One Hit Song

We’ve been at it twenty years now

It’s a blessing and a curse

We got plenty of experience

But our memory's getting worse

We headed down to Nashville

But ended like the rest

We don’t have pretty faces

And our voices aren’t the best

Just give us one hit song

We’ll play it all night long

We’ve had it with the bar scene

It’s the hardest work of all

The wrong guy gets to drinking

You might end up in a brawl

We’ve hired other pickers

A fiddle man or two

We’ve got some nice equipment

Three payments over due

Just give us one hit song

We’ll play it all night long

Just give us one hit song

Let the radio play it all day long

We were looking for the forest

But we spun out in the trees

We had a taste of whiskey

And smoked a bowl of cheese

We thought we had a hit song

Wrote it on a grocery sack

But that old Dakota wind came up

And blew it out the back

We need that one hit song

We’ll play it all night long

So now it’s quite a struggle

Just to get along

We all go kind of crazy

Trying to write so many songs

Sometimes we tip the bottle

And we’ve been known to hack

We might not be the greatest

But at least we’re not on smack

We need that one hit song

We’ll play it all night long

Just give us one hit song

Let the radio play all day long

We were looking for the forest

But we spun out in the trees

We had a taste of whiskey

And smoked a bowl of cheese

We thought we had a hit song

Wrote it on a grocery sack

But that old Dakota wind came up

And blew it out the back

Just give us one hit song

We’ll play it all day long

Just give us one hit song

Let the radio play it all night long

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Half as Good

Dusk to dawn

Twilight hours

Soft colored light

Moonlight drops like rain

Opens up the night

The road I left

Left me cold

I need time to rest

I know I’ve been gone a while

When you treat me like a guest

I’ve been gone

And I’ve been wrong

Nights away don’t treat me half as good

And it ain’t right

To sleep alone at night

Nights away don’t treat me half as good

They don’t treat me half as good

Well dance with me in the summer breeze

In the cool wet grass

Wind chimes sing their own song

Bouncing off the window glass

I don’t mind putting off sleep

When I know it’s coming soon

I feel a little light headed

Dancing in the path of the moon

I’ve been gone

And I’ve been wrong

Nights away don’t treat me half as good

And it ain’t right

To sleep alone at night

Nights away don’t treat me half as good

They don’t treat me half as good

Cause it ain’t right

To sleep alone at night

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Bad Group of Three

I confess

Restlessness

I’m a modern mess

That’s a bad group of three

Sundown

She ain’t around

I’m a stoned out clown

That’s a bad group of three

Hey whiskey

Dope

And me

That’s a bad group of three

With a jagged eye

I want to cry

I’m getting high

That’s a bad group of three

A man to pay

He’s on Broadway

Just walked my way

That’s a bad group of three

Hey whiskey

Dope

And me

That’s a bad group of three

Hey whiskey

Dope

And me

That’s a bad group of three

A man in black

With a bottle in a sack

And the Ryman out back

That’s a bad group of three

I ain’t been free

From downs and speed

And the woman I need

That’s a bad group of three

That’s whiskey

Dope

And me

That’s a bad group of three

Said whiskey

Dope

And me

That’s a bad group of three

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Cowboy, Easter Lilly & Willie

Seems I spent

A whole lot of time in motels

Wandering around

From town to town

With a guitar

Friend you can’t know

The friends I come to know

Out on the road

I’ve been childish and silly

Saddled up with Willie

Waiting for Merle to sing me back home

It seems I spent

A whole lot of time

Thinking about women

Some times it’s lust

That makes this cowboy bust

Some promises

When the sun comes up

I fill my coffee cup

And ride alone

Wind might be chilly

So I’m saddled up with Willie

Waiting for Merle to sing me back home

It seems I spent

A whole lot of time

Being lonely

I met angels on the way

Showed me judgment day

Is coming soon

I always care

So I’m not too scared

To stand at the gates

All alone

Cause I’m cowboy with an Easter Lilly

Saddled up next to Willie

Waiting for Merle to sing me back home

I’m a cowboy with an Easter Lilly

Still singing those songs of Willie

Waiting for Merle to sing me back home

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Tears in the Dark

Your tears in the dark

Are hard on my eyes

I look inside and I blame myself

For those bitter sweet lies

There has been passion

And soft candlelight

Loving whispers on windy nights

But your tears in the dark

Are just not meant for me to see

Oh Cry

Leave your tears in the dark

Oh Cry

Leave your tears in the dark

There was passion and soft candle light

Loving whispers on windy nights

But your tears in the dark

Are  not meant for me to see

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Outerspace

Daylight goodbye

I look for peace

In the velvet sky

I’m not restless now

I’ve slowed my pace

Cause you brought me in from outerspace.

Well one time

I ran with the Stars

I thought Jupiter

Was down by the bars

But Venus shined off your face

You brought me in from outerspace

One summer I was the man in the moon

I drank bourbon the whole month of June

And the UFOs spun all around my place

You brought me in from outerspace.

I heard Jupiter a long time ago

It’s down in Nashville by music row

It leaped from a church around Amazing Grace

You brought me in from outerspace.

I sing softer now and play slow bass

You brought me in from outerspace

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I Need the Rain

The South wind is blowing in my face

Black clouds drift past the moon

A heat wave has pounded us

Since the middle part of June

And I ain’t one to cuss the sun

And I sure could stand some rain.

There’s a woman running through my head

She’s rumbling like a train

I need the rain

Oooo I need the rain

I need the rain

I need the rain

And I think I hear a woman’s voice

In the dancing wind chimes

In my sleep I reach for her

So many, many times

I’m not sure that there’s a cure

For things you can’t rightly explain

The south wind is blowing the curtains in

And it’s about to boil my brain

I need the rain

Oooo I need the rain

Oooo I need the rain

Oooo I need the rain

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Love Ain’t EZ

Everybody knows love ain’t easy

But you cannot walk through life alone

When there’s no one to come home to

A heart gets hard as stone

Broken promises are like broken glass

Get cut bad when they shatter

Someone you love is hurting bad

You can’t act like it don’t matter

Everybody knows love ain’t easy

But you cannot walk through life alone

Cause when there’s no one to come home to

A heart gets hard as stone.

Anger grows like moss on trees

On the dark North side

We’ve seen some terrible things happen

In the name of foolish pride

Everybody knows love ain’t easy

But you cannot walk through life alone

Cause when there’s no one to come home to

A heart gets hard as stone.

Everybody knows love ain’t easy

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Eyes of a Friend

Baby you’re warm to the touch

When I touch you I burn

Sometimes I don’t know much

But I’m willing to learn

If you see my baby blues

As the eyes of a friend

Then baby wait for me

To come around again.

There’s a quiver in your voice

I think I understand.

There’s danger in your choice

‘tween a woman and a man

If you see my baby blues

As the eyes of a friend

Then baby wait for me

To come around again.

We’re all working on time

And time is working on us

You’ll catch a plane

I’m going out on a bus

If you see my baby blues

As the eyes of a friend

Then baby wait for me

To come around again.

Baby wait for me

To come around again.

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Scarecrow

I was all juiced up

The sun was going down

I met up with a woman

Made up like a clown

She said take some of this and stare at the sun

There was black crows landing on my shoulders

And a monocled man with a cigarette holder

Writing down all the clever things I’d said and done

Then I woke up with a song in my head

Like a remnant left over from the Grateful Dead

Sometimes it’s hard to handle these fitful things

When the corn grows funny cause it’s too wet

They distill it down to mash and make you forget

That’s when the scarecrow sings.

There’s memories of a man I used to be

But the funny house mirror’s staring back at me

Scarred skin hangs over my bones and heart

There’s a marked down look I’ve had for a while

Like a used up Chevy on a miracle mile

Got good tires but I’m missing parts

Then I woke up with a song in my head

Like a remnant left over from the Grateful Dead

Sometimes it’s hard to handle these fitful things

When the corn grows funny cause it’s too wet

They distill it down to mash it makes you forget

That’s when the scarecrow sings.

So sister can you see my hand how it shakes

You’re the doctor do what it takes

Put silver dollar glasses over my eyes

When the clock heads home give me a kiss

Hold my hand and lead me out of this

When the winners lose it’s really no surprise

Then I woke up with a song in my head

Like a remnant left over from the Grateful Dead

Sometimes it’s hard to handle these fitful things

When the corn grows funny cause it’s too wet

They distill it down to mash and make you forget

That’s when the scarecrow sings.

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I Miss Your Touch

Well I miss your touch

I miss it so bad

I miss your touch

Well it’s all that I had

Hope will float in the springtime

Clocks will tick on the wall

There’s angels fluttering from Heaven

I won’t be there at all

I miss your touch

I miss it so bad

I miss your touch

Well it’s all that I had

Autumn leaves the snow is falling

And I’m headed for Mexican sand

I’ll be your gringo Diablo

And play in a lost cowboy band

I miss your touch

I miss it so bad

I miss your touch

Well it’s all that I had

Will you be the deal that killed me

And left me to drive around dead

With all the lost probabilities

That roll round in my head

I miss your touch

I miss it so bad

I miss your touch

Well it’s all that I had

I miss your touch

What more can I do

I miss your touch

I miss your touch

I miss it so bad

I miss your touch

Well it’s all that I had

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Eyes of Disappointment

Autumn leaves are flying fast

Yeah they’re out there flying in the wind

As your eyes of disappointment

Fasten on the man I might have been

Everything is sounding different in my ears

Like trying to explain music to the deaf

Finally I go searching for lost and lonely melodies

Seems like the best thing I’ve got left

Wish I could make you hear love

Wish I could sing like the wind

Cause your eyes of disappointment

Fasten on the  man I might have been

Blackbirds feasting on a road kill

They are many

They have no song

Momma songbirds have emptied out their nests

Waiting for winter to come along

The harvest moon is glowing on you

As you gather just what you reap

That moon is immortal

It reminds me of the promises I can’t keep

I wish I could sing like the wind

Cause your eyes of disappointment

Fasten on the man I might have been

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