fort Worth
She'd met her old flame in the Crazy Water Hotel
And they danced down the street there
In the moonlight of Old Mineral Wells
And they danced down the street there
Two men rode in from the South, a rainy autumn night
(The sky above and the mud below)
They walked into the Deacon's bar, they were Mexican by sight
(The sky above and the mud below)
They threw a horse hair bridle down - "we trade this for whiskey round"
The Deacon slams a bottle down - two men start to drinkin'
Their hair was long and black, tied up behind their ears
(The sky above and the mud below)
Their faces were identical - like one man beside a mirror
(The sky above and the mud below)
Then someone whispers "that beats all... their wanted poster's on the wall
Twin brothers name of Sandoval - horse thieves from Boquillas..."
Now the bridle and the belts they wore were braided gray and black
(The sky above and the mud below)
The color of a roan horse once belonged to Deacon Black
(The sky above and the mud below)
The fastest horse for miles around - He'd been stolen from the old fairgrounds
A month ago outside of town - We tracked but never found him
Now the Deacon was a preacher who had fallen hard from grace
(The sky above and the mud below)
He owned the bar and a string of quarter horses that he'd race
(The sky above and the mud below)
Yet Deacon he could drink and curse, though he still quoted sacred verse
He was sheriff, judge, he owned the hearse - a man you do not anger
The sky above, the mud below, the wind and rain, the sleet and snow
Two horse thieves from Mexico, drinkin' hard and singin'
One brother he spoke English - Deacon inquires as to their work
(The sky above and the mud below)
The man says, "Mister, we braid horsehair: bridles, ropes and quirts..."
(The sky above and the mud below)
"Yah, that fine bridle we did make - a roan horse killed by leg-bone break...
He's horsehair rope now, horse meat steak... we cleaned him to the bone."
Well these gentlemen they were ignorant, or didn't know just where they were
(The sky above and the mud below)
The Deacon's face grew darker as he measured every word
(The sky above and the mud below)
"You horsehair braidin' sons of bitches, stole my claim to earthly riches
Someone go and dig a ditch - there may well be a hangin'."
One brother reached inside his shirt - a-searching for his gun
(The sky above and the mud below)
Too late... for Deak had whipped around his sawed-off Remington
(The sky above and the mud below)
The twins they raised their hands and sneered. Deak was grinnin' ear to ear
He says: "Courts in session... hear ye, hear - yer's truly is presidin'..."
Well the trial commenced and ended quick, they didn't have a hope
(The sky above and the mud below)
Deak says, "We'll cut your hair now boys - then you can braid yourselves a rope...
(The sky above and the mud below)
The Old Testament it says somewhere - "'eye for eye and hair for hair
Covet not thy neighbor's mare' - I believe that's Revelations."
Now that fancy horsehair bridle it hangs on Deacon's wall
(The sky above and the mud below)
Next to that wanted poster of the brothers Sandoval
(The sky above and the mud below)
And the twisted rope, so shiny black; the artifact that broke their necks
Their craftmanship he did respect - they shoulda struck to braidin'
The sky above, the mud below, the wind and rain, the sleet and snow
A) Baby pulled her blue dress on and (G) walked out in
the (D/F#)night
(A)Left one silk stocking danglin’ (G)from the bedside
(D/F#) light
I sobered up and called her name (A) just before the dawn
I (G)Followed footprints through the sand, I(A) knew
where she had gone
Down The Rio (G) Grande
Down the Rio (A) Grande.
Verce 2 same chords
Pulled out of Albuquerque, must have been past 8:00
Four cups of coffee and I hit the interstate
Rolling through Las Cruces, I thought I saw her car
She always said she’d go someday, she never said how far
Down The Rio Grande, Down The Rio Grande
Chorus
(D)Maybe she’s in (G) Brownsville, she’s(A) got some
family there
(D)She always (G) talked about the (A) salty Gulf Coast
Carlos Zaragoza left his home in Casas Grandes when the moon was full
No money in his pocket, just a locket of his sister framed in gold
He rode into El Sueco, stole a rooster called "Gallo del Cielo"
Then he crossed the Rio Grande with that rooster nestled deep beneath his arm.
Well, Gallo del Cielo was a warrior born in heaven, so the legends say
His wings they had been broken, he had one eye rollin' crazy in his head
And He'd fought a hundred fights, but the legends say that one night near El Sueco
They'd fought Cielo seven times and seven times he'd left brave roosters dead.
Hola, my Theresa, I am thinking of you now in San Antonio
I have 27 dollars and the good luck of your picture framed in gold
Tonight I'll put it all on the fighting spurs of Gallo del Cielo
And Then I'll return to buy the land that Villa stole from father long ago
Outside of San Diego in the onion fields of Paco Monteverde
The Pride of San Diego lay sleeping on his fancy bed of silk
And they laughed when Zaragoza pulled the one-eyed del Cielo from beneath his coat
But they cried when Zaragoza walked away with a thousand dollar bill.
Hola, my Theresa, I am thinking of you now in Santa Barbara
I have fifteen hundred dollars and the good luck of your picture framed in gold
Tonight I'll put it all on the fighting spurs of Gallo del Cielo
And then I'll return to buy the land that Villa stole from father long ago.
Now the moon has gone to hiding and the lantern light spills shadows on the fighting sand
Where a wicked black named Zorro faces Gallo del Cielo in the night
But Carlos Zaragoza fears the tiny crack that runs across his rooster's beak
And he fears he has lost the fifty thousand dollars riding on the fight
Hola, my Theresa, I am thinking of you now in Santa Clara
Yes, the money's on the table, I'm holding to your good luck framed in gold
And everything we dreamed of is riding on spurs of del Cielo
I pray that I'll return to buy the land that Villa stole from father long ago
Then the signal it was given, and the roosters rose together far above the sand
Then Gallo del Cielo sunk a gaff into Zorro's shiny breast
They were separated quickly but they rose and fought each other thirty seven times
And the legends say that everyone agreed del Cielo fought the best
Then the screams of Zaragoza filled the night outside the town of Santa Clara
As the beak of del Cielo lay broken like a shell within his hand
And they say that Zaragoza screamed a curse upon the bones of Pancho Villa
When Zorro rose up one last time and drove del Cielo to the sand.
Hola, my Theresa, I am thinking of you now in San Francisco
There is no money in my pocket, I no longer have your good luck framed in gold
I buried it last evening with the bones of my beloved del Cielo
And I'll not return to buy the land that Villa stole from father long ago
Do the rivers still run muddy outside of my beloved Casas Grandes?
And does the scar upon my brother's face turn red when he hears mention of my name?
Do the people of El Sueco curse the theft of Gallo del Cielo?
