Sunday, September 20, 2008

31 years old.

Texas photo essay.

I’d have to be crazy
To stop all my singing
And never play music again

You’d call me a fool
If I grabbed up a top hat
And ran out to flag down the wind

And I’d have to be weird
To grow me a beard
Just to see what the rednecks would do

But I’d have to be crazy
Plumb out of my mind
To fall out of love with you

Now I know I’ve done weird things
Told people I heared things
When silence was all that abounds

Been days when it pleased me
To be on my knees
Following ants as they crawled across the ground

I’ve been insane on a train
But I’m still me again
The place where I hold you is true

So I know I’m alright
‘Cause I’d have to be crazy
To fall out of love with you

And I may not be normal
But nobody is
So I’d like to say ‘fore I’m through

I’d have to be crazy
Plumb out of my mind
To fall out of love with you

– Willie Nelson, I’d Have to Be Crazy

Well the honky tonks in Texas were my natural second home
Where you tip your hats to the ladies and the Rose of San Antone
I grew up on music that we called Western Swing
It don’t matter who’s in Austin, Bob Wills is still the king

Lord I can still remember the way things were back then
In spite of all the hard times, I’d live it all again
To hear the Texas Playboys and Tommy Duncan sing
Makes me proud to be from Texas where Bob Wills is still the king

You can hear the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, Tennessee
It’s the home of country music, on that we all agree
But when you cross that ol’ Red River, hoss,
that just don’t mean a thing
‘Cause once you’re down in Texas, Bob Wills is still the king

Well if you ain’t never been there, then I guess you ain’t been told
That you just can’t live in Texas unless you’ve got a lot of soul
It’s the home of Willie Nelson and the home of Western Swing
He’ll be the first to tell you Bob Wills is still the king

– Waylon Jennings, Bob Wills is Still the King

I guess as a lover I have a ways to go
When someone wants you, they should just say it’s so
But you’ll understand if you take my hand
Then we can dance real slow to something on the radio

Listen to the radio, oh, listen to the radio
Let’s spend the night together, baby don’t go
They sing it on the radio

I try to find a way to explain to you
What’s  on my mind and not sound so plain to you
But you’ll realize if you close your eyes
The feelings my words can’t show
They’re playing on the radio

The words I say don’t seem to sound as real
The songs they play, that’s how I really feel
So, listen to the radio, oh, listen to the radio
Let’s spend the night together, baby don’t go
They sing it on the radio

– Don Williams, Listen to the Radio

People smile and tell me I’m the lucky one
And we’ve just begun, I think I’m gonna have a son
He will be like you and me, as free as a dove
Conceived in love, the sun is gonna shine above

And even though we ain’t got money
I’m so in love with you, honey
Everything will bring a chain of love
And in the morning when I rise
Bring a tear of joy to my eyes
And tell me everything is gonna be alright

Love a guy who holds the world in a paper cup
Drink it up; love him and he’ll bring you luck
And if you find he helps your mind
Better take him home
Yeah, and don’t ya live alone
Try to earn what lovers own

And even though we ain’t got money
I’m so in love with you, honey
Everything will bring a chain of love
And in the morning when I rise
Bring a tear of joy to my eyes
And tell me everything is gonna be alright

– Anne Murray, Danny’s Song

I grew up a-dreamin’ of being a cowboy
And loving the cowboy ways.
Pursuin’ the life of my high-ridin’ heroes,
I burned up my childhood days.

I learned all the rules of a modern day drifter
Don’t you hold on to nothing too long.
Just take what you can from the ladies and leave them
With the words of a sad country song.

My heroes have always been cowboys
And they still are, it seems
Sadly in search of, and one step in back of,
Themselves and their slow movin’ dreams

Cowboys are special with their own brand of misery
From being alone too long.
You could die from the cold in the arms of a nightman
Knowin’ well your best days are gone.

Pickin’ up hookers, instead of my pen
I let the words of my years fade away.
Old worn out saddles and old worn out memories
With no one and no place to stay.

My heroes have always been cowboys
And they still are, it seems.
Sadly in search of, and one step in back of,
Themselves and their slow movin’ dreams.

– Willie Nelson, My Heroes Have Always Been Cowboys

Busted flat in Baton Rouge, waitin’ for a train
And I’s feeling near as faded as my jeans
Bobby thumbed a diesel down just before it rained
It rode us all the way to New Orleans.

I pulled my harpoon out of my dirty red bandana
I was playing soft while Bobby sang the blues.
Windshield wipers slapping time,
I was holding Bobby’s hand in mine.
We sang every song that driver knew.

Freedom’s just another word for nothin’ left to lose
Nothing don’t mean nothin’ if it ain’t free.
Feelin’ good was easy, Lord, when he sang the blues.
Feelin’ good was good enough for me
Good enough for me and my Bobby McGee.

From the Kentucky coal mines to the California sun,
Bobby shared the secrets of my soul.
Through all kinds of weather, through everything we done
And every night he kept me from the cold.

One day up near Salinas, Lord, I let him slip away
He’s looking for that home and I hope he finds it
But I’d trade all my tomorrows for a single yesterday
To be holding Bobby’s body next to mine.

Freedom’s just another word for nothing left to lose
Nothing don’t mean nothing if it ain’t free.
Feelin’ good was easy, Lord, when he sang the blues.
Feelin’ good was good enough for me
Good enough for me and my Bobby McGee.

– Kris Kristofferson, Me and Bobby McGee

There is a young cowboy, he lives on the range
His horse and his cattle are his only companions
He works in the saddle and he sleeps in the canyons
Waiting for summer his pastures to change

And as the moon rises, he sits by the fire
Thinking about women and glasses of beer
And closing his eyes as the dogies retire
He sings out a song which is soft but it’s clear
As if maybe someone could hear

Goodnight you moonlight ladies
Rockabye sweet baby James
Deep greens and blues are the colors I choose
Won’t you help me go down in my dreams
And rockabye sweet baby James

Now the first of December was covered with snow
And so was the turnpike from Stockbridge to Boston
Lord, the Berkshires seemed dreamlike on account of that frostin’
With ten miles behind me and ten thousand more to go

There’s a song that they sing when they take to the highway
A song that they sing when they take to the sea
A song that they sing of their home in the sky
Maybe you can believe it if it helps you to sleep
But singing works just fine for me.

So, goodnight you moonlight ladies
Rockabye sweet baby James
Deep greens and blues are the colors I choose
Won’t you help me go down in my dreams
And rockabye sweet baby James

– James Taylor, Sweet Baby James

Well it’s been rough and rocky travelin’
But I’m finally standin’ upright on the ground
And after taking several readings
I’m surprised to find my mind’s still fairly sound

I guess Nashville was the roughest
But I know I’ve said the same about them all
We received our education
In the cities of the nation, Me and Paul

Almost busted in Laredo
But for reasons that I’d rather not disclose
But if you’re staying in a motel there and leave
Don’t leave nothin’ in your clothes

And at the airport in Milwaukee
They refused to let us board the plane at all
They said we looked suspicious
But I believe they like to pick on me and Paul

On a package show in Buffalo
With us and Kitty Wells and Charlie Pride
The show was long and we’re just sitting there
And we’d come to play and not just for the ride

Well, we drank a lot of whiskey
So I don’t know if we went on that night at all
But I don’t think they even missed us
I guess Buffalo ain’t geared for me and Paul

Well, it’s been rough and rocky travelin’
But I’m finally standin’ upright on the ground
And after taking several readings
I’m surprised to find my mind’s still fairly sound

I guess Nashville was the roughest
But I know I’ve said the same about them all
We received our education
In the cities of the nation, Me and Paul

– Willie Nelson, Me and Paul

I said I want to touch the earth
I want to break it in my  hands
I want to grow something wild and unruly

I want to sleep on the hard ground
In the comfort of your arms
On a pillow of bluebonnets
In a blanket made of stars
Oh, it sounds good to me

Cowboy, take me away
Fly this girl as high as you can into the wild blue
Set me free, oh, I pray
Closer to  heaven above and closer to you

I want to walk and not run
I want to skip and not fall
I want to look at the horizon
And not see a building standing tall

I want to be the only one
For miles and miles
Except for maybe you
And your simple smile
Oh, it sounds good to me
Yeah, it sounds so good to me

I said I want to touch the earth
I want to break it in my hands
I want to grow something wild and unruly
Oh it sounds so good to me

Cowboy, take me away
Fly this girl as high as you can
Into the wild blue
Set me free, oh, I pray
Closer to heaven above
And closer to you
Closer to you

– The Dixie Chicks, Cowboy Take Me Away

I hear the train a-comin’
It’s rollin’ round the bend
And I ain’t seen the sun shine
Since I don’t know when

I’m stuck in Folsom prison
And time keeps draggin’ on
But that train keeps a-rollin’
On down to San Antone

When I was just a baby
My mama told me, Son
Always be a good boy
Don’t ever play with guns

But I shot a man in Reno
Just to watch him die
When I hear that whistle blowin’
I hang my head and cry

I bet there’s rich folks eatin’
In a fancy dining car
They’re probably drinkin’ coffee
And smokin’ big cigars

But I know I had it comin’
I know I can’t be free
But those people keep a-movin’
And that’s what tortures me

Well, if they freed me from this prison
If that railroad train was mine
I bet I’d move it on
A little farther down the line

Far from Folsom prison
That’s where I want to stay
And I’d let that lonesome whistle
Blow my blues away

– Johnny Cash, Folsom Prison Blues

He said the way
My blue eyes shined
Put those Georgia stars
To shame that night
I said, that’s a lie.

Just a boy in a Chevy truck
That had a tendency of gettin’ stuck
On backroads at night

And I was right there beside him
All summer long
And then the time we woke up
To find that summer gone

But when you think Tim McGraw
I hope you think my favorite song
The one we danced to all night long
The moon like a spotlight on the lake

When you think happiness
I hope you think that little black dress
Think of my head on your chest
And my old faded blue jeans
When you think Tim McGraw
I hope you think of me

September saw a month of tears
And thankin’ God that you weren’t here
To see me like that

But in a box beneath my bed
Was a letter that you never read
From three summers back

It’s hard not find it all
A little bittersweet
And lookin’ back on all of that
It’s nice to believe

When you think Tim McGraw
I hope you think my favorite song
The one we danced to all night long
The moon like a spotlight on the lake

When you think happiness
I hope you think that little black dress
Think of my head on your chest
And my old faded blue jeans.
When you think Tim McGraw
I hope you think of me

And I’m back for the first time since then
I’m standin’ on your street
And there’s a letter
Left on your doorstep
And the first thing that you’ll read

Is, when you think Tim McGraw
I hope you think my favorite song
Someday you’ll turn your radio on
I hope it takes you back to that place

When you think happiness
I hope you think that little black dress
Think of my head on your chest
And my old faded blue jeans
When you think Tim McGraw
hope you think of me
Oh, think of me

– Taylor Swift, Tim McGraw