Robert Earl Keen

[fox69]

"Oh Rosie"

"Oh Rosie"


I'm long past hungry
I need a bed
I got some real wild things
Runnin' through my head
Oh Rosie, don't forget me now

I've been to Tulsa
And New Mexico
Still got Tucson and
Colorado left to go
Oh Rosie don't forget me now

Do you remember
Our lucky star
We gave all our wishes to
Now I'm in Denver
In this old bar
Tryin' to do anything to hang on to you
And not be blue

It's all-night TV
With nothin' on
I should be goin' but I'm
Too far gone
Oh Rosie, don't forget me now

There's rotten singers
Lousy art
Western swingers
And my old broken heart
Oh Rosie, don't forget me now

Do you remember
Our lucky star
We gave all our wishes to
Now I'm in Denver
In this old bar
Tryin' to do anything to hang on to you
And not be blue

It's a hard old highway
A long slow burn
I think about ya Rosie
At every little turn
So don't you worry
Please don't cry
When we're together
That old time will fly on by
Oh Rosie, don't forget me now

Do you remember
Our lucky star
We gave all our wishes to
Now I'm in Denver
In this old bar
Tryin' to do anything to hang on to you
And not be blue

It's a hard old highway
A long slow burn
I think about ya Rosie
At every little turn
Oh Rosie, don't forget me now

 

[fox69]

"Old Home Place"

"Old Home Place"


It's been ten long years since I left my home
In the hollow where I was born
Where the cool fall nights make the wood smoke rise
And the foxhunter blows his horn

I fell in love with a girl from the town
I thought that she would be true
I ran away to Charlottesville
And worked in a sawmill or two

What have they done to the old home place
Why did they tear it down
And why did I leave the plow in the field
And look for a job in the town

Well my girl she ran off with somebody else
The taverns took all my pay
And here I stand where the old home stood
Before they took it away

Now the geese they fly south and the cold wind blows
As I stand here and hang my head
I've lost my love I've lost my home
And now I wish that I was dead

 

[fox69]

"On And On"

"On And On"


In the purple setting sun, she rides her horse around the ring
Gives him a kick, he starts to run, keeping time and galloping
They ride around until they're free, into the wilderness unknown
Living out her fantasy on that brave strawberry roan

On and on (on and on)
On and on

He locks the door, dims the light, trims the knob, flips a switch
He plays a chord, it sounds alright, his head is light, his fingers twitch
He plays the rythm and the blues from midnight to the dawn
Singin' "Have You Heard The News" like there ain't no other song

On and on
On and on

On and on from the beginning
Round and round this world keeps spinning
All alone (all alone)
On and on

In the summer of the loon, on a hidden harbor shore
By the shimmering moon they never wanted nothin' more
And there ain't another sound they been waitin' for so long
She takes his hand and pulls him down and their love lives on and on

On and on (on and on)
On and on

Standin' by his father's grave, trying hard to find a tear
Preacher says Jesus saves but he did not save him here
And he wonders right out loud "daddy, where did we go wrong?"
As his sad bewildered cryin' leaves him starin' at the stone (at the stone)

On and on (on and on)
On and on

On and on from the beginning
Round and round this world keeps spinning
All alone (all alone)
On and on (on and on)

 

[fox69]

"Out Here In The Middle"
(originally by James McMurtry)

"Out Here In The Middle"
(originally by James McMurtry)



They broke into you car last night
Took the stereo
Now you say you don't know why
You even live there anymore
The garage man didn't see a thing
So you guess it was an inside job

You made a reservation
Table for three
Said you had to wait
Somebody must've bribed the maitre d
The boss got mad
And he blamed it all on you
The food was bad
And the deal fell through

Out here in the middle
You can park it on the street
You step up to the counter
You nearly always get a seat
Nobody steals
Nobody cheats
Wish you were here, my love
Wish you were here, my love

We got tractor pulls and Red Man chew
Corporate relo-refugees that need love too
And we ain't seen Elvis
In a year or two

We got justification for wealth and greed
Amber waves of grain and bathtub speed
Now we even got Starbucks
What else you need

Out here in the middle
Where the centers on the right
And the ghost of William Jennings Bryan preaches every night
To save the lonely souls
In the dashboard light
Wish you were here, my love
Wish you were here, my love

Out here in the middle
Where the buffalo roam
We're puttin' up towers
For your cell phones
And we screen all applicants
With a fine-tooth comb
Wish you were here, my love
Wish you were here, my love
Wish you were here, my love

 

[fox69]

"Over The Waterfall"

"Over The Waterfall"


I slipped through your fingers into the clouds
Ran down the concrete hallways
Pushed through the crowds.
I watched by the water
Reached for the sun
Why did I bother
What's done is done

And all that's left of me now
Is waiting to drown
Over the waterfall (falling down)
Over the waterfall (falling down)
Over the waterfall (falling down)

I fall down
Soldiers of fortune
Stand by your door
You can't remember
What you hired them for
You cleared your conscience
And I left a stain
The beauty of sadness is
Feeling the pain

And all that's left of me now
Is waiting to drown
Over the waterfall (falling down)
Over the waterfall (falling down)
Over the waterfall (falling down)

And only the sad stone man can hear my cry
And only the tall blue girl can see
I lost my way I have no alibi
So no one will know you knew me

Randomly speaking
Pieces of light
The clowns from the circus
Got drunk here last night
They talked of reunion
Then left on their own
What they've never known
Is what you've always known.

And all that's left of me now
Is waiting to drown
Over the waterfall (falling down)
Over the waterfall (falling down)
Over the waterfall (falling down)

 

[fox69]

"Paint The Town Beige"

"Paint The Town Beige"


I gave up the fast lane for a blacktop county road
Just burned out on all that talk about the motherlode
I traded for a songbird, a bigger piece of sky
When I miss the good old days I can't imagine why

Still I get restless and drive into town
I cruise once down Main Street and turn back around
It's crazy but God knows I don't act my age
Like an old desperado who paints the town beige

Down along the river and past the swimming hole
You can find your piece of mind with just a fishin' pole
And you can walk the river for miles and miles on end
And never stop believin' in that dream around the bend

But still I get restless and drive into town
My radio playin', my window rolled down
It's crazy but God knows I don't act my age
Like an old desperado who paints the town beige

Deep down in the winter time slows to a crawl
There's really nothin' much to do until the first spring thaw
It's then I get to thinkin' I must have gone insane
Memories roll through my mind like a long slow railroad train

Still I get restless and drive into town
Watch the world through a windshield as it all comes unwound
It's crazy but God knows I don't act my age
Like those old desperados who paint the town beige

I gave up the fast lane

 

[fox69]

"Peter Rowan Intro"

"Peter Rowan Intro"


[Robert:] Peter can you tell me about Walls of Time and how it came about?

[Peter:] Well we had left the Grand Ole Opry around midnight on a Saturday night down in Nashville, Tennessee in the old bus called the Bluegrass Breakdown that Bill Monroe had inherited from Lonzo and Oscar and Ernest Tub. And I'd been driving that bus, and we'd been driving the whole night and finally the bus broke down up in Kentucky. We were on our way to Bean Blossom, Indiana to play the Brown County jamboree which was Bill's little country music park up there. And the old [?] broke down in a place called Horsecaves, Kentucky and I was standing outside the bus watching the sun rise from the mountains in the east and Bill comes off the bus and he walks up to me and he sings these words and I wrote some words in answer to him:

The wind is blowing cross the mountain
Down over the valley way below
It sweeps the grave of my darling
When I die that's where I want to go

 

[fox69]

"Play A Train Song"

"Play A Train Song"


A smokin', long black Cadillac; the engine's winding down
He parked it up on the sidewalk like he owned the whole damn town
I saw him talking to some chick through a thick ghost of smoke
Through a thicker haze of Southern Comfort and Coke

"Say girl you're hotter than the hinges hanging off the gates of hell
Don't be afraid to turn to me babe if he don't treat you well."
And by he, he meant me, so I laughed and I shook his hand
He laughed a little bit louder as he yelled up at the band

[Chorus:]
Play a train song, pour me one more round
Make 'em leave my boots on; on the day they lay me down
I am a runaway locomotive, out of my one-track mind
Play a train song, play a train song

I got this old black leather jacket, got this pack of Marlboro reds
Got this stash here in my pocket, got these thoughts in my own head
I'm gonna run until I have to walk, until I have to crawl
Got this moment that I'm living in and nothing else at all

[Chorus]

In the television blizzard lights, we looked around his place
A little cold beer on his sofa, a little smile across his face
And though I tried with all of my sadness, somehow I just could not weep
For a man who looked to me like he died laughing in his sleep

Singing a train song, pour him one last round
Made 'em leave his boots on; on the day they layed him down
He was a runaway locomotive, out of his one-track mind
Play a train song, play a train song
Play a train song, play a train song

 

[fox69]

"Poor Ellen Smith"

"Poor Ellen Smith"


Poor Ellen Smith how she was found
Shot through the heart lying cold on the ground
Her clothers were all scattered and thrown on the ground
And blood marks the spot where poor Ellen was found

They picked up their rifles and hunted me down
And found me a loafing in Mount Airy town
They picked up the body and carried it away
And now she is sleeping in some lonesome old grave

I got a letter yesterday and I read it today
The flowers on her grave have all faded away
Some day I'll go home and say when I go
On poor Ellen's grave pretty flowers I'll sow

I've been in this prison for twenty long years
Each night I see Ellen through my bitter tears
The warden just told me that soon I'll be free
To go to her grave near that old willow tree

My days in this prison are ending at last
I'll never be free from the sins of my past
Poor Ellen Smith how she was found
Shot through the heart lying cold on the ground

 

[fox69]

"Ready For Confetti"

"Ready For Confetti"


I see this woman everyday
Dancin' on the corner at the Gas & Pay
Whirlin' and a-twirlin' in the bright sunshine
With her earbuds on and a cardboard sign
They say that she once was a workin' girl
It's a wigged out, weired out, wild and a wacky world

[Chorus:]
Get ready for confetti, hey hey hey
Get ready for confetti, hey hey hey
Get ready for confetti everyday
(Hey hey hey) everyday

I knew this psychic many years ago
He'd been abducted by a UFO
They took him to another galaxy
He read their fortunes and they set him free
He once was very famous scientist
Said livin' in the future is to hard to resist

[Chorus]

I play the ponies and I look for clues
Hit the highway and I pay my dues
I mind my business as I walk the line
With my earbuds on and my cardboard sign
And when they say to go, I'll go
You never know what you don't know

Get ready for confetti, hey hey hey
Get ready for confetti, hey hey hey
Get ready for confetti
Get ready for confetti, hey hey hey
Get ready for confetti, hey hey hey
Get ready for confetti everyday
Get ready for confetti, hey hey
Get ready for confetti, hey hey
Get ready for confetti everyday
Everyday
Everydaaaaaay