It’s another night with Janey
My liquor, her tears
Her drinking, my thinking
What am I doing here
A picture drawn with color crayon
And warm beer
Of another who knows
how to hide it

Jane says, boys,
I got the deed for the moon
So half the crowd follows
As Jane leaves the room
But it’s bourbon
back at my place
And a different tune
She comes out slow
from behind it

Hey Jane,
how’d you get so scared
Was the living bitter
Is it better back there
The bottle’s empty
It’s four a.m.
Grab your pretty things
Hiding time again

Well, the curtain opens
And look who shows
Daddy’s little girl
In grown-up clothes
But who’s that hiding
In the back rows
With her head down
And her shoulders shaking

I ain’t gonna tuck
my shirt in today
It’s sloppy outside,
the snow’s half rain
Kicking ‘round the house
With these memories again
Hey hey, ain’t it that kind of day

I don’t want to hear that telephone ring
Just hand me down
my old six-string
I’m off to the land
where the secrets play
Hey hey, ain’t it that kind of day

And no one’s gonna come on by
I’ll stare out the window
at the cloudy sky
Tap my feet on these
old floor boards
Play slow on the easy chords
Hey hey hey, that kind of day

I ain’t walking out the
front door today
I ain’t gonna start up
my Chevrolet
That old boat won’t be
leaving my driveway
Not today, it’s that kind of day

And ain’t that the
jacket I never wear
Today it’s gonna compliment
my tangled hair
And it’s dark and
I can hide inside it
Such a day
Hey hey hey, it’s that kind of day

Come on Betty
Are you sure you’re ready
To put a gun at your side
And take a ride
In the sun

Tell me Betty
are you ready, are you ready
Ready to run

Did you get a little needy
Did you get a little greedy
Did you go in the store
And say, get on the floor
Everyone

Did you take the cash,
did you take a ride
Betty better run

Tin Can Teddy
He loves you Betty
But he’s back there thinking
You just went drinking
With a chum

Better tell Teddy, Betty
To be ready
Ready to run

Mexico
You’re almost home
But you had to stop
Pull a gun on a cop
And say, son

I need your rifle,
I need your car keys
Betty better run

Hey, you knew they’d hound you
So when they found you
You said, Ah hell,
I might as well have fun
You spun around,
put the pedal down
Run run run

Don’t ask me to smile
I’m sad
Don’t say in a while
It ain’t going to hurt so bad
Don’t say time heals
It’s not how it feels
Down here

Don’t tell me to
look on the bright side
I don’t think you’ve
seen the light hide
When it’s gone, it’s gone
There ain’t nothing going
to bring the dawn
Down here

So let the colors seep on through
And turn the world a deeper blue

You say cheer up
But I’m down
You say skies will clear
And the clouds all swirl around
You say, what you cannot say
Down here

Stop your crying
I’m done shouting
I’m done whining
Are you done pouting

Got no fight
Left tonight
My darling

Turn off the tv
Come up and see me
I don’t bite
I know you don’t believe me

I got no fight
Left tonight
My darling

I got mad
Made you feel bad
I hurt the best thing
I ever had
I’m sorry, angel
I know you’re so sad

But baby
If you’d stop crying
I’m done pouting
If I’d stop whining
And you’d stop shouting

There’d be no more fighting
No more lightning
No more thunder
We  could come on under
The covers,
We’d be lovers
Again

Come on home, Miss Nelly
Come home
Come home to me, Miss Nelly
Won’t you come home

Home to the Shenandoah
Come on back to
your daddy’s land
Back to the bright
clear blue water
When you need a man

They say the war is over
I can go home now
I have been a soldier
It’s all I know now
But I got land
on the Shenandoah
And it’s there
I’ll make my stand
Along the bright
clear blue water
Nelly won’t you come and take my hand

Remember the Shenandoah
Remember where I
held your hand
And the bright
clear blue water
And the warm July sand

Colonel Grayson has a fine horse
Going to get me a fine one too
Maybe I’ll find myself out riding
Maybe when I’m riding
I’ll find you

Down along the Shenandoah
With the sunlight on the land
Sparkling on the cool clear water
Nelly let me be your man

Where have all the boys gone
Where are my friends
All alone
The telephone
Won’t ring again

I’ve been thinking
‘bout Georgia
And that old corn field
Where we’d run, flashlight on
Remember how it’d feel

Bobby, are you still downtown
Did John make it to Texas
Jackie and Jeff swore
when they left
They’d check back with us

Where y’all now
Where’s everyone gone
I heard a back door
Never heard what for
I got the porch light on

Remember the house
on State Street
The night after the prom
When that big shot
Said show me what you got
Well, you showed him Tom

Now it’s late and I’m weary
Sitting on the side of my bed
And the same old song
Is playing all night long
Round and round in my head

Well, Danny,
did you marry Tess
I should have before you
She slipped away
You made your play
Then I just ignored you

Where y’all all now
Where has everyone gone
There are no more
Knocks at my door
And these nights
drag on and on

She got the girl in her
She got that girl in her
The child in her
It smiles in her

Bringing out the boy in me
Bringing out the joy still in me
She says hey hey hey
Let’s play

And like a kid again
I begin again
She’s like a long lost friend
Who’s come on back again
Lord, she sets me free
I’m on my bended knee
Singing, hey hey hey
Let’s play

Come out come out
Wherever you are
Wish upon wish upon
A falling star
Moonlight starlight
I hope to see
You in the moonlight
Playing with me

Morning comes
down my street
Hits the horn, wakes the baby
I tumble out of bed
with an aching head
Get the warm bottle ready
Baby won’t stop crying
Takes that bottle
and sends it flying
I say ok, what do you say
We hit the cafe, I’m buying

So we head down
to Cafe Charlie
And he promptly
spills my coffee
And the waitress
don’t look happy
She says how’s
your morning, Pappy
Well I look for a knowing grin
But I’d settle for aspirin
She ain’t had a wild child
Don’t know the shape I’m in

Babies

Afternoon Grandma comes by
Finds that fussy child,
says my
The memories that
come to mind
Of the wild days
when you were a child
I say Mama could
you do it again
She says listen, understand
It was something else way back then
But I’m standing
here to go again
She says, son,
I know something about

Babies

Evening on the porch swing
Baby sleeps
Mama sings
Too-ra-loo-ra-loo-ral
Ever seen an angel
held in angel wings
Summer breeze
and baby’s breath
Blowing in the sweet silence
Carry a man, carry a woman
Far from the day’s events

Babies

You grew up in a town
You never would embrace
God knows,
it never could embrace you
So a highway you found
Took you another place
Only the ghosts
would chase you

There was music there
And something in the air
Did the muse come to
walk along beside you
Was that storm in your soul
Born of her breath
Was her tambourine
there to guide you

chorus

Restless child
Blessed and wild
Demons and dreams
make demands
But one day the seas you sail
They’ll be enough
And you can sleep in the sand
Finally, sleep in the sand

On his words you fed
To his bedside you were led
And the stars
in heaven lighted
You sang and you played
And boy you made the grade
In the court of this king
You were knighted

And out in the streets
you could hear it
The songs share the night
In the clubs of the village
You shared them
with each other
Until that evening,
in the seats
When a man sat down to write
There was something
in you, Bobby
A little different
from the others

chorus

And you played for
the kings and queens
And the lovers and the fools
For the dreamers
For the broken-hearted
And didn’t they all shout back
Give us more, we are yours
And by your songs
Might our seas be parted
By your songs
By your songs

chorus

Come out to California, she said
The feeling here is free
She called me
from New York City
She said, nobody sleeps.
Darling, I've been to
both those places
Had myself a time
But I'm cutting across
the Great Plains now
Going to that home of mine

(Chorus)
I'm back to the water
I'm back to the water
Going back to the water
Got to feel it washing over me

We went to Europe
We saw Paris on the Seine
Went to London
In that cold winter rain
Places I'll never forget
People I still love
But I got back to my backyard
Boy, I thanked my stars above

(Chorus)

The Ukraine, the Black Sea,
and the Caribbean
I drove up the East Coast
Down the West Coast
Parked it in between
I found a simple sweetness
I ain't known nowhere else
There's living in
these north winds
There's grace in this farm belt.

So I won't be coming out to L.A.
You tell 'em all that I'm sorry
Call 'em all in New York
Tell 'em I need my sleep
I'm going where the big river calls out to me
I'm gonna drop a line
where I feel fine
On a bank of the Mississippi

(Chorus)

I'm tired of my room
I'm tired of all this snow
Tired of old Main Street
And driving too damn slow
Tired of the same
old picture show
Heaven knows, I got to go
Got to go
Chicago

Tired of my barber
And what he thinks he knows
Country music on his radio
The small town braggadocio
Look out mama, I got to go
Got to go
Chicago

Lord, how I long to be
Where this Greyhound's
taking me
Will you take this refugee
Big city

I'm tired of my mama's television show
I'm tired of my daddy's Panatello
And I'm tired of my sister,
I'm tired of her beau
Think they know where this
boy's got to go
Got to go
Chicago

Jazz on the radio,
breakfast on the table
It's raining outside,
but meet me if you're able
The cafe's cozy,
sit with me Rosie
I'm waiting inside
watching people pass by
Jazz on the radio,
breakfast on the table

Jazz on the radio,
breakfast on the table
A photo on the wall
of a young Betty Grable
Tile on the floor,
flowers by the door
Music in the air from 1944 Jazz on the radio,
breakfast on the table

Jazz on the radio,
breakfast on the table
Bookshelves filled
with Aesop's fables
Men in white hair
playing solitaire
Brushes sweeping
across a snare
Jazz on the radio,
breakfast on the table

Jazz on the radio,
breakfast on the table
Tomatoes, toast and
a little sweet basil
And a French baguette
and a bass clarinet
Girl, why haven't
you found me yet
I got jazz on the radio,
breakfast on the table

There's a woman dancing
in a Russian sable
She's got a bottle of wine
with a Spanish label
Paint peeling on a
pressed tin ceiling
Music bringing that
old time feeling
Irish coffee, English toffee
Shaking that morning
chill right off me
Meet me darlin'
when you are able
I got jazz on the radio,
breakfast on the table

Truck driver, engineer
Tow boat pilot, balladeer
Tell the stories
from the endless miles
Turn the head of
this tangle-haired child
And fill his heart
with the call of the wild

Running river, open road
Steel rails and wide loads
Dusty, lusty, rollin' ragged joy
Tuck it in the heart of this boy
This tangle-haired boy

You are the cowboys now
You're the cowboys now
You're all that's left
You're all I know
You are the cowboys now
You're the cowboys now
And he is a child,
looking for a cowboy soul

I'm his daddy, he's my son
There's so much living
to get done
One day they'll come and tell
Him to fall in line
Make the wind his angel
Make the stars his guide

You are the cowboys now
You're the cowboys now
The frontier won't
be here for long
You are the cowboys now
You're the cowboys now
He is a child waiting for his cowboy song

Walked into a bar,
I was looking for a drink
I heard a voice say,
hey, you know what I think
I looked over and
she was looking my way
She said, your eyes
and a bottle of wine
And a place in the
country and I'd be fine
I said, pardon me,
I don't think I
know your name

(Chorus)
High tide creeping
on up the shore
Trouble, trouble knocking
upon my door

She said, I'll be with you
when you're old and gray
When the kids are grown
and gone away
And I said, maybe baby,
you just want a drink
She said, boy,
put away your money
I think you know what
I'm looking for, honey
And I said, does it
matter what I think

(Chorus)

Now here I sit
on my porch swing
My grown children listening
Their mama laughing
like a loon
And me singing them all
this here tune

Well, that stubborn girl
and that gin mill
Lord, I remember them still
The bar's out on Highway 3
The girl she's right
here with me
Brazen, brassy,
she's getting old
But still so sassy
She's my angel,
she's your mama
She's my wife

And that high tide don't
bother me no more
That trouble I let pour
right through my door

Thought about you
on a back road,
In Montana, on a hot day in July
The thoughts rose high
above The Crazy Mountains
And touched the big sky
And if they're driftin' still,
I swear they will
Find their way to heaven
by and by

(Chorus)
I've been thinking about you
Some days it's the
best thing I do
When my doin' days
'round here are all through
Maybe I'll go driftin' too
With those thoughts of you

Thought about you on a river,
in the dark
As I laid down by the fire
Smoke rising high above me
Thoughts of you rising higher
Sailing away until the
day they found a place
In that angel choir

(Chorus)

I thought about you in a dream
Where it seemed
Suddenly I could fly
Now those thoughts
could not leave me
I rode with them
high into the sky
Pretty soon that
old man in the moon
He was looking at me
as if to ask why
And I said old man
try and understand
These thoughts belong
Under God's watchful eye

(Chorus)

Riding down the road
Everything looks like gold
You said I'd miss the city
Hey, guess you don't know
I got it made, pretty baby
Would not change one thing
You called me the poor boy
Darlin', I'm the king

I'm riding in my bare feet
On these torn leather seats
I got Bill Monroe on the radio
And the picture's complete
I got it made, pretty baby
Would not change one thing
(Gotta hear him sing)
He makes a poor boy feel
Just like a king

Faster and faster headed for
An early grave
I shouted, master, oh master
I will not be your slave
I ain't no slave

Now it's road and sky
and the sweet by and by
And a breeze in my window
And a kingdom in my eyes
I got time, pretty baby
Ain't she a precious thing
Well it's the curse of a poor boy
The treasure of a king
I ain't your poor boy now, child
No, no, no, I'm the king

I'm bustin' out boys
Are you coming with me
Last night I had my
Epiphany
I believe it's time, finally
To leave behind this misery
Free, boys

We're living in shadow
Longing for the light
Hell-bent for sun
and held by the night
Are you wondering
what the big walls hide
Time to take back
what we've been denied

Freedom


Brothers, hear the call
Gather 'round this prison wall
Sing it loud one and all
Tonight it's going to come
tumbling like a waterfall

Gonna pay the price
Gonna win the prize
Gonna own the valleys
Gonna take the skies
Stretching out like wings
Before our eyes
No walls to hide
That sweet sunrise

Freedom

Favorite chair in the evening air
And the storm blowing in
and He sat right there
And smiled, that smile
Showing the world
how to live in style
Hard times, never mind
Couldn't steal
the sweet sunshine
From grandpa

(Chorus)
Want to live like grandpa
Like my mama's papa
Want to do like her daddy done
Live like grandpa
Want to live like my granddaddy
Like my mama's papa
Do like her daddy done
Like grandpa

Boys came ‘round,
laid the pony down
Tapped the spout and
the stories poured out
And they smiled, that smile
Showing the world how
to live in style
Stock hit the ground,
the banks shut down
But they didn't have a care,
they were sitting there
With grandpa

(Chorus)

Four boys, six girls
Took 'em from the cradle
Gave 'em to the world
With that easy style
Taught 'em to sing, and to bring
A little joy, to living

(Chorus)

In the dawn's cold,
gray winter light
A freight train whistle
feels just right
Lying in bed,
eyes open wide
It comes to steal me
for the mystic's ride

And my soul ascends,
fills that train
And I'm sent rolling
'cross the open plain
Past prairie grass
and river banks
And old grain bins
and water tanks

Then the steel rails fade,
boxcars too
I'm drifting alone in quiet blue
Held there in an endless sky
Carried by a hurricane eye

I'm in a silence still and clear
God's voice is all I hear
Speaking in those
mournful whistles
Lost, lonesome epistles

Time and space have dissolved
All the questions are resolved
Twilight frames
this state of grace
This humble hobo's holy space

And suddenly it just slips away
And I'm right back where I lay
Wiping sleep from tired eyes
As that fading whistle dies

So talk to me preacher
of your mountaintop
And your sacred site
I've had my own whistle stop
And I too have seen the light

(Chorus)
White light
Freight train coming

Wind don't blow
Dog don't bark
I'm all alone
It's getting dark
A hard, hard worker
I can't sleep
What's she doing
Where's she
Sweet sleep, save me

Stars are gone
Moon is black
The angels came along
But they turned their backs
Voices don't call
And traffic don't hum
The time moves,
but the dawn don't come
Ain't no rest for
the broken hearts
When the day is done

(Chorus)
Lydia, Lydia
Child, you keep me up

She comes, she goes
She disappears, who knows
If night time, this time
Means she shows
I hide her fine
in the sweet sunshine
It's the night time
When she's back on my mind
Anytime
The shadows draw her name
Right through the blinds

(Chorus)
Lydia, Lydia
Go on, keep me up

I get up, go downstairs
I brush my teeth
and I comb my hair
I get up, just to see you
And you keep me up with
The pretty little things you do

I go out, go walking about
I hear you whistle, you hear me shout
I go out, just to see you
You knock me out with
The pretty little things you do

(Chorus)
What you do, what you do
Oh do what you do
Baby, it's true
You knock me out with the
Pretty little things you do

Sometimes I get down
Oh Lord, I get down
Slumming around the
Back streets of downtown
You drive up
And pick me up
You take me high to the bluff
Keep it up,
'cuz I can't get enough

I said, it's getting on
closing time now, sir
He said, a few more
minutes won't hurt
He said,
I'm just feeling better
This brand new sweater
Hides the holes in my shirt

He knows the boys
in hardware
He's been kicked off
the couches upstairs
And I've caught him
sneaking brandy
Watching pretty girls
dish candy
Lost in the curls of their hair

(Chorus)
He's the last of the faithful
at Sears
He's been coming down here
for years
He's put in countless miles
Down these endless aisles
Last of the faithful at Sears

He says Sunday he'll turn 88
And I say, please sir,
it's getting quite late
And he eats his jellybeans
Watches twelve TV screens
And I stand there with my keys and wait

He says, my daddy,
he was the fire chief
Back when this town
used to smoke
Back when this here store
Was the place to shop
For all the working folk

Last of the faithful
Last of the faithful
He's the last of the faithful
Down here at Sears

And in the mirror he
catches his eyes
He says the hard times
stole his best tries
He resigns to the feeling
Of the music in the ceiling
High above these
florescent skies

(Chorus)

See the money come,
see the money go
Coming in the front door
And out the window
I barely got time
to tip my hat
My money does the
forty in about four flat

My money comes by
just to say, hey
I say, sit for a spell,
my money can't stay
There's places to go,
people to pay
My money and my honey
have a busy day

See the money come and
see the money go
Right in the front door,
right out the window
I don't have time
to tip my hat
My money does the
forty in about four flat
Never seen a dollar bill
act like that
Try to put it in my pocket
and it jumps back

Mama says money don't
grow on trees
And even if it did,
the ground would freeze
Wind would blow and the
leaves would be sent
Right down to the ground
already spent
Wonder where the
good times went