Ry Cooder

[fox69]

"If There's A God"

"If There's A God"


Republicans changed the lock on heaven's door
Keys to the kingdom don't fill no more
The poor working man like me and you
If we ain't got money we won't get through

If there's a God I think He's got to bottle up and go
If there's still a God in heaven He's got to hit that lonesome road
No more Jesus, Mary and Joe
They done passed Heaven Bill 1070

Restricted signs everywhere you go
I think they want to bring back old Jim Crow
If there's a God I think He's got to bottle up and go
If there's a God in heaven He's got to hit that lonesome road

Angel Gabriel said it won't be long
Republican is getting strong
Heaven folks are feeling bad
Lose everything we ever had

If you brown you can't hang around
If you black better step way back
If you're red you're better off dead
If you poor and white you just ain't right
If there's a God I think He's got to bottle up and go

If there's a God in heaven He's got to hit that lonesome road

 

[fox69]

"If Walls Could Talk"

"If Walls Could Talk"


Well, if things could talk then I'm sure you'd hear
A lot of things to make you cry my dear
Ain't you glad (ain't you glad)
Oh, ain't you glad (ain't you glad)
Ain't you glad glad
Glad that things don't talk

Now, if shoes could tell where they've been
When you say you've been visiting a friend
Ain't you glad (ain't you glad)
He-he-hey, ain't you glad (ain't you glad)
But ain't you glad (glad)
Glad that shoes don't talk

Now, if doors could tell who's turned the knob
When he's away out on his job
If cars could tell who's been inside
And who's been taking you out for a ride
Ain't you glad (ain't you glad)
Oh, ain't you glad (ain't you glad)
But ain't you glad (glad)
Glad that cars don't talk

In a world of trouble I'd be
If things ever told on me
My whole life would be through
'Cause I'm guilty, how about you?
If things ever talk that way
Ain't no telling what they might say
Ain't you glad (ain't you glad)
Oh, ain't you glad (ain't you glad)
Ain't you glad (glad)
Glad that things don't talk

 

[fox69]

"In His Care"

"In His Care"


One day when I was walking and talking down that lonesome road
Well and angel spoke unto me and filled my heart with joy, joy, joy
One day when I was walking and talking down that lonesome road
The angel said I thank God I'm in his care

Well it's I am in his care, yes I'm in my savior's care
Lord it's I am in his care, in his care
Jesus' arms wrapped all around me lord
And the evil thoughts can't harm me lord
And I thank god I'm in his care

Well I would not live a sinner, lord, I'll tell you why
Well I'm afraid my lord would call me home and I wouldn't be ready to die
Well I would not live a sinner, I'll tell you the reason why
The angel said I thank God I'm in his care

Well it's I am in his care, I'm in my savior's care
Lord it's I am in his care, in his care
Jesus' arms wrapped all around me lord
And the evil thoughts can't harm me lord
And I thank god I'm in his care
Yes I am in his care

I am in his care, in my savior's care
I am in his care, in his care

I thank god I'm in his care

Down that lonesome road
I'm in his care

 

[fox69]

"In My Town"

"In My Town"


Up here on the hill, it's starting to rain
The sun's disappearing through my windowpane
And everything's still in my room
Then a trolley goes by with its clattering sound
Like a clock on the wall and the rain coming down
And somebody's chattering way down the hall from my room
From my room, I see old town
Crook town, wop town, and spic town
Black town, shack town, and hick town, from my room
Looking down through the rain
I think the future's going my way
And there's a freeway coming soon
Right through this dirty old room
Can't you see a 50-story building
Where a palm tree used to be?
Well, I like a town that's flat, I like a street that's tame
You take out the trash, they all do the same
But get back inside and remain, until notified
I want a town that's clean and I want a rule that's maintained
If you're brown, back down
If you're black, get back
Better white than right
Better dead than red
Better keep it contained in my town
Now, in my town, I'm the big cheese
Don't like all those commie rats in the palm trees
Up there in Chavez Ravine
They come down here to City Hall
Creating a big scene, crying "foul ball"
We'll put the head rat on the stand
"Are you now or have you ever been?"
Chief runs a make, director runs the names
I write the rules, I call the game
There's the pitch, it's good, there goes your old neighborhood
Tell the mayor duck out the back
Tell the monsignor keep the deal under his hat
Chavez Ravine plugged up, Bunker Hill ripped down
Cement mixers spreading the word around
This here is my town
Then the trolley stops by on its way down the hill
And somebody's passing by my window sill
No shoes on the stairs, no knock at the door
Of my room, of my room
Why should I go down?

 

[fox69]

"It's All Over Now"

"It's All Over Now"


Well, baby used to stay out all night long
She made me cry and she did me wrong
She had my nose open, that's no lie
The table's have turned, now it's her turn to cry
Because I used to love her, but it's all over now
Because I used to love her, but it's all over now

She used to run around with every man in town
She spent all my money trying to play that high class game
She put me down, it was a pity how I cried
The table's have turned, now it's her turn to cry
Because I used to love her, but it's all over now
Because I used to love her, but it's all over now

I used to wake up in the morning, get my breakfast in bed
Whenever I got worried, she would rub my aching head
But now she's here and there, with every man in town
Still trying to take me for that same old clown
Because I used to love her, but it's all over now
Because I used to love her, but it's all over now

 

[fox69]

"It's Just Work For Me"

"It's Just Work For Me"


Well I got my old bulldozer
Got my dozer-hauling truck
And I got my demolition order
Got to be out there by sunup
So I head west on Arroyo
Right turn at Bishop Road
Pull up by the schoolhouse and
Jack down my dozer load
What I'd see?
Dirt roads, beat up shacks
Stretched out as far as I can see
Don't throw that brick my way, buddy
'Cause it's just work...it's just work for me
Now they called out all the police
Police dragged some old lady
Right downstairs, hollering
"Move your ass, all you taco benders
We're gonna protect and serve you right on away from here"
It ain't none of my business
And it ain't my master plan
You got to go where they send you
When you're a dozer-drivin' man
I see dirt roads, beat up shacks
Stretched out far as I can see
Don't walk down on me like that, buddy
I'm telling you, it's only work...it's just work for me
Now this old truck is getting tired
This old bank account is getting low
Don't even own our old house-trailer in Fontana
So I gotta do this work, you know
Some of you may like baseball
Well I guess baseball's alright with me
Someday there'll be a big old ballpark here
Where your little old town used to be
Dirt roads, country shacks
Old dogs, and dry grass, dusty trees
This ain't your world, tell ya, buddy
Sure ain't my world
Just a job, a work...just work for me
Ni el mio tampoco
Solo un trabajo...trabajo para mi

 

[fox69]

"J. Edgar"

"J. Edgar"


Down on the farm we had a pig, J. Edgar was his name
He'd eat up all our victuals and start back up again
Just like them vacuum cleaners they sell down in the lane
Well, that's how J. Edgar Hoover got his name
Now, momma baked a cherry pie and set it out to cool
So we'd have something good to eat when we got home from school
J. Edgar climbed up on the porch and ate up all that pie
When we got home that mornin' we heard our mamma cry
J. Edgar, J. Edgar, just look what you've done
You ate up the cherry pie that was for everyone
We made it through the dusters, and the hoppers too
But God help us, J. Edgar, 'cause nothin's safe from you
We had an extra man named Bob he wouldn't work a lick
He drank bad moonshine likker, and it always made him sick
We rode to church on Sunday and stayed a while in town
When we reached home at suppertime, poor Bob could not be found
He wasn't in the parlor, and he wasn't in the lane
Drinking in the pantry or sleepin' in the hay
His hat was in the pigpen, that he always wore
Poor Bob won't be drinking moonshine likker anymore
J. Edgar, J. Edgar it just don't seem fair
You ate Bob our hired hand while we were at prayer
Let's say a prayer for old Bob, and our country too
God help us J. Edgar, nobody's safe from you

 

[fox69]

"Jesse James"
(from "The Long Riders" soundtrack)

"Jesse James"
(from "The Long Riders" soundtrack)



Jesse James we understand
Has killed him many a man
He robbed the Union trains
But history does record
That Bob and Charlie Ford
Have laid Jesse James in his grave

It was on a Saturday night
The stars were shining bright
When they robbed that Union train
And it was one of the younger boys
That gathered in the spoils
And carried that money away

In his small home unaware
A-straightening pictures there
He thought he heard a noise
And as he turned his head
Well, the bullet killed him dead
Fired by Bob Ford, one of the boys

Poor Jesse had a wife
She lived a lady all her life
The children they were brave
But history does record
That Bob and Charlie Ford
Have laid poor Jesse, laid poor Jesse
Have laid Jesse James in his grave

 

[fox69]

"Jesse James (Story)"
(from "The Long Riders" soundtrack)

"Jesse James (Story)"
(from "The Long Riders" soundtrack)



I'll tell you about Jesse and Frank James
My grandfather was personally acquainted with them
My grandfather lived in the southern edge of Baxter County, Arkansas
And they stayed all night with him lots of nights
And my grandfather told me there was a lot of those robberies that was laid to Jesse and Frank James
And he knew they didn't do it 'cause they was at his place when it happened
But you couldn't tell the public that
When they get their minds made up that somebody's done something
Why the public's gonna stick to it anyway
My grandfather, he knew them as boys
And they could come to his place and go without anybody paying attention 'cause nobody expected them
Down in Arkansas, see, 'cause they was from Missouri
Now that's the story that my grandfather told me when I was just a boy
And he said that Frank James, at that World's Fair
I think it was 1901 in St. Louis him and Jesse were both there
My grandfather and Frank James were together there
And that Frank James offered to bring Jesse there alive
He said that the man that the Ford boys killed wasn't Jesse James at all
But the fellow they killed was just about the size of Jesse and he was red headed
And he wasn't any relation to the Fords
See, Jesse James was a known cousin to Charles and Bob Ford
That's what my grandfather said
He said Jesse and Frank were not even in that part of the country when that fellow was killed
And the Ford boys, why, they collected a thousand dollars for killing Jesse James!
Now the song says that the Ford boys killed Jesse
None of us up here in the mountains believe that, no sir!

 

[fox69]

"Jesus And Woody"

"Jesus And Woody"


Well bring your old guitar and sit here by me
Round the heavenly throne
Drag out your Oklahoma poetry
'Cause it looks like the war is on

And I don't mean a war for oil
Or gold, or trivial things of that kind
But I heard the news, the vigilante man
Is on the move this time

So sing me a song 'bout this land is your land
And fascists bound to lose
You were a dreamer, Mr. Guthrie
And I was a dreamer too

Once I spoke of a love for those who hate
It requires effort and strain
Vengeance casts a false shadow of justice
Which leads to destruction and pain

Some say I was a friend to sinners
But by now you know it's true
Guess I like sinners better than fascists
And I guess that makes me a dreamer too

In the year of 1945
You saw the killers fall
Many fought and died
But it's the innocent ones I most recall

Well I've been the Savior, now, for such a long time
And I've seen it all before
You good people better get together
Or you ain't got a chance anymore

Now they're starting up their engine of hate
Don't it make you feel lonesome and blue?
Yes I was a dreamer, Mr. Guthrie
And you were a dreamer too