Steve Earle

[fox69]

"My Baby Worships Me"

"My Baby Worships Me"



Let me tell you 'bout the girl of mine
Got her walkin' down th'assembly line
She bring the paycheck home to me
My baby, she worships me

She like the way I walk
She like the way I talk
That woman can't let me be
My baby, she worships me

Go tell her, she pays the bill
She make the payment on my Coupe de Ville
She leave a 20 for me every day
My baby, she pays my way

She like the way I walk
She like the way I talk
That woman can't let me be
My baby, she worships me

My baby, she treat me right
We ain't never been in a fight
Once she caught me with her best friend Sue
She just giggled, say "Ain't he cute?"

She like the way I walk
She like the way I talk
That woman can't let me be
My baby, she worships me

My baby, she worships me

 

[fox69]

"My Back Pages"

"My Back Pages"



Crimson flames tied through my ears
Rollin' high and mighty traps
Pounced with fire on flaming roads
Using ideas as my maps
"We'll meet on edges, soon," said I
Proud 'neath heated brow
Ah, but I was so much older then
I'm younger than that now

Half-wracked prejudice leaped forth
"Rip down all hate," I screamed
Lies that life is black and white
Spoke from my skull. I dreamed
Romantic facts of musketeers
Foundationed deep, somehow
Ah, but I was so much older then
I'm younger than that now.

Girls' faces formed the forward path
From phony jealousy
To memorizing politics
Of ancient history
Flung down by corpse evangelists
Unthought of, though, somehow
Ah, but I was so much older then
I'm younger than that now

A self-ordained professor's tongue
Too serious to fool
Spouted out that liberty
Is just equality in school
"Equality," I spoke the word
As if a wedding vow
Ah, but I was so much older then
I'm younger than that now

In a soldier's stance, I aimed my hand
At the mongrel dogs who teach
Fearing not that I'd become my enemy
In the instant that I preach
My pathway led by confusion boats
Mutiny from stern to bow
Ah, but I was so much older then
I'm younger than that now

Yes, my guard stood hard when abstract threats
Too noble to neglect
Deceived me into thinking
I had something to protect
Good and bad, I define these terms
Quite clear, no doubt, somehow
Ah, but I was so much older then
I'm younger than that now

 

[fox69]

"My Old Friend The Blues"

"My Old Friend The Blues"



Just when every ray of hope was gone
I should have known that you would come along
I can't believe I ever doubted you
My old friend the blues
Another lonely night, a nameless town
If sleep don't take me first, you'll come around
'Cause I know I can always count on you
My old friend the blues

Lovers leave and friends will let you down
But you're the only sure thing that I've found
No matter what I do I'll never lose
My old friend the blues

Just let me hide my weary heart in you
My old friend the blues

 

[fox69]

"My Uncle"

"My Uncle"


A letter came today from my draft board
With trembling hands I read the questionnaire
It asked a lot of questions 'bout my mamma and poppa
That ain't exactly what I call fair

[Chorus:]
So I'm headed for the nearest foreign border
Vancouver might be just my kind of town
'Cause they ain't got the kind of law and order
That tends to keep a good man underground

A sad old soldier once told me a story
About a battlefield that he was on
He said a man should never fight for glory
I guess he knows what's right and what is wrong

[Chorus]

Now I don't know how much I owe my uncle
I expect that it's more than I can pay
He's asking me to sign a three year contract
I guess I'll catch the next bus out today

[Chorus 2x]

 

[fox69]

"Mystery Train Part II"

"Mystery Train Part II"



There's a train a comin' There's a train a comin
Hear them tracks a hummin' There's a train a comin'
Can't you hear her blowin' Can't you hear her blowin'
Wonder where she's goin' Can't you hear her blowin'

Run down the station Run down to the station
Dread and fascination Run down to the station

Don't you want to ride her Don't you want to ride her
Wonder what's inside her Don't you want to ride her

She ain't bound for nowhere She ain't bound for nowhere
Engineer just don't care She ain't bound for nowhere

She run down the mountain She run down the mountain
She won't even slow down mmm down the mountain

There's a train a comin' There's a train a comin'
Hear them tracks a hummin' There's a train a comin'

 

[fox69]

"N.Y.C."

"N.Y.C."


He was standing on the highway
Somewhere way out in the sticks
Guitar across his shoulder
Like a 30 ought six
He was staring in my headlights
When I come around the bend
Climbed up on my shotgun side
And told me with a grin

[Chorus:]
I'm going to New York City
I never really been there
Just like the way it sounds
I heard the girls are pretty
There must be something happening there
It's just too big a town

He was cold and wet and hungry
But he never did complain
Said he'd come a thousand miles
Through sleet and snow and rain
He had a hundred stories
About the places that he'd been
He'd hang around a little while
And hit the road again

[Chorus]

See I've been to New York City
Seems like it was yesterday
I was standing like a pilgrim
On the Great White Way
The girls were really pretty
But they wouldn't talk to me
I held out about a week
Went back to Tennessee

So, I thought I'd better warn him
As he climbed out of my car
Grabbed his battered suitcase
And shouldered his guitar
I knew I was just jealous
If I didn't wish him well
I slipped the kid a twenty
Said 'Billy give 'em hell'

[Chorus 2x]

 

[fox69]

"Nashville Cats"

"Nashville Cats"


[Chorus:]
Nashville cats
Play clean as country water
Nashville cats
Play wild as mountain dew
Nashville cats
Been playin' since they's babies
Nashville cats
Get work before they're two

Well, there's thirteen hundred and fifty-two guitar pickers in Nashville
And they can pick more notes than the number of ants on a Tennessee ant hill
There's thirteen hundred and fifty-two guitar cases in Nashville
And anyone that unpacks his guitar can play twice as better than I will

[Chorus]

I was just 13 you might say I was a musical proverbial knee-high
When I heard a couple new sounding tunes on the tube and they blasted me sky high
Then the record man said everyone is a yellow sun record in Nashville
And up North there ain't nobody buy 'em and I said, but I will

[Chorus]

Well there's sixteen thousand eight hundred twenty-one mothers from Nashville
All their friends play music and they ain't uptight if one of the kids will
Because it's custom made for any mother's son to be a guitar picker in Nashville
And I sure am glad I got a chance to say a word about the music and the mothers from Nashville

[Chorus]

 

[fox69]

"Nebraska"

"Nebraska"



I saw her standin' on her front lawn just twirlin' her baton
Me and her went for a ride sir and ten innocent people died

From the town of Lincoln, Nebraska with a sawed off .410 on my lap
Through to the badlands of Wyoming I killed everything in my path

I can't say that I'm sorry for the things that we done
At least for a little while sir me and her we had some fun

The jury brought in a guilty verdict and the judge he sentenced me to death
Midnight in a prison storeroom with leather straps across my chest

Sheriff when the man pulls that switch sir and snaps my poor head back
You make sure my pretty baby is sittin' right there on my lap

They declared me unfit to live said into that great void my soul'd be hurled
They wanted to know why I did what I did
Well sir I guess there's just a meanness in this world

 

[fox69]

"No Deal"

"No Deal"



Now this man down at the used car lot
Tried to sell me four wheels and a trunk.
I said, "Man, there is no engine!",
He said, "The engine's just a bunch of junk.
You don't need no engine to go downhill
And I could plainly see, that that's the direction
You're headed in", and he handed me the keys
(I said) No deal; you can't sell this stuff to me
No deal, I'm going back to Tennessee

Well, I went to a doctor of the highest order,
He said I couldn't have a drink for a year.
One glass of wine on my birthday
If my birthday wasn't too very near.
Lord, he must have put me in a state of shock
'cause I made it for about two weeks;
Then he sent me a bill
That knocked me flat off the wagon
And back down on my feet

When true love knocked upon my door
She'd just barely turned fifteen
And I was a little bit nervous
If you know just what I mean.
But I've heard somewhere
That true love conquers all
And I figured that was that
Then I started having dreams 'bout
Being chased out of town
Wearing nothing but my cowboy hat.

Well, I come through this life a stumbler, my friends
I expect to die that way
It could be twenty years from now
It could be most any day.
But if there is no whiskey and women, Lord,
Behind them heavenly doors
I'm gonna take my chances down below,
And of that you can be sure.

 

[fox69]

"No Place To Fall"

"No Place To Fall"



If I had no place to fall
And I needed to
Could I count on you
To lay me down?

I'd never tell you no lies
I don't believe it's wise
You got pretty eyes
Won't you spin me 'round

I ain't much of a lover, it's true
I'm here, then I'm gone
And I'm forever blue
But I'm sure wanting you

Skies full of silver and gold
Try to hide the sun
But it can't be done
Least not for long

And if we help each other grow
While the light of day
Smiles down our way
Then we can't go wrong

Time, she's a fast old train
She's here, then she's gone
And she won't come again
Won't you take my hand

If I had no place to fall
And I needed to
Could I count on you
To lay me down?