Bowl another string Have another round on me I bought the last one Even though it was best two out of three
And I don't mind losing once in a while It does no injury I see So just rack the pins and mark it spare Pass another one to me
It's a lonely life, such a lonely life Don't try fooling with what you don't believe It's a quick-draw world full of loathsome lies These are lonesome times So lets forget all that tonight
It's about closing time And they're polishing the lanes Spraying down the shoes The cashier counts the change
Oh, but you and I, old pal Drunk as skunks on Tuesday night We'll just stumble on home It won't be a graceful sight
And the world won't mind It'll turn and turn While our lonely lives Just burn and burn
Devil Don't Want Me Blues
I've got the same chord progression It's an institution, you should know So take your unchecked aggression And hide it down below
Well, my fingers are hurting From the same old blues I've been out there searching In the morning dew
Well, I didn't find nothing' I found something to do It's not called Satanism It's the plagiarism blues
It was Sunday evening Head full of smoke Dozing off a little bit Hope I don't choke
Well, I tried to sell my soul to the devil But he said he was good to go He said "You've got more problems then you'll ever know…" "Even I don't want you in your plaid flannel clothes…" "Go back to your flat-top guitar, go on down the road."
Well, I got me some feet down In my shoes They're tapping out the time To the plagiarism blues
Night Time, East Side
Think I'll sit out in the back yard Watch the bats go flying around I hope they eat all of the mosquitoes In this whole town
Because I'm getting eaten alive That stuff from the corner store didn't work But the wine just goes down easy And temporarily replaces the hurt
It's night time on the east side And I'm staring into darkened woods And I'm hoping I hear rustling leaves Or breaking sticks under the hooves Oh, but the deer just aren't running tonight
And if living was so damn easy You'd get to heaven doing half the work But it's a daunting thing to thee I sing You can't get lower than when you're in the dirt
So don't worry where I'm going I've got the moon to guide me sure It turns the leaves shades of black and grey Like a scene from To Kill A Mockingbird
Maybe Nothing
Tried staring at a plant Just to watch it grow But I fell asleep Tried telling a story From a secret I didn't know It was hard to keep
Oh, the temperature in the attic made Grandpa's fiddle... The hide glue let go, it fell apart Grandma thought it happened when he died, like a miracle If she knew the truth it would break her heart
Because she's the type who sees Jesus in the blackness of her toast What she sees in her coffee, I don't want to know Maybe nothing, maybe some lonely ghost Maybe nothing, is just the way it goes
Tried working a job That tortured my soul But I broke the chains And I ain't got much money, Baby, I've got holes in my clothes But I know how to take the reins
Thirty Days Of Darkness
Just scorn my face Don't let me come around no more I don't deserve this darn disgrace Or blood upon my door
Unchain me now, Lord, show me how I've been washed upon the shore My eyes are black, my blood is thin My tears will run no more
It's been thirty days of darkness My well is nearly dry My stores are looking empty There's vultures in the sky
My robes nearly rags My feet they bleed and crack My children are going hungry And my wife is not coming back
Unchain me now, Lord, show me how I've been washed upon the shore My eyes are black, my blood is thin My tears will run no more
Oh, the dog just lays around And swats the flies in the burning heat And it's like he can sense the sadness As he sniffs the bandages on my feet
This is my one last time To ask you, Lord, oh please won't you step in? If you're really there, Why'd you ever let the darkness come on in?
Old Straight Six
Well you're bending my ear, you're twisting my arm You're taking the long way around the barn Got a pocket knife, got a pocket watch Got no cherry wine or bargain scotch
Got an old straight six It's three on the tree And it's worn and tired And strong like me
I've got five more dollars and three days bread And I'll make it farther than they all said No need to forget me when I go away You'll be reminded of me nearly every day
Got an old straight six, it's three on the tree And it's worn and tired, and strong like me Well I bet all the sand at Hampton Beach That the life you wanted is within reach
Well, these chords have been used In every which way It's not the chords that are used It's the way they're played
A Letter Home
Haven't gotten any new tattoos Still driving that old truck Sure, it's lost a quart or two But it's never left me stuck down in a rut
And it's a long road to go down when you're going it alone It might break your heart, or chill you to the bone Oh, the commonality of hearts breaking on their own Is like the saddest little ray the sun has ever shone
I don't drink too much or sleep too good And the smoke makes mincemeat of my mind But it's a welcome feeling and I knock on wood Thanking dear God that I'm still alive
Sell a guitar just to pay the rent Living on peanut butter toast Spend my days wondering where my nights all went Singing songs that nobody knows
Lost my hat in Johnson City Threw a tie-rod east of there So I cut my hair and headed down the Mississippi On a steam ship straight out of a museum
I enjoyed the mornings most, they were misty and still Except for the sounding of the horns off the reverberating hills I was taller than I felt and more desperate for the road And I couldn't barely wait to get the hell off that boat
Perpetual Road
Got a dollar in my pocket And a rose in my left hand And I'm limping back to you darlin' As a broken man
It's been hard out here without you Just a long perpetual road I kept looking over my shoulder Every place I'd go
But now I'm back for good I swear, there's nothing quite like home So put the coffee on, I've got stories to tell About the time I spent alone
I built a world for us to live in In my mind while I missed you And I laid every brick, sank every nail There was a barn to put our love in I'm not so sure it could hold us It's a bright burning color That's never pale
All this time has felt like nothing Since the first day that we met Using the campfire To light our cigarettes
It's been hard out here without you Just a long perpetual road I kept looking over my shoulder Every place I'd go
So lets go on up to bed There's just one more thing to do Before we slip away and wake up again In a world that feels so new
