44 minutes and 53 seconds

Too Damn Slow

There’s some young boys running around this town in a pickup truck

Nobody seems to know where they come from

You can hear it backfiring down on Main Street

Sounds like a double-barrel shotgun

 

Downtown Mary Sue says they’re chasing her daughters

It looks to me like her daughters are chasing them

The girls went and got their bedroom mattresses

They heard them boys were headed for Enemy Swim

 

Preacher John says they look outlaws

But then what the hell does Preacher John really know

When you’re young there’s only one speed

And if it ain’t wide open it’s too damn slow

 

That old pickup don’t even look very suspicious

Sure they took notice Mary Sue’s daughters

With the skirts hiked high on those cream thighs

Don’t you think that they oughta

 

Preacher John says they look outlaws

But then what the hell does Preacher John really know

When you’re young there’s only one speed

And if it ain’t wide open it’s too damn slow

 

Wide open is too damn slow

Wide open two days low

Too damn slow

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Chances are You’re a Cowboy

If you've taken a bad ride in Cheyenne or damn near drown at Fort Pierre

If you’ve lost your mind to Nashville on sad music and beer

If you’ve laughed about old broken bones and compared nasty scars

While the world is on a health kick you’ve got whiskey, chew and cigars

You’re a cowboy so keep on riding

Hide from the lawman what needs hiding

If you let a northern woman drive you south

Or you let a bad horse put gold in your mouth

Chances are you’re a cowboy

 

If you dream about Alaska and a cabin way up in the hills

If you’ve toasted a Texas buddy who succumbed to whiskey and pills

If you’ve wrapped your arms around an angel while forsaking the woman in your heart

If you need to make a good stand but can’t find the right place to start

You’re a cowboy so keep on riding

Hide from the lawman what needs hiding

If you let a northern woman drive you south

Or you let a bad horse put gold in your mouth

Chances are you’re a cowboy so keep on riding

Hide from the lawman what needs hiding

If you let a northern woman drive you south

Or you let a bad horse put gold in your mouth

Chances are you’re a cowboy

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The Eagle Song

I’ll find a morning patch of clear blue mountain sky

Where I’ll study the eagles sowing all my dreams of flight

And I’ll fly across the prairie to this place that I’ll leave behind

And I’ll be flying with an eagle easy state of mind

 

I’ll take you with me if you like to travel in your sleep

Good dreams need companions with joint destinations to reach

Hold me all through the night and see if we can find

How to fly with an eagle easy state of mind

 

As we share this one bed and dream of the future and the past

Let’s join in body and soul cause new destinations are vast

The feather in this hat belonged to an eagle once before

I found it one night as I picked myself up off the floor

Now I don’t fly that low I have left that life behind

I’ve been flying with an eagle easy state of mind

I’m flying yes I’m flying c’mon I’m flying with an eagle easy state of mind

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Starlight Shines in Your Eyes

Starlight shines a million miles and ends up in her eyes

Just a tiny sparkle in the tears that she cries

Wind blows back her hair tears run down her cheeks

Lord I’d say sweet things if I had the strength to speak

 

Starlight shines forever fills up the empty skies

But I saw it for the first time the last time that I looked into her eyes

 

She turns and walks away so I won’t see her tears

She whispers something softly that doesn’t reach my ears

I call out her name it echoes down the street

The only lonely sounds were the rhythm of her feet

 

Starlight shines forever fills up the empty skies

But I saw it for the first time the last time that I looked into her eyes

Starlight shines a million miles and ends up in her eyes

Just a tiny sparkle in the tears that she cries

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13 Thousand Beers

If the eyes are windows to the soul then yours are stained glass

Light diffused by color, an ornamental sunshine glass

They’re pretty but they hide all the sins left untold

With the worth of quartzite and the sparkle of gold

 

Some things you see coming some only in hindsight

If the rabbit runs faster the dog don’t get a bite

I still can’t comprehend the goodbye ringing in my ears

It makes me thirsty for 13 thousand beers

 

I think of your eyes while I plunder my soul

I know you’ll be together while I’m out of control

I had a pocket full of nothing enchanted by the show

Now at 13 thousand beers I’ll just say no

 

Some things you see coming some only in hindsight

If the rabbit runs faster the dog don’t get a bite

I still can’t comprehend the goodbye ringing in my ears

This song makes me thirsty for 13 thousand beers

 

I want a little pain so I’ll open them all with my teeth

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View from the Stage

There’s sawdust on the floor this is a better gig to play

But a banker owns the joint we have to beg for our pay

We’ve been to Nashville and we can drop a couple names

But we can’t drop our day jobs so pay our weekend games

 

The view from the stage may never change

Might always be someone trying to arrange

Secret rendezvous they should avoid

While they’re still trying fill a lonesome void

Hell I know that I should act my age

But I can’t get over this view from the stage

 

Got a family loving woman just as soon that I’d stay home

But I’m a cowboy gypsy poet with a destiny to roam

If you catch me on a bad night I appear near the end of my rope

But when I’m riding tall I’ve got my songs to give me faith and hope

 

The view from the stage may never change

Might always be someone trying to arrange

Secret rendezvous they should avoid

While they’re still trying fill a lonesome void

Hell I know that I should act my age

But I can’t get over this view from the stage

 

Well it’s last call now and this ain’t no motel

We sang all of our songs they sold all they could sell

But the view from the stage is still the same

I hear what you’re saying but I don’t recall your name

I had it right here on the tip of my mind

But then I forgot what I’d been trying to find

Hell I know that I should act my age

But I can’t get over this view from the stage

Hell I know that I should act my act

But I can’t get over this view from the stage

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Good Luck is Ridin’ on the Wind

Storm came blowing in this morning

Dark clouds trouble every mile

I caught you crying in the kitchen

A collector on the phone was so unkind

It’s a shame it’s all about money

Close your eyes on all your fears

Trust in my determination

Let music fall upon your ears

 

Rough waters will smooth out

Great ships will sail on in

Of these things I have no doubt

Good luck is ridin’ on the wind

 

I saw the lights of Heaven

Flash the lightening of that storm

Thunder brought us together

It’s one of the Lord’s many forms

 

Like the angels in the alleys

That look like beggars to most eyes

We must walk as children

Underneath the Lord’s watchful skies

 

Rough waters will smooth out

Great ships will sail on in

Of these things I have no doubt

Good luck is ridin’ on the wind

 

Rough waters will smooth out

Great ships will sail on in

Of these things I have no doubt

Good luck is ridin’ on the wind

Yeah good luck is ridin’ on the wind

Said good luck rides on the wind

Good luck is ridin’ on the wind

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The Funny Farm

Sad man misses his lady with a certain fascination for the stars

Has been catching all the fireflies and putting them in gallon pickle jars

He cares for them kindly some night he’ll let them fly

If a certain young lady would only pass by

 

I don’t think he’s all that crazy he’d never cause you any harm

Most of the animals are tame here out here on the funny farm

A good old boy attorney walks with a slight limp

Got an old girl’s name tattooed on his arm

He said sometimes you need help to remember

When you come off the funny farm

 

A couple of women have left me standing

Third time out has been a charm

So most times I don’t remember

My stay out on the funny farm

So all you late night cats and couch puppies

Try to keep the fox out of the barn

He’s been known to romance all the chickens

And drive you to the funny farm

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Not Good With Secrets

I’m not good with secrets so please don’t tell me yours

There’s skeletons in every closet so please don’t open up the doors

I’ve done things that might shock you but I’m not trying to be unkind

But I’m not good with secrets so you cannot be one of mine

 

I’m not good with secrets they always hide from the truth

They frequently deal with indiscretions of youth

You’re  young beautiful and innocent, I’m older and jaded from my time

And I’m not good with secrets so you cannot be one of mine

 

You probably feel like she used to in my arms

You’ll probably take me back in time

But I’m not good with secrets so you cannot be one of mine

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The Outlaw Creed

When the sun comes up on an endless night and a woman with a vacant bed

Cause you danced with the snakes that rattle inside your head

And your search for bright clean answers comes screaming through bloodshot eyes

Take pity on the rabbit who hears the eagle cry

 

Then you’re ready for a lesson you should have already learned

Quit drinking firewater on the bridges that you’ve burned

Make peace with your angel she has a strength you may need

She can break you softly follow the outlaw creed

 

Don’t ever spite a woman unless you plan to run

The distance you must travel correlates to what you’ve done

Trust the feelings in your stomach and wash your knuckles when they bleed

Son kill your own snakes that’s the outlaw creed

That’s the outlaw creed

 

Go looking for the children playing in the shallow creeks

Listen to them closely when they take the time to speak

Words so sweet and simple they cut right to the quick

Take them to your angel and try to make them stick

 

Don’t ever spite a woman unless you plan to run

The distance you must travel correlates to what you’ve done

Trust the feelings in your stomach and wash your knuckles when they bleed

Son kill your own snakes that’s the outlaw creed

That’s the outlaw creed

Oh yeah that’s the outlaw creed

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It’s a Brand New Buffalo

Uncle Dan’s got a sauna he calls his sweat lodge

His painted pony is a rusted out old Dodge

We let some old ways pass as the wheels rolled us around

Grandpa went a little crazy when the last teepees came down

Grandma’s got a buffalo blanket across her ancient bed

It’s kept her warm all the years he’s been dead

He died along a fence line following the white man’s ways

Now he straddled that fence for the buffalo we pray

 

Things been tough on these Reservations now times are changing for the Indian Nations

We’ve got poker, black jack and keno

It’s a brand new buffalo

 

Walked through the Badlands thinking it would do some good

We saw dens of rattlers to see what we should

Our sacred hoop is in the wind of the past

But we prayed so that our faith would last

 

A buffalo is a part of a circle that fulfills many needs

Now gamblers come like hunters with the same lust and greed

Our worthless land has never been taken away

So walk Grandpa’s fence line praying the buffalo stay

 

Things been tough on these Reservations now times are changing for the Indian Nations

We’ve got poker, black jack and keno

It’s a brand new buffalo

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Second Hand Smoke

Prairie winds can drive you crazy when they blow through your town

The summer heat can make you lazy no love relief can be found

She’s on the street like a dream that’s kept you awake in the heat of the night

Acting out some juvenile scene with a man at her side in the hot sunlight

 

Memories on fire from flames that never expire

This irritation ain’t no joke when you’re choking on the fumes of second hand smoke

She’s back around to see if you’ll choke you need fresh air not second hand smoke

 

Memories on fire from flames that never expire

This irritation ain’t no joke when you’re choking on the fumes of second hand smoke

 

As she fades into your darkness like a ship adrift in your uncharted sea

Your love captured to this darkness of her image that won’t set you free

 

Memories on fire from flames that never expire

This irritation ain’t no joke when you’re choking on the fumes of second hand smoke

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