Tom T. Hall

[fox69]

"Day Drinkin'"

"Day Drinkin'"


Hey Dave, you know when we get home
We're really gonna catch it, what's our excuse this time?
Well dear, we'll just tell 'em, we're sittin' up
With this real sick friend of mine, an amazin' brain

You know we just stopped there, 'bout one short stop
Here we are out on a binge
Hey, we got no trouble, just doing our number
Day drinkin' again

Day drinkin' again, we're real good friends
Tellin' the waitress how we won the war
Day drinkin' some more

Hey, you remember that time when we was in Pittsburgh
Ooh man, she was a beautiful dream
You got smashed, locked out on the hallway
With nothin' on but your DVDs, you didn't have to tell [?]

Hey let's have a pizza, I'm starving to death
We've been drinkin' since 10, 9.30
Ooh it is fattenin', ah, but then booze is happenin'
Day drinkin' again

Ah Dave, did you see that movie
Where this old gal took off all her clothes
No, I missed that, was that on TV?
I gotta spend more time at home, channel three, oh

Waitress would you tell the guys in the band
Play a song for me and my friend?
Hey, the gray speckled bird and a wild Irish flute
Day drinkin' again

Day drinkin' again, we're real good friends
Tellin' the waitress how we won the war
Day drinkin' some more

And now we ought to go home
The neighborhood ladies are playin' bridge with our wives
We'll just stop by them and sing them this song
I bet they'll be awfully surprised, I don't doubt it

Hey, we're out of money, well, gimme a dime
We'll call one of our friends
Hello buddy there, this is David and Tom
Day drinkin' again, day drinkin' again

 

[fox69]

"Deal"

"Deal"


Well life is a gamble and the days they're just so many decks
Oh the hours are cards they deal and you play what you get
Oh you think of the the time that you knew you could call so you raised
Oh you think of the the time that you got out when you should have stayed
Deal hey may be the next card's an Ace
Deal you ought to go home but you know that a Flush beats a Straight
Oh you can't have a Full House the Queen has been dealt to a friend
Oh the good thing about life is they shuffle and they deal life again

Well the cards are all stacked when you're hot and the women are too
Oh it's a hard cut to take when you raised every hand but you do
Well I'm not complainin' it ain't like a Joker to cry
Oh it won't do to cheat cause you have to cash in when you die
So deal hey may be the next card's an Ace...

 

[fox69]

"Different Feeling"

"Different Feeling"


She was sadder than the day she lost her mother
He felt worse than the day when he was drafted
She was packing and she kept her eyes diverted
He was sippin' on a beer and playin' with the dog
Another single word passed between them a silence we affirmed that it was over
And the sad eyed puppy sat there on the floor
He couldn't understand the different feeling (different feeling is a mystery)

They sold that house and each took half the money
They gave that dog to his best friend's great Uncle
He went back to drinkin' and carrousin'
She got her old job back and she moved in with a friend
Six months went by before their chance to meetin'
And she wore the dress he bought her for her birthday
He showed up drunk and she got mad and cried
Hey they couldn't understand the different feeling (different feeling is a mystery)

She met some guy and she moved to Massachussets
He met a girl he liked and he remarried
Later on she got married too she had a little girl and she joined the PTA
They seldom ever think about each other we're both too busy of tryin' make to livin'
That sad eyed puppy starved itself to death
He couldn't understand the different feeling
(Different feeling is a mystery different feeling is a mystery)

 

[fox69]

"Do It To Someone You Love"

"Do It To Someone You Love"


The words I love you come easy to the lips of a liar or a fool
If love talking is what you're thinking of then do it to someone you love
Do it to someone you love
Some little things to let them know they're all you're thinking of
This day and time a little thing you do could mean so much
So do it to someone you love

A smile comes easy to a strange hello to someone that you never met
But an old love don't need that smile it glows with just a touch
So do it to someone you love
Do it to someone you love...

 

[fox69]

"Don't Forget The Coffee Billy Joe"

"Don't Forget The Coffee Billy Joe"


It snowed the night before and it had frozen on the ground we didn't have a car
and we lived seven miles from town and I can hear my daddy's voice so many years ago saying, "don't forget the coffee Billy Joe."
"Mama needs her medicine, she's got that real bad cough we'll get our check on Monday,
tell ol' sam we'll pay him off you can catch a ride when you get to the black-top road don't forget the coffee Billy Joe"

Me and Quentin went back on the hill and we cut some wood burnin' in that ol' warm mornin' stove
it sure smelled good daddy couldn't get work then and I was just a child and God was on vacation for awhile

"Well, if you see Fred you tell him I'll come help him kill them hogs and ask him
if he'd still be interested in my dogs don't hang around that pool room all day, we might get more snow and don't forget the coffee Billy Joe"

Well, they wonder why there ain't no rabbits left this day and time to tell the truth
I guess we ate 'em all in '49 was that yesterday or was it over 20 years ago "don't forget the coffee Billy Joe"

"Mama needs her medicine, she's got that real bad cough we'll get our check on Monday
tell ol' Sam we'll pay him off you can catch a ride when you get to the black-top road don't forget the coffee Billy Joe
(now pay attention, son) don't forget the coffee Billy Joe"

 

[fox69]

"Easter Is"

"Easter Is"


We all know Jesus died upon the cross Jesus' friends thought that he might be lost
But he arose and walked out of the tomb he went to heaven to prepare a room
Oh you should be happy you should be glad
Easter is the time we learn that good is better than bad
You might see an Easter bunny or Easter egg that someone hid
It's a wonderful time that's what Easter is

Easter comes on Sunday every year Easter is the sign that spring is here
We get dressed up and smile cause Jesus lives
It's a wonderful time that what Easter is
Oh you should be happy...

On Easter you might see a big parade some funny bunnies and some colored eggs
A great big smile is all you have to give it's a happy time that's what Easter is
It's a wonderful time that's what Easter is

 

[fox69]

"Everybody Loves To Hear A Bird Sing"

"Everybody Loves To Hear A Bird Sing"


Sometimes birds don't have enough to eat
There's not enough food in the fields or the streets
There are too many cities where there used to be trees so it's left up to you and me
Everybody loves to hear a bird sing
The prettiest music you have ever heard here's how to make friends with the bird

First you get some peanut butter out of a jar
And you can buy a bag of bird seed anywhere
You mix it all together and you put it on the ground
And pretty soon the birds come around
Everybody loves to hear...

Some people buy spray and they spray it on the land
They kill all the little bitty bugs that they can
The birds eat up the bugs and it makes them sick I wish we didn't have to do that
Cause everybody loves to hear...

Right now you're young and you're not very tall
You're really very busy and you're rally very small
Someday when you're older and things go wrong you've gotta need a pretty bird song
Because everybody loves to hear...

 

[fox69]

"Everything From Jesus To Jack Daniels"

"Everything From Jesus To Jack Daniels"


You wake up in the morning drink a beer and take a Valium
And you're trying to forget about the things you did last night
Flip through the morning paper read the horoscope and the comics
You're as well informed as anybody on the left or the right
You make it to your job and hear Atlanta lost another
How can you lose while making half a million bucks or near
The old man who sweeps the floor and wears a big blue Reagan button
Says the Russians are a coming but they've been here for years
Trying everything from Jesus to Jack Daniels it's the all new American diet
Trying everything from Jesus to Jack Daniels
You get on it and you're on it for the rest of your life

There's a story in the paper about a man who killed his family
He jumped off a bridge because he couldn't take it anymore
Down at the local tavern a young man comes in limpin'
And he claims that he's a veteran of the Falkland Islands war
You head home and you're accosted by a youngster wearin' robes
And wanting money for his God who sits upon a plastic throne
You ignore him if you can and make it to the local tavern
Where you order up a drink and give some money to your own
Trying everything from Jesus...

There's a man in Tennessee who's got it figured out completely
I guess that he's as happy as a thinking man can be
I asked him what he thought and he said brother let me tell you
Try a little bit of both and leave out everything in between
Trying everything from Jesus...

 

[fox69]

"Fallen Women"

"Fallen Women"


She reminds me some of a blue eyed doll a strange look there in her eyes
Surprisingly quick with her movements like a woman who's learned to survive
She empties the ashtrays and passes the booze in a crude but professional style
And her facial contortions are painfully set in a look that resembles a smile
The small crowded bar roars loud its approval of some verbal blow that she's dealt
By telling a trucker from the Redball Express to have intercourse with himself
In my mind I can see her room the place where the woman lives
The rollers and the curlers and the old panty hose
And the ceiling that leaks like a sieve
And there's pictures of Merle and Johnny and June and Kennedy there with a flag
And a letter from home that she's read ten times and an old blue traveling bag
You know that man she loves ah he's puttin' her on
But no queen could love him more
And in her mind their ship will sail to a hundred exotic shores
Lord she'll get no pity from me no she's tough and she wouldn't care
But life is made up of wishes and dreams and she's had more than her share
As I sit here and drink and look for a song I think I just found me one
There's a difference in a fallen woman and one who is still hangin' on

 

[fox69]

"Faster Horses"

"Faster Horses"


He was an old-time cowboy, don't you understand
His eyes were sharp as razor blades
His face was leather tan
His toes were pointed inward from a-hangin' on a horse
He was an old philosopher, of course
He was so thin I swear you could have used him for a whip
He had to drink a beer to keep his britches on his hips
I knew I had to ask him about the mysteries of life
He spit between his boots and he replied,

"Son, it's faster horses, younger women, older whiskey, more money."

He smiled and all his teeth were covered with tobacco stains
He said, "It don't do men no good to pray for peace and rain.
Peace and rain is just a way to say prosperity,
And buffalo chips is all it means to me."

I told him I was a poet, I was lookin' for the truth
I do not care for horses, whiskey, women or the loot
I said I was a writer, my soul was all on fire
He looked at me an' he said, "You are a liar."

"Son, it's faster horses, younger women, older whiskey, more money."

Well, I was disillusioned, if I say the least
I grabbed him by the collar and I jerked him to his feet
There was something cold and shiny layin' by my head
So I started to believe the things he said

Well, my poet days are over and I'm back to being me
As I enjoy the peace and comfort of reality
If my boy ever asks me what it is that I have learned
I think that I will readily affirm

"Son, it's faster horses, younger women, older whiskey, more money." (repeat as song fades)