Robert Earl Keen

[fox69]

"Beats The Devil"

"Beats The Devil"


I can't remember when I was here
But I'm back again
I barely know you friend
And everything's changed
Sun burned up
The sky turned green
The air smelled of gasoline
The soldier boy and teenage queen
Have since become estranged

I keep movin'
Like the wind across the sea
What the hell am I doin'
Beats the devil outta me

 

[fox69]

"Between Hello & Goodbye"

"Between Hello & Goodbye"


It was you and me last Saturday alone out in the dark
It was something like no good for nothin', you're playin' with my heart
You got ?mad? and I'm alone and so I sit and cry
In between our first hello and our last goodnight goodbye

[Chorus:]
And I wonder about the words that we have wasted
I wonder about the things you say that make me start to cry
And I wonder about the time that we've forsaken
In between our first hello and our last goodnight goodbye

The headlights beamed across your face, the shadows fell on mine
The words fell down upon the road beside the borderline
Or slip into the darkness or give it one more try
In between our first hello and our last goodnight goodbye

[Chorus]

Somewhere between our first hello, my dear goodnight goodbye

 

[fox69]

"Billy Gray"

"Billy Gray"


Billy Gray rode into Gantry back in '83
There he did meet young Sarah McCray
The wild rose of morning that pale flower of dawning
Herald of springtime in his young life that day

Sarah, she could not see the daylight of reality
In her young eyes, Billy bore not a flaw
Knowing not her chosen one was a hired gun
Wanted in Kansas City by the law

Then one day a tall man came riding cross the badlands
That lie to the north of New Mexico
He was overheard to say he was lookin' for Bill Gray
A ruthless man and a dangerous outlaw

Well, the deadly news came creepin' to Billy, fast sleepin'
There in the Clarendon Bar and Hotel
He fled towards the old church, there on the outskirts
Thinking he'd climb that old steeple bell

But a rifle ball came flying face down he lay dying
There in the dust of the road where he fell
Sarah, she ran to him cursing the lawman
Accepting no reason knowing he was killed

Sarah lives in that same old white frame house
Where she first met Billy some forty years ago
And the wild rose of morning has faded
With the dawning of each day of
Sorrow the long years have sown

Written on a stone
where the dusty winds have long blown
Eighteen words to a passing world say:
"True love knows no season, no rhyme nor no reason
Justice is cold as the Granger County clay"

 

[fox69]

"Black Baldy Stallion"

"Black Baldy Stallion"


Slidin' down the canyon on the Black Baldy Stallion
Through the rocks and the ridges of the cold dark night
Shinin' like a diamond from the belt of Orion
Is it your imagination, is the end in sight

From the top of the mountain to the edge of the water
You can hear her singin' softly so you spring to the order
Of the song she was singin' the first time you saw her
The years melt away as you ride toward the border

Such a long, long way to ride
Just to hear her say your name
When you reach the other side
You won't leave her again

It's a resonating wonder how you've never knuckled under
To the Elders of the village on that early Easter mornin'
'Cause you never broke your promises and loving her is all there is
Ridin' through the river in the fiery dawnin'

Such a long, long way to ride
(Still you have to carry on)
Just to hear her say your name
When you reach the other side
(Where she waits to take you home)
You won't leave her again

Sittin' in the cafe on the corner of the plaza
She's openin' the letter you could not deliver
As the Black Baldy Stallion riderlessly passes
Gleamin' in the sun drippin' water from the river

Such a long, long way to ride
(Still you have to carry on)
Just to hear her say your name
When you reach the other side
(Where she waits to take you home)
You won't leave her again

...a long, long way to ride
(Still you have to carry on)
Just to hear her say your name
(From the twilight to the dawn)
When you reach the other side
(Where she waits to take you home)
You won't leave her again

You won't leave her again

 

[fox69]

"Blow You Away"

"Blow You Away"


You take off from work a bit early
The boss doesn't care if you stay
The guard with the key has to check your ID
But he'd just as soon blow you away

The cops have stopped ten miles of traffic
They're sorry for all the delay
No need for alarm as they're waving their arms
But they'd just as soon blow you away

Two pretty blondes in a Porsche
Their bumper says "We Love LA"
They look pretty fair, but they're crazy out there,
And they'd just as soon blow you away

You got in some trouble in high school
But you feel like a new man today
You keep to yourself because anyone else
Would just as soon blow you away

You're standin' in front of the teller
She's countin' out all of your pay
There's twenties and ones and there's guards with their guns
And they'd just as soon blow you away

And one old ex con at the station
Fixes flats in the back of the bay
He winks and he jokes and he borrows a smoke
But he'd just as soon blow you away

You like the new girl at the hotel
She drops your room key in the tray
No words will pass through the bullet proof glass
'Cause she'd just as soon blow you away

You climb up the stairs every evening
to your room right above the cafe
There ain't much mystique, but you pay every week
'Cause they'd just as soon blow you away

And You turn out the light that you read by
You pray that you're one of the few
When you're in with the lord there's just one reward
And they'd just as soon make it come true

Your mattress is mildewed and lumpy
But you fall fast asleep where you lay
Under the lump there's a twenty gauge pump
'Cause they'd just as soon blow you away

 

[fox69]

"Blow You Away (Reprise)"

"Blow You Away (Reprise)"


You take off from work a bit early
The boss doesn't care if you stay
The guard with the key has to check your ID
But he'd just as soon blow you away

The cops have stopped ten miles of traffic
They're sorry for all the delay
No need for alarm as they're waving their arms
But they'd just as soon blow you away

You take off from work a bit early
The boss doesn't care if you stay
The guard with the key has to check your ID
But he'd just as soon blow you away

The cops have stopped ten miles of traffic
They're sorry for all the delay
No need for alarm as they're waving their arms
But they'd just as soon blow you away

 

[fox69]

"Christabel"

"Christabel"


It's been seven long days and seven hard nights
In a sixty-two Chevy with broke taillights
An eastbound man in a westbound lane
A dishwater blonde about sixteen
Was standing on the shoulder with a ribbon in her hair
Her hand on her hip and her thumb in the air
And I pulled off the road and as she grabbed for the door
I knew the wind was cold 'cuz I'd seen it all before
And I was scared

Things ain't never what they seem
When you find yourself livin' in your own dream

Now the moonlight peeked in and out behind the clouds
Now and again on this godless child
And the radio was scramblin', cracklin' in the air
The ribbon she wore looked old in her hair
And I saw the moonlight sliver dead down on her face
I knew it was true she was in the wrong place
In the wrong time, in the wrong tale
I knew when I'd asked her she'd hiss, "Christabel"

Things ain't never what they seem
When you find yourself livin' in your own dream

She was after the man who'd left her alone
With no father beside her and love longtime gone
And the snake deep inside her a hiss in her head
The rest that had been her was dying or dead
And she'd a taste for young women with pearly white skin
She spat on the floor when she spoke of the man who made her like this
Who had written her tale
This medieval maid they call Christabel

Things ain't never what they seem
When you find yourself livin' in your own dream

Then she breathed out the story of her lover to be
A knight'n shining armor on a silvery steed
Who longed to be worthy so he sought the crusade
While she waited, breath bated, in linen brocade
But a pair of black eyes wove 'round her a spell
The snake they call Lydia seduced Christabel
And she cuddled her tender and she poisoned her soul
She stole her young body and made it her own

Things ain't never what they seem
When you find yourself livin' in your own dream

Now the knight would love Lydia in Christabel's arms
And Lydia would have it should he ever return
But Lydia was left with the story undone
No silvery steed no castle no throne
Half woman half serpent entwined in a spell
A barge black and fancy this medieval tale

And she faded at dawn the bird and the beast
Deep in the dreams of those bound for the east
Like me

Things ain't never what they seem
When you find yourself livin' in your own dream

Things ain't never what they seem...

 

[fox69]

"Copenhagen"

"Copenhagen"


Now I went out last Sunday with my little Mary Anne
She said please stay 'till Monday and she grabbed me by the can
She laid a big one on me - surprised me with her tongue
But her surprise was waitin' there between my cheek and gum

Copenhagen, what a wad of flavor
Copenhagen, you can see it in my smile
Copenhagen, do yourself a favor chew
Copenhagen, drivin' pretty girls wild

So I went to the movies with my little Peggy Sue
I had my dip there in my lip just like I always do
She didn't know I's spittin in my Coca Cola cup
She took a great big swaller and then threw her popcorn up, Whoa!

Copenhagen, what a wad of flavor
Copenhagen, you can see it in my smile
Copenhagen, do yourself a favor chew
Copenhagen, drivin' pretty girls wild

The moral of this story is so very sad but true
If you stay 'till breakfast friend, they'll wanna marry you
So try my little method and I promise you no doubt
Dip some Copenhagen if you wanna snuff 'em out

Copenhagen, what a wad of flavor
Copenhagen, you can see it in my smile
Copenhagen, do yourself a favor chew
Copenhagen, drivin' pretty girls wild
Copenhagen, drivin' pretty girls wild

 

[fox69]

"Corpus Christi Bay"

"Corpus Christi Bay"


I worked the rigs from three to midnight
On the corpus Christi Bay
I'd get off and drink till daylight
Sleep the morning away
I had a plan to take my wages
Leave the rigs behind for good
But that life it is contagious
And it gets down in your blood

I lived in corpus with my brother
We were always on the run
We were bad for one another
But we were good at having fun
We got stoned along the seawall
We got drunkand rolled a car
We knew the girls at every dancehall
Had a tab at every bar

If I could live my life all over
It wouldn't matter anyway
'Cause I never could stay sober
On the Corpus Christi Bay

My brother had a wife and family
You know he gave them a good home
But his wife thought we were crazy
And one day we found her gone
We threw her clothes into the car trunk
Her photographs her rosary
We went to the pier and got drunk
And threw it all into the sea

If I could live my life all over
It wouldn't matter anyway
'Cause I never could stay sober
On the Corpus Christi Bay

Now my brother lives in Houston
He married for the secound time
He got a job with the union
And its keeping him in line
He came to Corpus just this weekend
It was good to see him here
He said he finally gave up drinking
The he ordered me a beer

If I could live my life all over
It wouldn't matter anyway
'Cause I never could stay sober
On the Corpus Christi Bay

If I could live my life all over
It wouldn't matter anyway
'Cause I never could stay sober
On the Corpus Christi Bay

 

[fox69]

"Crazy Cowboy Dream"

"Crazy Cowboy Dream"


Hot coffee on the dash board, a cold front on the way
Last night I was in Oregon, tomorrow Santa Fe
Up for two days running and I'm feeling tired inside
Down to my last dollar but tonight I'm gonna ride

Silver spurs and gold tequila
You know they keep me hanging on
Pretty girls in old cantinas
Give me shelter from the storm

The miles that I have traveled
The places I have seen
Just won't let me put a saddle
On this crazy cowboy dream

A gold watch in my pocket my daddy gave to me
He spent his lifetime working for a home and family
I call him on the phone sometimes, I see him when I can
Just long enough to check the binds, jump the fence again

Silver spurs and gold tequila
You know they keep me hanging on
Pretty girls in old cantinas
Give me shelter from the storm

The miles that I have traveled
The places I have seen
Just won't let me put a saddle
On this crazy cowboy dream
And I'll never put a saddle
On this crazy cowboy dream

Silver spurs and gold tequila
You know they keep me hanging on
Pretty girls in old cantinas
Give me shelter from the storm

The miles that I have traveled
The places I have seen
Just won't let me put a saddle
On this crazy cowboy dream