Tom T. Hall

[fox69]

"Over The Rainbow"

"Over The Rainbow"


Somewhere over the rainbow way up high
There is a land that I heard of once in a lullaby
Somewhere over the rainbow skies are blue
And those dreams that you dare to dream really do come true
Someday I'll wish upon a star and wake up where the clouds are far behind me
Where troubles melt like lemon drops a way above the chimney tops
That's where you'll find me
Somewhere over the rainbow bluebirds fly
Birds fly over the rainbow why then oh why can't I

Somewhere over the rainbow bluebirds fly...

 

[fox69]

"P.S. I Love You"

"P.S. I Love You"


Dear, I thought I drop a line
The weather is cool, the folks are fine
I'm in bed each night at nine
P.S. I love you

Yesterday we had some rain
But all in all, I can't complain
Was it dusty on the train
P.S. I love you

Write to the Brown's just as soon as you're able
They came around to call
I burned a hole in the dining room table
And let me see, I guess that's all.

Nothing else for me to say
And so I'll close, but by the way
Everybody's thinking of you
P.S. I love you

Nothing else for me to say
And so I'll close, but by the way
Everybody's thinking of you
P.S. I love you

 

[fox69]

"Pamela Brown"

"Pamela Brown"


I'm the guy who didn't marry pretty Pamela Brown
Educated, well-intentioned, good girl in our town
I wonder where I'd be today if she had loved me too
Probably be driving kids to school

[Chorus:]
I guess I owe it all to Pamela Brown
All of my good times and all my roamin' around
One of these days I might come ramblin' through your town
And I guess I owe it all to Pamela Brown

I've seen the lights of cites and I've been inside their doors
I've sailed to foreign countries and I've walked upon their shores
I guess the guy she married was the best part of my luck
She dug him 'cause he drove a pick-up truck

[Chorus]

I don't have to tell you just how beautiful she was
Everything it takes to get a country boy in love
Lord, I hope she's happy 'cause she sure deserves to be
Especially for what she did for me

[Chorus]

 

[fox69]

"Pay No Attention To Alice"

"Pay No Attention To Alice"


[Chorus:]
Pay no attention to Alice, she's drunk all the time, hooked on that wine, bunches of it,
And it ruined her mind.
Pay no attention to Alice, they say she's a sot, sane she is not, but she loves it,
And it's all she's got.

She made that apple pie from a memory,
Made them biscuits from a recollection that she had.
She cooked that chicken too long but she don't know that,
Oh what the hell, it ain't too bad.

[Chorus]

Don't talk about the war, I was a coward,
Talk about fishing and all the good times raisin' hell.
Empty that one down, we'll get another one,
It's getting late, you might as well.

Though we ram your car into a ditch, man don't sweat it,
I know Ben down at the shell station and he'll get it out.
Alice, put your ashes in that ashtray, I swear woman,
you're gonna burn down the house.

Pay no attention to Alice, she's drunk all the time...

 

[fox69]

"Piece Of The Road"

"Piece Of The Road"


I know somewhere they are drivin' lovin' women makin' money all the time
And ever since I was a little boy that's all I've ever had on the mind
I had always been a music man I loved anything that rolls
And all I want is a piece of the road
Piece of the road a part of that traffic that's passin' me by
Piece of the road a piece of that great big pie in the sky
Want you to use me like you want to Lord
But lemme carry a part of the load cause all I want is a piece of the road

Well forgive me if I love it just a little too much but you see
I have always been a part of the road and the road is such a big part of me
Well each man has his calling and mine is to rattle and roll
And all I want is a piece of the road
Piece of the road...

Well I ain't too good but I ain't too bad
Though I've been sorry for some things that I've done
I've got to have a piece of the road before I reach the end of my run
You know time ain't no friend to no man I've got to get a road on this show
Cause all I want is a piece of the road
Piece of the road...
(Now I wanna go to Dallas Fort Worth Los Angeles New York Chicago St Louis Olive Hill Kentucky
All I travel around and see all of them people and pick and sing)

 

[fox69]

"Pinto The Wonder Horse Is Dead"

"Pinto The Wonder Horse Is Dead"


"I loved that song. I saw a little story in the newspaper about the size of a pack of cigarettes - it said: 'Pinto the Wonder Horse is Dead.'
But I was reading the newspaper and I was looking for part two of the story I had already started - so I never read the story, I just saw the headline and kept going.
A week later I said, 'My God, where's that newspaper?'
I started askin' people - I figured he was the horse that belonged to some cowboy movie star, but nobody had a horse named Pinto.
So I just made him up, made him into a childhood hero."

I read it in the paper just about a week ago
It was on the back page and not many people know
Boy it made me feel bad when I picked it up and read Pinto the wonder horse is dead

Oh we rode the dusty trails together at the Saturday morning picture show
The dusty trails're gone now but it hurts to hear it said
Pinto the wonder horse is dead

My memory goes back to when I was a little kid
We believed in everything that Pinto ever did
Will our kids have a hero half as brave or half as strong
Pinto the wonder horse is gone
Oh we rode the dusty trails together...

We believed that Pinto was the fastest horse alive
If he outrun the wind itself we never were surprised
In my childhood memory full of boys grow into men Pinto the wonder rides again
Oh we rode the dusty trails together...
Pinto the wonder horse is gone

 

[fox69]

"Pisty"

"Pisty"


I got a little friend named Pisty she's a dandy
She doesn't care for movies or for candy
She doesn't care for TV or for frogs the reason that she doesn't she's a dog
You'd like Pisty she's a friend of mine
Pisty is a good dog and she guards me all the time
She's about that tall and about that long and she loves to hear me sing her in a song

Now Pisty keeps the bad guys on the run
She guards me from the milkman when he comes
She guards me from the mailmain when he rings
And she doesn't like the man who fixes things
And you'd like Pisty...

Now your dog can have a song about it too
And I bet its name would fit right in this tune
So I'll leave my dog out next time we start
And you can put your dog right in that part
And you'd like...

 

[fox69]

"Promise And The Dream"

"Promise And The Dream"


There's a sadness in your singing I have never heard before
There's a dying in your living that exists from shore to shore
There's a coward in your character that I have never seen
America what happened to the promise and the dream
The promise was that men could live and worship as they please
The dream was for the huddled masses yearning to breathe free
We closed so many doors and banned the prayers on many scenes
America what happened to the promise and the dream

There's a numbness in your feeling for the disadvantaged poor
There's a weakness in your strength because your leaders are unsure
There are shadows in the light that once was freedom's brightest beam
America what happened to the promise and the dream
The promise was that men could live and worship as they please
The dream was for the huddled masses yearning to breathe free
You closed so many doors and banned the prayer on many scenes
America what happened to the promise and the dream

There's a hating in your loving for the permanence of vows
Tomorrow doesn't matter it's all for the here and now
Your most important word called love is now a dirty thing
America what happened to the promise and the dream
The promise was that men...

 

[fox69]

"Raking Up Leaves"

"Raking Up Leaves"


All summer long you smelled like lotion and we made love when we took the notion
Summer is gone and it's hard to believe how lonely I am raking up leaves

Raking up leaves and counting the days
Yes and counting the nights that you've been away
The winter winds blow and memories freeze
I'm missing you and raking up leaves

Expecting the sun just any day now wish you were here to go out and play now
You say you'll return when they're on the trees
I'm hungry for you and raking up leaves

Raking up leaves and counting the days...

 

[fox69]

"Ramona's Revenge"

"Ramona's Revenge"


Ramona lived just down the hill from us.
She kept the house her mother drove the bus (an old yellow school bus)
Ramona had a handicap the neighborhood knew well.
Ramona couldn't speak or couldn't spell
(And that left Ramona at a considerable disadvantage among the more fluent)

Although she couldn't write or couldn't talk,
Ramona really had a pretty walk (a four letter figure)
Because she couldn't write or speak nobody asked her out.
But "bad-eye" Thompson hung around the house
(He was what you'd call a familiar figure in the neighborhood)

Well I guess their handicaps were common ground.
'Cause "bad-eye" Thompson always hung around.
He could squint that eye and spit tobacco thirty feet.
Ramona always grinned and stomped her features (because, to Ramona this was one of the finer things in life)

One day Ramona found herself with child.
She couldn't speak. Her mom was going wild.
Confusion reigned for half a day as one could understand.
The county judge came down to lend a hand
(And I think it should be noted in the interest of justice that the judge was acting in a strictly unofficial capacity)

The neighbors gathered 'round Ramona's porch.
The judge said, "Understand, this is not a court".
Ramona squealed as all the breathless neighbors gathered 'round...
Then closed one eye and (puh-tui) spat upon the ground.
(And it's a familiar old phrase that "birds of a feather will flock together" and justice will be done)