Robert Earl Keen

[fox69]

"Lynnville Train"

"Lynnville Train"


The lonsome oak tree held its fire into November
He watched the last brown leaf hit the ground, and blow away
An evening gunshot lets him the hunt is over
A familiar cold moves in, somewhere between snow and rain.

Just last spring you know his hart was burnin'
Before his Lynnville Love hit the road to chase her dreams
Now he thinks of her each night, and in the morning, he laces his coffee cup with whiskey instead of cream

Her story is she's changed her mind, she just can't help herself
She wrote: "Please don't meet me at the Lynnville Train, 'cause I'm comin' in with someone else"
He's a quiet man, the neighbors say, but his pain won't go away
So for better or worse, he's goin' down to meet the Lynnville Train

He blew a tire on the road down to the station,
He jacked it up, and thought out loud: "She never should've let me down"
Just six months ago she vowed she was leaving, now she's coming home with a stranger, to settle down in Lynnville Town

Her story is she's changed her mind, she just can't help herself
She wrote: "Please don't meet me at the Lynnville Train, 'cause I'm comin' in with someone else"
He's a quiet man, his neighbors say, but his pain won't go away
So for better or worse, he's goin' down to meet the Lynnville Train.

Steel wheels scream, the whistle blows, his heart is breaking,
She steps on to the platform, her new love by her side,
He reaches in his coat, his hand is shakin'
Time has finally come, this really is goodbye,

His story is he's changed his mind, he just can't help himself,
So he's getting on the Lynnville Train, and movin; someplace else
As the train pulls out, he watches them both, standin' the pourin' rain
He's headed for a new life down the line, on the Lynnville Train
For better or worse, he's leavin' town, on the Lynnville Train

 

[fox69]

"Maria"

"Maria"


There's a salt grain tapping on your window
There's a cool breeze blowing off the bay
A warm flame dancing with our shadows
To music playing far a way

I never meant to stay an hour
I thought that I was passing through
Another town along the highway
I never meant to fall for you

I can't speak for you, Maria
I only know the way I feel
But when I sleep with you Maria
There's nothing left for dreams to steal

On a Bible by the mirror
The only treasures that we hold
The only secrets that we're keeping
A watch, a chain, a cross of gold

I can't speak for you, Maria
I only know the way I feel
But when I sleep with you Maria
There's nothing left for dreams to steal

When the sunlight brings the morning
I cannot tell you what I'll do
But I've a mind to take you with me
And I've a heart to stay with you

I can't speak for you, Maria
I only know the way I feel
But when I sleep with you Maria
There's nothing left for dreams to steal
There's nothing left for dreams to steal

 

[fox69]

"Mariano"

"Mariano"


The man outside he works for me, his name is Mariano
He cuts and trims the grass for me he makes the flowers bloom
He says that he comes from a place not far from Guanajuato
Thats two days on a bus from here, a lifetime from this room.

I fix his meals and talk to him in my old broken spanish
He points at things and tells me names of things I can't recall
Sometimes I just can't but help but wonder who this man is
And if when he is gone will he'll remember me at all

I watch him close he works just like a piston in an engine
He only stops to take a drink and smoke a cigarette
When the day is ended, I look outside my window
There on the horizon, Mariano's silhouette

He sits upon a stone in a south-easterly direction
I know my charts I know that he is thinking of his home
I've never been the sort to say I'm in to intuition
But I swear I see the faces of the ones he calls his own

Their skin is brown as potters clay, their eyes void of expression
Their hair is black as widow's dreams, their dreams are all but gone
They're ancient as a vision of a sacrificial virgin
Innocent as crying from a baby being born

They hover around a dying flame and pray for his protection
Their prayers are all but answered by his letters in the mail
He sends them colored figures that he cuts from strips of paper
And all his weekly wages, saving nothing for himself

It's been a while since I have seen the face of Mariano
The border guards they came one day and took him far away
I hope that he is safe down there at home in Guanajuato
I worry though I read there's revolution every day

 

[fox69]

"Merry Christmas From The Family"

"Merry Christmas From The Family"


Mom got drunk and Dad got drunk at our Christmas party
We were drinking champagne punch and homemade eggnog
Little sister brought her new boyfriend
He was a Mexican
We didn't know what to think of him until he sang
Feliz Navidad, Feliz Navidad

Brother Ken brought his kids with him
The three from his first wife Lynn
And the two identical twins from his second wife Mary Nell
Of course he brought his new wife Kay
Who talks all about AA
Chain smoking while the stereo plays Noel, Noel
The First Noel

Carve the Turkey
Turn the ball game on
Mix margaritas when the eggnog's gone
Send somebody to the Quickpak Store
We need some ice and an extension cord
A can of bean dip and some Diet Rites
A box of tampons, some Marlboro Lights
Hallelujah everybody say "Cheese"
Merry Christmas from the family

Fred and Rita drove from Harlingen
I can't remember how I'm kin to them
But when they tried to plug their motor home in
They blew our Christmas lights
Cousin David knew just what went wrong
So we all waited out on our front lawn
He threw a breaker and the lights came on
And we sang Silent Night, Oh Silent Night, Oh Holy Night

Carve the turkey turn the ball game on
Make Bloody Mary's
Cause We All Want One!
Send somebody to the Stop 'N Go
We need some celery and a can of fake snow
A bag of lemons and some Diet Sprites
A box of tampons, some Salem Lights
Hallelujah, everybody say "Cheese"
Merry Christmas from the Family

Feliz Navidad

 

[fox69]

"Mr. Mudd & Gold"

"Mr. Mudd & Gold"


Now the wicked king of clubs awoke
It was to his queen he turned
His lips were laughing as they spoke
His eyes like bullets burned

The sun's upon a gambling day
His queen smiled low and blissfully
Let's make some wretched fool to pay
It's plain it was, they did agree

Send his deuce down into diamond
Four to hart, trey to spade
Three kings with their legions come
And preparations soon where made

They voted club, the days commander
Gave him an army, face and number
All but the outlaw jack of diamonds
And the aces in the sky

Well, they give his sevens first instructions
Spirit me a game of stud
Stakes unscarred by limitation
'Tween a man named Gold and a man named Mudd

Club filled Gold with greedy vapors
'Til his long, green eyes did glow
And Mudd was left with the sighs and trembles
Watching his hard earned money go

Flushes fell on Gold like water
Tens they paired and paired again
But the aces only flew through heaven
And the diamond jack called no man's friend

Now the diamond queen saw Mudd's ordeal
Began to think of her long lost son
Fell to her knees with a mother's mercy
And prayed to the angels every one

The diamond queen, she prayed and prayed
The diamond angel filled Mudd's hole
And the wicked king of clubs himself
Fell face down in front of Gold

Now three kings come to clubs command
But the angels from the sky did ride
Three kings up on the streets of gold
Three fireballs on the muddy side

And the club queen heard her husband's call
But Lord, that queen of diamond's joy
When the outlaw in the heavenly hall
Turned out to be a wandering boy

Now Mudd he checked and Gold bet all
Mudd he raised and Gold did call
But the smile just melted on his face
When Mudd turned over that diamond ace

And here's what this story's told
If you feel like Mudd you'll end up Gold
If you feel like lost, you'll end up found
So amigo, lay them raises down

 

[fox69]

"My Home Ain't In The Hall Of Fame"

"My Home Ain't In The Hall Of Fame"


My home ain't in the Hall of Fame
You can go there, but you won't find my name
And my songs don't belong on Top 40 radio
I'll keep the old back 40 for my home

Ain't no truck-drivin' man
Baby, I hitchhike all I can
I know the highway
It takes me where I need to go
I got a sunburned thumb
Yeah, I'm just a highway bum
Playin' my guitar and fall in love some more

My home ain't in the Hall of Fame
You can go there, but you won't find my name
And my songs don't belong on Top 40 radio
I'll keep the old back 40 for my home

Some friends I left behind
You know, some have left me cry in'
And some have stayed right up there by my side
It's good to have a home
Sometimes it's good to be alone
You know, it sure feels good just to
Keep your good friends high

My home ain't in the Hall of Fame
You can go there, but you won't find my name
And my songs don't belong on Top 40 radio
I'll keep the old back 40 for my home

 

[fox69]

"New Life In Old Mexico"

"New Life In Old Mexico"


I crossed the Mississippi,
turned south at San Antone
A bowie knife, a woolen coat,
a grip bag on my arm
It's all somebody needs to make it through the land
Walk the night, travel light, cross the Rio Grande
Someone strums a mandolin, soft gulf breezes blow
My new life is waiting in old Mexico

I was once a married man livin' peacefully
Hard to say exactly when the devil blinded me
But there was some confusion when my sweet
wife left this world
Darker times, drunken crimes,
a dead young working girl
Left a jailer there in Caroline,
watching me from down below
My new life is waiting in old Mexico

Livin' in the shadows
Runnin' from my fame
Blowin' where the wind blows
Where no one knows my name

In the El Vaquero Bar in the town of Eagle Pass
Moments from my freedom warm whiskey in my glass
Some boracho took me for the man who stole his wife
He went for his forty-four as I reached for my knife
He never fired a second shot he was just too slow
My new life is waiting in old Mexico

I hear of hidden harbors south of Mazatlan
Where cool spring mountain waters
meet the warm Pacific sun
I pray the miles I've traveled and all the sins I bear
Burn away like mornin' fog and vanish in the air
Miles beyond the border now, but many miles to go
My new life is waiting in old Mexico

 

[fox69]

"Night Right For Love"

"Night Right For Love"


When the sun goes down on the wild frontier
the stars come out so bright and clear.
That big round moon shines down from above.
The wind sings a tune on this night right for love.

I hold you near as we lie in the dark
and all that I hear is the beat of your heart
like the sound of the wind on the wings of a dove.
There's no need to pretend on this night right for love.

I've been a lonely rider on a road so dark and long
with no one to provide the kind of love to carry on.
You set my soul on fire like no one else before
and I thank my lucky stars tonight I ride alone no more.

And I know the wheels beneath us will roll.
And time surely steals this moment we hold.
But tonight is the night that dreams are made of.
Beneath the moonlight on this night right for love.
Underneath the moonlight on this night for love

 

[fox69]

"No Kinda Dancer"

"No Kinda Dancer"


The first of the month
Brings back the notion
Of a big round white dance hall
and a cool summer night
Red cherry faces set black shoes in motion
To the oom pa pa rythym of a German delight

And I tried hard to tell you I was no kinda dancer
'Took my hand to prove I was wrong
You guided me gently
Though I thought I could never
We were dancing together at the end of the song

A taught little bald man
Like a German war hero
With buxom matrons to a quick John Paul Jones
Drapes of crepe paper
A ball made of mirrors
Cast shiny reflections on a brass slide trombone

And I tried hard to tell you I was no kinda dancer
'Took my hand to prove I was wrong
You guided me gently
Though I thought I could never
We were dancing together at the end of the song

A man was still dancing
With his phantom partner
Though the band had quit playing
At the evening's end
And it made me feel lucky that I had a partner
to teach me the dance steps
And come back again

And I tried hard to tell you I was no kinda dancer
'Took my hand to prove I was wrong
You guided me gently
Though I thought I could never
We were dancing together at the end of the song

And I tried hard to tell you...
'Took my hand to prove I was wrong
You guided me gently
Though I thought I could never
We were dancing together at the end of the song

 

[fox69]

"Not A Drop Of Rain"

"Not A Drop Of Rain"


Streets are almost empty, the shops are all closed down
There's not a soul left in the bar to tell my troubles to
Think I'll walk down to the river that runs just south of town
I hate like hell when there ain't nothin' left to do
But stand beneath the river bridge and listen for the train
It's been a long, hot summer, not a drop of rain

Well, I broke down in December, I headed for the coast
I thought the wind and water would elevate my mind
I surfaced in the springtime feelin' like a ghost
Missin' more than ever the things I left behind
Now I'm standin' on this riverbank and still cannot explain
It's been a long, hot summer, not a drop of rain

My bag is full of letters, unopened and unread
I'm sure they'd tell the story of worry and of form
My heart is beating heavy with all we left unsaid
I swear to you, I never meant you any harm
But sacrifice and compromise could never stand the strain
It's been a long, hot summer, not a drop of rain

Tonight I'll close my eyes again, try to see your face
And listen for your voice to tell me it's all right to sleep
Convince myself I'll wake up in another time and place
Knowin' all the while that it's a promise I can't keep
A string of broken promises, another link of chain
It's been a long, hot summer, not a drop of rain

The children on the playground, the lovers in the shade
Remind me of a life and time that feels more like a dream
When the sound of love and laughter was the music that we played
As we lay beside the waters of a never-ending stream
Now the stream has gone to hiding, the dream lives on in vain
It's been a long, hot summer, not a drop of rain

The clouds are building slowly on the skyline to the east
The wind and dust are dancing like the devil 'cross the lake
I could try to find a bottle or try to find a priest
Salvation won't be traveling either road I take
So I turn my collar to the wind that echoes this refrain
It's been a long, hot summer, not a drop of rain