Robert Earl Keen

[fox69]

"Laughing River"

"Laughing River"


I'm goin' away 'cause I gotta busted heart
I'm leavin' today if this ol' TravelAll will start
I recken where I'm goin', might need me different clothes
Way up in Michigan where the Laughing River flows

Twenty years in the minor leagues, ain't no place I didn't go
Well I gotta few hits but I never made the show
I could hang on for a few years doin' what I've done before
Wanna let the Laughing River flow right outside my door

My cousin Ray, he said he's got a job for me
Where the houses are still cheap, said he knows this nice lady
He said she even saw me play once, said she smiles at my name
Well upon the Laughing River, might be a whole new game

So goodbye to the bus, goodbye to payin' dues
Goodbye to the cheers and goodbye to the boos
I'm trading in this old bat for a fishing pole
Gonna let the Laughing River flow right into my soul

So I'm goin' away 'cause I gotta busted heart
I'm leavin' today if this ol' TravelAll will start
I recken where I'm headed, might need me different clothes
Way up in Michigan where the Laughing River flows

Way up in Michigan where the Laughing River flows

 

[fox69]

"Lay Down My Brother"

"Lay Down My Brother"


Lay down my brother
Take it easy, take it slow
Lay down my brother
Rest a while, let it go

It's a long hard road in the wind and the rain
But you finally made it through
Odds are you'll be goin' again
But the odds won't be ridin' with you

Lay down my brother
Take it easy, take it slow
Lay down my brother
Rest a while, let it go

You've been workin' every minute, every hour, every day
Still the work is never done
The life you love is passin' away
But you feel you've only begun

Lay down my sister
Take it easy, take it slow
Lay down my sister
Rest a while, let it go

You can rock 'em in the cradle, rock 'em in your arms
Kiss their cheeks whenever they cry
You'll be wavin' from the doorway when they all come home
Wavin' when they tell you goodbye

Lay down my mother
Take it easy, take it slow
Lay down my mother
Rest a while, let it go

It's a penny for your thoughts, a dollar for your toil
Nothin' for youself in between
When the sun's beatin' down on the hot dry soil
You wonder what any of it means

Lay down my father
Take it easy, take it slow
Lay down my father
Rest a while, let it go

Lay down my brother
Take it easy, take it slow
Lay down my brother
Rest a while, let it go

 

[fox69]

"Leavin' Tennessee"

"Leavin' Tennessee"


The sun is settin'
On our time living here
You've lost the will
I've lost the heart
We should be leavin'
While the coast is still clear
Cause we won't make it after dawn
We can cash in our chips
And pack up the car
Lock up the door
And hide the key

The only two things that mean anything to me
Are loving you
And leaving Tennessee

Silver eagles fly down streets paved with gold
Stars keep shining through the dawn
Anything you can dream of to hold
You can have here for a song
But there's a song tonight
That's riding the wind
I'm the words
And you're the melody

The only two things that mean anything to me
Are loving you
And leaving Tennessee

It's just the two of us
All out on our own
That's the way it ought to be

The only two things that mean anything to me
Are loving you
And leaving Tennessee

We can call up all our friends on the phone
Tell them that someday we'll return
First, we have to start to make a new home
We have one last bridge to burn
Lay your head down and we'll drive
Through the night
And in the morning light you're gonna see

The only things that mean anything to me
Are loving you
And leaving Tennessee

The only things that mean anything to me
Are loving you
And leaving Tennessee

 

[fox69]

"Let The Music Play"

"Let The Music Play"


Put the horses in the stable
Load the mules on the train
Set your pistols on the table
leave the dogs out in the rain

Take the money that they gave you
Hide it in a mason jar
Nobody now can save you
It don't matter where you are

Turn your light down low
hear the four wins blow
bow your head to pray
it ain't what you planed
you got one last stand
let the music play

Left for dead in southern Georgia
at the hands of hapless john
with your baby waitin' for ya'
You were.... before the dawn
you know your shakin hands wil
when your mouth is goin dry
when that law man back in datin
wouldn't look you in the eye

He was nothing but a drifter
and he came to play the part
disquised as luke the drifter
talk about a cheatin heart

when he rode into your town
same old indian giver
struck a match and burned. .. down

Now your alone and barely breathing
looking down from up above
needing something to believe in
one lonely truth and love
and the storm is slowly dying
at the breaking of the day
all the steel guitars are crying
I'm rollin' down that lost highway

 

[fox69]

"Levelland"
(originally by James McMurtry)

"Levelland"
(originally by James McMurtry)



Flatter than a tabletop
Makes you wonder why they stopped here
Wagon must have lost a wheel or they lacked ambition one
On the great migration west
Separated from the rest
Though they might have tried their best
They never caught the sun

So they sunk some roots down in the dirt
To keep from blowin' off the earth
Built a town around here
And when the dust had all but cleared
They called it Levelland, the pride of man
In Levelland

Granddad grew the dry land wheat
Stood on his own two feet
His mind got incomplete and they put in the home
Daddy's cotton grows so high
Sucks the water table dry
Rolling sprinklers circle round
Bleedin' it to the bone
And I won't be here when it comes a day
It all dries up and blows away
I'd hang around just to see
But they never had much use for me in Levelland
They don't understand me out in Levelland

And I watch those jet trails carving up that big blue sky
Coast to coasters watch 'em go
And I never would blame 'em one damn bit
If they never looked down on this
Not much here they'd wanna know
Just Levelland
Far as you can point your hand
Nothin' but Levelland

Mama used to roll her hair
Back before the central air
We'd sit outside and watch the stars at night
She'd tell me to make a wish
I'd wish we both could fly
Don't think she's seen the sky
Since we got the satellite dish and
I can hear the marching band
Doin' the best they can
They're playing "Smoke on the Water", "Joy to the World"
I've paid off all my debts
Got some change left over yet and I'm
Gettin' on a whisper jet
I'm gonna fly as far as I can get from
Levelland, doin' the best I can
Out in Levelland - imagine that

 

[fox69]

"Little Cabin Home On The Hill"

"Little Cabin Home On The Hill"


Tonight I'm alone without you my dear
It seems there's a longing for you still
All I have to do now is sit alone and cry
In our little cabin home on the hill

Oh, someone has taken you from me
And left me here all alone
Just to listen to the rain beat on my window pane
In our little cabin home on the hill

I hope you are happy tonight as you are
But in my heart there's a longing for you still
I just keep it there so I won't be alone
In our little cabin home on the hill

Now when you have come to the end of the way
And find there's no more happiness for you
Just let you thoughts turn back once more if you will
To our little cabin home on the hill

 

[fox69]

"Lonely Feeling"

"Lonely Feeling"


It's a long strecth of highway
At midnight in New Mexico
It's a small colored light
That shines from your car radio
It's the old motel owner
Who sleeps on a cot
And gives you the very last cup from his pot

It's a lonely feeling, it's what you've got
It's a lonely feeling, like it or not

It's the crack in the sidewalk
Right next to a pay telephone
It's someone's recorder
When you're hoping someone is home
It's an hour to kill
To do what you please
But nobody's up for shooting the breeze

It's a lonely feeling, it's like a disease
It's a lonely feeling, you pray that it leaves

It's three men from Chile
Who are tired and they want to go home
They've run out of money
And they're stuck up in east Oregon
So you give ‘em the small bit of change in your hand
You try to speak Spanish but they don't understand

It's a lonely feeling, it gets to a man
It's a lonely feeling, that runs through the land

It's your best friend from high school
Who sees you and wishes you well
You try to breakthrough
But you run out of stories to tell
So you bid him goodbye and you step into space
There are so many questions that you cannot face

It's a lonely feeling, taking his place
It's a lonely feeling, you just can't erase

It's statue of Jesus your grandmother had when she died
All cracked and all yellow
And you know you should throw it aside
But you're growing religious, the older you get
You haven't been saved
But it could happen yet

It's a lonely feeling, full of regret
It's a lonely feeling, won't let you forget

It's a bus stop, a street cop, an old dog, the new kid, a bum
It's fright and rejected
Neglected, and blind, deaf and dumb
But you look in the mirror
And you're still hanging in
It's there to remind you how lucky you've been

It's a lonely feeling, now and again
It's only a feeling that comes now and then....

 

[fox69]

"Long Black Veil"

"Long Black Veil"


Ten years ago, on a cold, dark night
There was someone killed neath the town hall light
There were few at the scene, but they all agreed
That the man who ran looked a lot like me

She walks these hills in a long black veil
She visits my grave while the night winds wail
Nobody knows, nobody sees
Nobody knows but me

The judge said Son, what is your alibi
If you were somewhere else, then you don't have to die
I spoke not a word thought it meant my life
For I'd been in the arms of my best friend's wife

The scaffold was high and eternity near
She stood in the crowd and shed not a tear
But sometimes at night when the cold winds moan
In a long black veil she cries over my bones

 

[fox69]

"Love's A Word I Never Throw Around"

"Love's A Word I Never Throw Around"


I guess we've come full circle
We're strangers once again
It's hard to know we'd ever come to this
It's funny you were saying how you'd miss
The good ole times
While all alone I'm thinking
You're the one I'll miss

Love's a word I never throw around
So when I say I love you till the end
I'm talking about till the day they toss me in the ground
Love's a word I never throw around

I'd like to think you're leaving
Because I've treated you unkind
But maybe you've found somebody new
Hell, I know the only reason you're leaving me behind
Is you're no longer feeling the way I feel for you

Love's a word I never throw around
So when I say I love you till the end
I'm talking about till the day they toss me in the ground
Love's a word I never throw around

So I'm going to the country
To spend some time out in the woods
Countin' stars and sleepin' all alone
I can't say for certain that It'll do me any good
But it's time I grew accustomed to being on my own

Love's a word I never throw around
So when I say I love you till the end
I'm talking about till the day they toss me in the ground
Love's a word I never throw around

 

[fox69]

"Luann"

"Luann"


I've been walking in neon
Making good friends on the streets where I fly
And I can't stop this addiction
This awful affliction between you and I

[Chorus:]
Luann, nobody told you
Nobody told you 'cause nobody knew
Luann, nobody told you
Nobody told you but I've been untrue

There are some girls that I long for
Some girls I sing songs for when I've had a few
There are some girls who are lonely
Some girls who don't know me the way that you do

[Chorus]

I'll go on back to the street now
You'll get by somehow the best way you can
And when you're soaring in starlight
Reach down in the midnight and lend me your hand

[Chorus]

Nobody told you, but I've been untrue