John Cougar Mellencamp

[fox69]

"Get A Leg Up"

"Get A Leg Up"



Don't look at me, don't touch me
Keep your mind straight ahead
Don't get no funny ideas about me
Or you'll wish that you were dead
That's what I'm thinking she must be thinking
The girl I spent 53 bucks on last night
She gives me a look from the corner of her eye
That says, "Boy, keep acting right."
How surprised was I
When she leaned over and whispered in my ear

Get a leg up
Get a leg over boy
Get a leg up
What's the matter
Are you shy, shy, shy?

I'm pretty good with first impressions
But sometimes I'm not always right
I pulled the car to the shoulder of the road
To see what she had in mind
Want me to spend the night
Hey lover boy you know I will
And my best girlfriend down the road
Together we will thrill ya
And I'm thining to myself
I could be lucky Pierre tonight

If I could get a leg up
If I could get a leg over boy
You know I ain't that handsome
But you know I ain't shy, shy, shy

The rest of the night went on and on
And the moral to this song
Don't go making hasty judgments
Because sometimes they could be wrong
Nothing wrong with a good time
Just keep yourself protected, make a list
And you can bet your life that the women don't know
The little girls are acting like this
So the next time a young one moves up
And she whispers in your ear

Get a leg up
Get a leg over boy
Get a leg up
Now don't you be shy, shy, shy

 

[fox69]

"Ghost Towns Along The Highway"

"Ghost Towns Along The Highway"



Ghost towns along the highway
Guess no one wants to live around here any more
Ghost towns along the highway
Listen to the wind blow through the
Cracks on the boarded-up doors

But our love keeps on moving
To the nearest faraway place
I guess no one believes in
Ghost towns along the highway
Ghost towns along the main highway

Perhaps it's the crossroads of another time
Maybe it's too lonely out here
But I can hear the voices of misery cryin'
Some day these highways will all disappear

But our love keeps on moving
And the wind keeps blowin' us around
I guess no one believes in
Ghost towns along the highway
Ghost towns along the main highway

Ghost towns along the highway
So many people used to call this place home
Ghost towns along the highway
I guess folks they're just bound to roam

But our love keeps on moving
To the nearest faraway place
I guess no one believes in
Ghost towns along the highway
Ghost towns along the main highway

 

[fox69]

"Golden Gates"

"Golden Gates"



Ain't no golden gates gonna swing open
Ain't no streets paved in natural pearl
Ain't no angel with a harp come singin'
Leastways not that I know of in this world
In these days of uncertain futures
Who knows what the masters might do
They got their big deals goin' on, goin' on
Got nothing to do with me and you
If I could I'd get us a big suite
Overlooking the Park
Only promise I know to be true
Are the promises made from the heart
I don't need to see the whole thing go down
I don't need to see another lonely man
I don't need to see a woman crying for the savior
Holding on to some moneyman's hand
Who can I call to make my reservations
Forever thrown in the dark
The only promises I know to be true
Are the promises made from the heart
I don't believe in the authorities
They ain't gonna take care of me and you
I don't have all the strength that I need
To love the way that I want to
The only promises I know to be true
Are the promises made from the heart

 

[fox69]

"Good Girls"

"Good Girls"


Good girls don't stay for breakfast
They know it's in poor taste
Good girls won't blow your evening
With small talkin' chit chat just a waste

[Chorus:]
I don't wanna walk with you
And I don't wanna talk with you
And I don't wanna be with you
'till the night time

Good girls have reputation
Good girls have to keep it clean
But you girl you're so damn reckless
You're a boll weevil evilly obscene

[Chorus]

Hey girl you know I've heard those stories
About you girl last of the pony-tail queens
China chops are a dime a dozen
So hey girl go on and shake that thing

[Chorus]

 

[fox69]

"Goodnight"

"Goodnight"



It's rainin' on me
Watch the cab drive you away
I see the night bein' eatin' up
By just another day
I guess I'd better accept
That we just didn't have a lot to say
Except goodnight
I guess it's goodnight

The city workers
Cleanin' up the streets
An old man wrapped in rags and newspaper
Lies asleep on the corner of the street
Whatever we had
Lies in a heap at your feet
Goodnight
I guess it's goodnight

A crowd of people, aw shit

 

[fox69]

"Grandma's Theme"

"Grandma's Theme"


Was a dark stormy night
As the train rattled on
All the passengers had gone to bed
Except a young man with a baby in his arms
Who sat there with a bowed-down head

The innocent one began crying just then
As though its poor heart would break
One angry man said, "Make that child stop its noise
For it's keeping all of us awake."

[Grandma's Theme is a part of the traditional song listed below:]

[The Baggage Coach Ahead]

On a dark and stormy night as the train rolled on
All passengers gone to bed,
Except a young man with a babe on his arm
Sat sadly with bowed down head;
Just then the babe commenced crying
As though its poor heart would break.
One angry man said, "Make that child stop its noise,
For it's keeping us all awake."

"Put it out," said another, "Don't keep it in here;
We've paid for our berth and want rest."
But never a word said the man with the child,
As he fondled it close to his breast.
"Oh where is its mother? Go take it to her,"
One lady then softly said.
"I wish I could," was the man's sad reply.
"But she's dead in the coach ahead."
As the train rolled onward, a husband set in tears,
Thinking of the happiness of just a few short years.
Baby's face brings pictures of a cherished hope now dead,
But baby's cries can't awaken her in the baggage coach ahead.
Every eye filled with tears as the story he told
Of a wife who was faithful and true;
He told how he'd saved up his earnings for years,
Just to build a home for two;
How when heaven had sent them their sweet little babe,
Their young happy lives were blest;
His heart seemed to break when he mentioned her name,
And in tears tried to tell them the rest.

Every woman arose to assist with the child;
There were mothers and wives on that train.
And soon was the little one sleeping in peace,
With no thought of sorrow or pain.
Next morn at the station he bade all goodbye,
"God bless you," he softly said,
Each one had a story to tell in their homes
Of the baggage coach ahead.

 

[fox69]

"Great Mid-West"

"Great Mid-West"



Everything is slower here, everybody's got a union card
They get up on Sunday and go to church of their choice
Come back home cook out in the backyard

And they call this the Great Midwest
Where the cornfields row and flow
They're all 5 years ahead of their time
Or 25 behind, I just don't know

All the young men talk about their 4 wheel drives
And how much money they're gonna make on Friday night
And, they like to brag about how they mistreat their girlfriends
Hey, let's get drunk, party it up, start a fight

And they call this the Great Midwest
Sure make a hell of a car
And the old hearts, they race their way through the night
The upheaval of who they really are

Growin' up under normal conditions, television and radio
That's just about all of this whole world
That any of us get to see, get to know

And they call this the Great Midwest
Where you sacrifice your body and soul
And no one really wants to get even
Most of us find it hard enough just lettin' go

Don't get me wrong I ain't complaining
I ain't braggin' nor do I mean to place blame
That's just the way things are around here
And there's a future carryin' my name on it
Sayin' hey man, you gonna stick around here you better get on it
If you're gonna stick around here you better make yourself some real good friends

Well I wasn't born with a silver spoon in my mouth
So I can't talk about the big city life
But if you wanna talk about bein' bored and runnin'
Away from yourself, hell I talk to you all night

And they call this the Great Midwest
Where livin' is just gettin' by
And people trade in their happiness
For a smokestack, a big money deal in the sky

 

[fox69]

"Hand To Hold On To"

"Hand To Hold On To"


You can laugh and joke and make fun of your friends
Spin in the middle when the troubles begin
Take it nice and easy and always pretend
That you're cool, so cool, so cool

Say I'm alone and I'm wild and I will not be tamed
Talk like a jerk or an educated brain
Be an old girl drivin' the young boys insane
Be a joker, a preacher, it does not matter

[Chorus:]
Every one needs a hand to hold on to
Every one needs a hand to hold on to
Don't need to be no strong hand
Don't need to be no rich hand
Every one just needs a hand to hold on to

Havin' good luck with your financial situation
Play the ponies, be president of the United Nations
Go to work and be a Hollywood stud
Drive your four-wheel drive right into the mud, yeah

[Chorus]

And then those hours when you're alone
And there's no body there except yourself
I know it, you wanna pick up the phone
And say, "Talk to me, talk to me
Somebody please talk to me"
Yeah...ah...ah...ahhh

Oh, yeah...ah
[Chorus 3x]

 

[fox69]

"Hard Times For An Honest Man"

"Hard Times For An Honest Man"


One man
Does his work
He's not satisfied
Not at all
Feels like
That he is being used
His self respect starts to fall
His frustration
Runnin' very very high
He takes it out
On the one he loves
Because it's safe
And who they gonna tell
And he hates the cold-bloodedness
That runs inside

[Chorus:]
Oh yes
It's hard times
For an honest man
Very very very hard times
Hard times for an honest man
Very very very hard times

Sister
She's got a lot of pride
You can see it when she walks into the room
But she's young
And she's unaware
Of what a brutal world can do to you
So she loves a man
He lies like a dog
Tears her little world all apart
So the walls go up
For the rest of her days
And there ain't no man can touch this girl's heart

[Chorus]

So we walk
From the front porch to the back yard
Just to laugh and say hello and say good-bye
But some days are hard, like a soldier's steel-toed boots
And the rent we pay to stay here gets high

[Chorus]

 

[fox69]

"Heaven Is A Lonely Place"

"Heaven Is A Lonely Place"



Barry Barry, he's with Mary
Look like they could fly
Grandma's off her medicine
I think that I know why
People standing naked
Outside in the yard
Power ball slot machine
Looking for the winning card
Tryin' to get my mind straight now
It's a little bit narrow but I know somehow
Thou shalt not kill thou shalt not steal
But you know thou always will

Heaven is a lonely place
They're taking down those golden gates
Heaven is a lonely place
They're taking down those golden gates
Takin' 'em down
Board by board

Cheap vulgar innocence
Wears a wedding dress
Homophobic hypocrites
Scarin' us half to death
Journalistic lap dogs
Can't seem to find the truth
Crystal meth with the paymaster
Sippin' on a hundred proof
Ain't you so hip now
You sure look cool
Wonder what the price will be
For actin' like such a fool

Heaven is a lonely place
They're taking down those golden gates
Heaven is a lonely place
They're taking down those golden gates
Takin' 'em down
Board by board

See the people cryin'
See the people cryin'
See the people cryin'
See the people cryin'

Heaven is a lonely place
They're taking down those golden gates
Takin' 'em down
Board by board

So I guess it'll never end
Brother hell enemies friends
The fire's burning out of control
In my soul tonight
There's just no hope for me
Might as well nail me to a tree
Here I am just another case
Who cannot see the light
I guess I can't take a hint
Of what was said and what was meant
Somehow we always come out blind
When it comes to our hearts

Heaven is a lonely place
They're taking down those golden gates
Heaven is a lonely place
They're taking down those golden gates
Takin' 'em down
Board by board

See the people cryin'
See the people cryin'
See the people cryin'
See the people cryin'