Dryland Sailor

As a dryland sailor

I have sailed across these plains

I have listened to the wind

The music of your voice remains

You’re in the silence of my nights

Oh soft places where I dream

This dryland, this dryland sailor only sails

For the love of his dryland queen

If I should ever become shipwrecked among cornfields

Where that lost row lies between

Just remember this dryland sailor only sails

For the love of his dryland queen

Just remember this dryland sailor always sails

For the love of his dryland queen

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Still too Hot

I heard a crash in my dream fan fell to the floor

Had the whiskey sweats from the night before

I heard a train and remembered putting pennies on a track

Make a necklace for you just in case that you come back

Well it’s just too hot to think about you today

It’s just too hot to think about you today

We’ll it’s still too hot to think about you tonight

Still too hot to think about you tonight

I can’t seem to cry watching too much John Wayne

Maybe I should just step in front of that train

Sweating like a grave digger been shoveling all day

You might return so I’ve got to stay

It’s just too hot to think about you today

It’s just too hot to think about you today

Still too hot to think about you tonight

Still too hot to think about you tonight

Shadows and dreams are the color of smoke in the rainbow

And a chain of failure and fear just won’t let me go

A moth on the lampshade with burned wings still wants the light

But it’s still too hot to think about you tonight

It’s just too hot to think about you today

Well it’s just too hot to think about you today

It’s still too hot to think about you tonight

Still too hot to think about you tonight

Just too hot to think about you today

It’s just too hot to think about you today

And it’s still too hot to think about you tonight

Thunder lightening and rain

Somehow I smile

Still too hot to think about you tonight

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Guitar from Mexico

On this beat up guitar I’m begging you

If this is our last song every word will be true

On this cracked and weathered wood

I will let my feelings show

These ain’t the first tears on this guitar from Mexico

I bought it in Reynosa

From an old man on the street

He had two young children begging at his feet

Music mixed with tears he sang sweet, sad and low

So I gave him all my dollars for this guitar from Mexico

On this guitar from Mexico

I’m begging you please don’t go

Please don’t go

Down at the pawnshop

It ain’t worth anything

But the old man said teardrops make the angels hear us sing

Well he must have seen my future cause he let this old thing go

These ain’t the first tears on this guitar from Mexico

Don’t you hear the angels telling you not to go

These ain’t the first tears on this guitar from Mexico

No these ain’t the first tears on this guitar from Mexico

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Devil's Tower Waltz

It’s more than a memory the old kitchen table

Where we poured out our hearts and our souls

In a face that becomes you a place you can come to

When the world is spinning out of control

And the stories refine us the stories define us

And they teach us to let ourselves go

We can try to deny it we can say I don’t buy it

But it’s the sweetest psychiatry I know

Those old war stories those wolf at the door stories

You’ve got your stories to tell

And I know the heartache you can make use of

You won’t let it poison your well

But somewhere in back of the dreams you gave up on

Is the sound of a cracked old church bell

And I’ll be the singer selling those secrets you haven’t the heart to tell

Now many’s the highway we have set off on they go out like spokes on a wheel

Then we re-enter return to the center and all that we know that is real

And the stories remind us the stories define us

Beneath all the weakness we can reveal

Love’s still the answer now’s still the question your heart still yearns to reveal

Those old love stories those touched from above stories

You’ve got your stories so well

And I know the mystery runs through your history

And echoes in the old wishing well and somewhere in back of

The dreams you took up with is a silence of a season in Hell

I’ll be the singer selling those secrets you haven’t the heart to tell

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Clowns in the Rain

When you come into this town you go crazy

A clown laughing out his fears

The bosses lock you outside their circus

Waiting for you to disappear

They say that your tears are hideous

And your smile needs a new coat of paint

As you buy Big Macs like cotton candy

And hand them out under the bridge like a drunken saint

The pigeons don’t fly in your presence

They seem to welcome you to their roost

They see that you’re a crying clown

Or an Indian warrior with no modern use

Clowns paint their smiles but the color it runs in the rain

That’s why you have those little umbrellas

And feather buckets cause it’s a game

Outside clowns melt in the rain

You ran out of money for Big Macs

So they sent you home on a plane

Now you’re looking for a rodeo or a circus

Just trying to stay out of the rain

Clowns paint their smile but the paint always runs in the rain

That’s why you have those little umbrellas

And feather buckets and it’s a game

Outside clowns melt in the rain

Clowns paint their smile but the color it runs in the rain

That’s why you have those little umbrellas

And buckets for feathers cause it’s a game

Outside clowns melt in the rain

Stay out of the rain

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Crossing the Prairie

I had a dream but I lost the plan

I speak a language I don’t understand

I spend all my time crossing the prairie

Abandoned places you can see the bones

Corporate farms nobody’s home that’s the way it is now

Crossing the prairie

The white man comes and the Indians go

The tourists roll by just to see the show

There’s pretty farm girls but before they know

Just how hard that cold wind blows they marry

We all dream of crossing the prairie

I learned a bit it seems I can’t teach

The coyotes eat all that they can reach

They leave me hungry crossing the prairie

When the twinkle stars are my campfire

And me and the Chief can’t get no higher

You’ll see us crossing the prairie

The white man comes and the Indians go

The tourists roll by just to see the show

There’s pretty farm girls but before they know

Just how hard that cold wind blows they marry

We all dream of crossing the prairie

We all dream of crossing the prairie

We all dream of crossing the prairie

YouTube Video

Back Door Man

Knock on the back door in the morning

Any time after 7:00

Cause if you’re feeling like hell

He’ll sell you a shot of heaven

Listen for his shaking hand

As he unlocks the door

He’ll tell you strange secrets

As he runs a mop across the floor

Back door man feeds a stray dog

Last night's steak bones

And he’ll serve you a cold one

For that thirst that don’t leave you alone

Knock on the back door

Harold are you in there

He’ll tell you of ladies lost

And the memories they carry

But the only one that interests you

Is that one called Bloody Mary

Back door man feeds a stray dog

Last night's steak bones

He’ll serve you a cold one

For that thirst that don’t leave you alone

Knock on the back door

Knock on the back door

He ain’t pretty in the morning light

His face is cracked like worn leather

He’ll let you sleep in the corner booth

If you’ve been fightin’ off the weather

Back door man feeds a stray dog

Last night's steak bones

He’ll serve you a cold one

For that thirst that don’t leave you alone

Knock on the back door

YouTube Video

Another Thing that Bothers Me

They’re moving stained glass windows out of an old church

Light will filter different; birds will find another place to perch

But I don’t believe that stained glass will look the same facing east

Well that’s another thing that bothers me the most

That should bother me the least

Angels in the colored light they whisper sunshine

Cool colors of forever  on the sale of time

Well I don’t believe that stained glass can really tame the beast

Well that’s another thing that bothers me the most

That should bother me the least

Taking stained glass windows out of an old church

Light will filter different; birds will find another place to perch

But I don’t believe that stained glass will look the same facing east

Well that’s another thing that bothers me the most

That should bother me the least

Well that’s another thing that bothers me the most

That should bother me the least

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Give me Back my Colors

Give me back my colors

I won’t draw on the walls

Disconnect the answer box

And I will take my calls

Show me something close to love

And I’ll try to believe

Give me back my colors

And I won’t have to leave

Give me back my colors

Let’s break the blue in half

I’ll try to crack the funnies

If I remember how to laugh

The clock inside my soul says

Its 5 to the end

Give me back my colors

And I’ll count you as a friend

Give me back my colors

I’ll stay inside the lines

I’ll draw cartoon characters and pretty Valentines

Show me something close to love

And I’ll try to believe

Give me back my colors

And I won’t have to leave

Give me back my colors

And I won’t have to leave

YouTube Video

If Crazy Horse Died

The campfires burnin’ smokeless

Wind is fanning the flames

Spirits ride in the darkness

All across these plains

Some cowboys will tell you

Of horses that nearly killed ‘em for the ride

Go ahead and ask them if Crazy Horse died

Winds of the Missouri

The August sun was burning up the grass

And the coyotes he’s still calling

And wait for the cottontails to pass

And rattlesnake circles around you

And comes up on your back side

Don’t that cause you to wonder if Crazy Horse died

They never had no photographs

Now we’re carving him in stone

Uncle Sam would like a piece of that

They keep chipping all alone

Now the campfires burn smokeless

Into eternity they ride

When you see that mountain

You wonder if Crazy Horse died

When you see that statue

You wonder if Crazy Horse died

When you see that mountain

When you see that mountain

Oh Crazy Horse

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No Sunlight

When the sheriff comes looking for me

Cry and say that I’m low down

There ain’t no sunlight

When you’re living underground

Like a horse with no stable

And a glue factory fate

I run when I’m able

Shake this hitch in my gait

I’ve been running so long

Been given the runaround

There ain’t no sunlight

When you’re living underground

I rode through youth searching for beauty

Wild cactus can’t hardly pierce my tongue

Call it misguided duty

This learning how to run

I’ve been running so long

Been given the runaround

There ain’t no sunlight

When you’re living underground

Tell the man you walk the dog of indecision

But in the end I made the choice

When I said that I was leaving

 I could have sworn it was your voice

So here’s a shot of money

Don’t ask where it comes from

Well I strapped on a holster

I just need to find me a gun

I’ve been running so long

Been given the runaround

There ain’t no sunlight

When you’re living underground

There ain’t no sunlight

YouTube Video

Throw a Lasso

He was dreaming about a woman

Slipping through his fingers on the day that he died

And the wind masters sent the rain and on and on it fell

‘Til it matched the tears that she cried

Then a ghost told me in a language I could understand

About things beyond our control

Said throw a lasso from Deadwood to El Paso

Cause that’s the size of a human soul.

We’ve seen a face in the planets and the stars

We’ve felt the heat of the pulse

I’ve seen the wisp of smoke of promised resurrection

But it’s only flown so close

And a scarecrow explains about the garden

And why a rabbit digs a hole

Said throw a lasso from Deadwood to El Paso

Cause that’s the size of a human soul.

Deadwood Bill Hickock died holding aces and eights

In poker that’s a deadman’s hand

Well Eddie from El Paso fell to his death

Holding a woman’s love he could not understand

Said throw a lasso from Deadwood to El Paso

Cause that’s the size of a human soul.

Said throw a lasso from Deadwood to El Paso

Cause that’s the size of a human soul.

Throw a lasso from Deadwood to El Paso

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Cosmic Interference

I make my own choices

I answer distant voices

Keep the present with the past

I gamble on my impulse

I’ve won the right to hold you close

The only luck that I’ve made last

Is it divine guidance or cosmic interference

Is it AM or FM

The Wizard of Oz or Auntie Em

I don’t know but I can hear it

When it’s coming through

It’s telling me to hold on to you

Well the full moon brings out lunacy

It’s done that at times to me

I’ve barked all night to hear the sound

You must have known there was a stage

And someday I would act my age

And get my feet back on the ground

Is it divine guidance or cosmic interference

Is it AM or FM

The Wizard of Oz or Auntie Em

I don’t know but I can hear it

When it’s coming through

It’s telling me to hold on to you

Is it divine guidance or cosmic interference

Is it AM or FM

The Wizard of Oz or Auntie Em

I don’t know but I can hear it

When it’s coming through

It’s telling me to hold on to you

Is it divine guidance or cosmic interference

Is it divine guidance or cosmic interference

Is it divine guidance or cosmic interference

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Frequent Flyer Miles

That last time I saw her

She was salty as the ocean

That framed her in a blue silhouette

I should not have told him cause he’d been flying low

Searching for ways to forget

Cause when he talks about her he trembles as he smiles

He’s been picking up those frequent flyer miles

The way a swimsuit fits against a woman when she’s wet

Dances through my lonely dreams at night

And only lines of misery waltz across his forehead

As her memory came back in to sight

Cause when he talks about her he trembles as he smiles

He’s been picking up those frequent flyer miles

He’s flying at those same parties

Where she led him away

Put a rainbow in his life

Now his flying colors are mostly blues and grey

I do believe he’ll put his landing gear down

When he tires of flying so low

As he nears touch down we’ll see his true colors

Identify the guy we used to know

When he talks about her he trembles as he smiles

He’s been picking up those frequent flyer miles

He’s been picking up those frequent flyer miles

YouTube Video

Footprints in the Snow

On an old metal stagecoach I was driving for the King of the Road

Pulling into Sarasota barely time to unload

Well I heard him tell somebody about somebody who really played guitar

And I hung on every word like you do rubbing elbows with the stars

Nashville and Broadway are a long way from the Oklahoma hills

Through the cracks in his voice I heard the ghosts of the whiskey and the pills

Well he left those ghosts behind him whistling down the huckleberry wind

Singing dang me all those little green apples that’ll never taste that way again

Now you might be a player son and sometimes the play is just for show

With a tailwind of applause and always one more place to go

Well you may be a player son there’s one thing a player may not know

You can dazzle all the players and never leave no footprints in the snow

The huckleberry wind blew cold and I felt an early winter coming on

Well an old friend stopped by and I was told old Roger Miller’s gone

Well I sung along with all those crazy songs

Drove that stagecoach anywhere he’d go

Now the winter wind is blowing strong

I’m looking for those footprints in the snow

Now you might be a player son and sometimes the play is just for show

With a tailwind of applause and always one more place to go

You may be a player son here’s one thing a player may not know

You can dazzle all the players and never leave no footprints in the snow

You can dazzle all the young cats never leave no footprints in the snow

You can dazzle all the young girls never leave no footprints in the snow

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It’s Gone Tonight

It’s gone tonight

But that don’t mean it won’t be back again

Come morning time

She had to run

But that don’t mean that you lost a friend

Just give it time

And the feeling is so relentless

And the darkness sublime

It’s gone tonight

But that don’t mean it wont be back again

She’s like the mist

She’s a vapor state

But that don’t mean that you lost a friend

Because you’re not kissed

And the feeling is so relentless

And the darkness sublime

And I don’t need her rising

Means that pink sky will soon be day

It’s gone tonight

But that don’t mean it won’t be back again

It’s gone tonight

But that don’t mean it won’t be back again

It’s gone tonight

But that don’t mean it won’t be back again

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Another Shade of Blue

Take a good look at me darling

To see if I have changed

See if I’m the man that you once knew

I still dream about the ocean

When I don’t sleep at night

I’m looking for another shade of blue

That’s another shade of you

Last night I saw you in white

Yesterday in my dreams

That made me head out for a few

I still dream about the ocean

When I don’t sleep at night

I’m looking for another shade of blue

That’s another shade of blue

That’s another shade of blue

Oh baby I’m looking for you

That’s another shade of blue

YouTube Video

Be Somebody

Well I’m gonna get drunk and be somebody

I’m gonna go out and try to have myself some fun

I’m gonna get drunk and be somebody

Cause I’m tired of being no one

Rule number 1; if I start crying take me home

Cause this old honky-tonk don’t need another sad soul

I’ve been trying to step over the rainbow

Trying to gather myself up so I can lose control

I’m gonna get drunk and be somebody

I’m gonna head out and try to have myself some fun

I’m gonna get drunk and be somebody

Cause I’m tired of being no one

Rule number 2; never fall in love after midnight

Cause love and lust seems to get mixed in that late evening air

I’ve been trying to step over the rainbow

Just cause I’m crazy don’t mean I don’t care

Hey I’m gonna get drunk and be somebody

I’m gonna go out and have myself a little fun

I’m gonna get drunk and be somebody

Cause I’m tired of being no one

So I’m gonna get drunk and be somebody

I’m gonna head right out there kick my boots off and have some fun

Well I’m gonna get drunk and be somebody

Cause I’m tired of being no one

YouTube Video

Padre

I’ve come with this message

Pounding through my brain

That you can’t decipher

And I can’t explain

Seems I wandered far from my post

Searching for remnants of my Holy Ghost

So kindly padre

Tell me through that screen

When death appears

Does it move in through the dreams

No I never sit down inside of here

But the devil he visits me I fear

Padre I can hear that ringing of the bells

I know for whom they toll

I’ve seen their blood flowing from the lamb

I hear an echo down in my soul

Left that woman way down in Mexico

Skied on out on the early Cali snow

Seen many men crying out your name

Begging for mercy all again

The light of night don’t hide his scars

The moon turns red the smog hides the stars

Find the right words give me some grace

But padre please don’t hide your face

Padre I can hear that ringing of the bells

I know for whom they toll

I’ve seen their blood flowing from the lamb

I hear an echo down in my soul

The sky is split I hear the ringing of the bells

I know for whom they toll

I’ve seen their blood flowing from the lamb

I hear an echo down in my soul

YouTube Video

I Was a Scarecrow

I was a scarecrow when I had no words

I made friends with the crows

A friendly scarecrow hears the song of the birds

And knows how the melody goes

And takes me to places that I only feel

Like a woman’s hair tickling my face

Now you see why I sleep on the job

And the crows fly all over this place

They go in the barn and they sleep in the hay

And they fly with that lazy old Grace

Now you see why I sleep on the job

And the crows fly all over this place

I was a scarecrow so I had no words

I made friends with the crows

I was a scarecrow so I had no words

I made friends with the crows

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