LYRICS

Space Cowboy’s Got the Blues

I stand by the highway and watch the passing cars

I wonder where they’re going and I wonder how far

Some heading north, some heading south

Either way they’re moving out...

From my back yard I can hear them big rigs whine
Diesel trucks on 89
I hear an old coyote howlin’ at the moon
Space cowboy’s got the blues

I stare at the skies, watching out for UFOs
Starry nights, and it’s cold down here below
Winter’s bone crackles like an avalanche
Radio static, and I’m back here on the ranch

Shooting stars and satellites
Saturn’s rings and comet ice
Time’s a flat circle, my time is due
Waiting gives space cowboys the blues

I’ve seen things you wouldn’t believe
Marfa, Mars and Mercury

Instagram likes bounced off satellites
Old photographs of dying light,
All these moments lost in time like teardrops in the rain,
not even memories remain

I see the blue in the water of the rivers and streams
And I’m back in the saddle of a fever dream
I look down at the people and their interstates
I’m landlocked here light years away

When that cosmic wind starts whipping across the astral plains
ET can’t phone home from the range
Like an old coyote howlin’ at the moon
This space cowboys get the blues

Who’s Gonna Fill These Boots

My old man sang me cowboy lullabies.

About the towns of West Texas and ghost riders in the sky

He taught me how to wind a Telecaster string up right

He casts a long shadow every night

Mamma cried and clutched her rosary beads

Tried to pray the highway out of me

At 16 years old I played my first shows on the road

Brought home a blue rose of Texas where the tattoo tore a hole

Sometimes I wonder. Who’s gonna fill these boots?

Walk a country mile in ‘em, and be the living proof?

Who’s gonna fill these boots?

All these years I’ve rambled, round this world, trying to shake my reputation as daddy’s little girl

Whiskey stained glasses and angels clipped of wings. Tarnished halos, golden rings

Sometimes I wonder. Who’s gonna fill these boots?

Walk a country mile in ‘em, and be the living proof?

Who’s gonna fill these boots?

I’ve been down so many roads, others chose for me. And left me lying in the ditch.

Played roles that didn’t suit me, tried on clothes that didn’t fit

But this skin that I’ve been living in, I’m finally happy in it

The highway feels alive after last night’s set. Ears pounding, body aching, soaked in cooling sweat.

The ember from my cigarette drifts off in the breeze. I am where I’m meant to be.

Sometimes I wonder. Who’s gonna fill these boots?

Walk a country mile in ‘em, and be the living proof?

Who’s gonna fill these boots?

Roger Miller Time

I hate admitting, I like listening, to George Jones alone

But the wear and tear in them records is starting to show and she knows

I can play the possum every day and she don't really mind

But she gets concerned when it's Roger Miller time

She knows there must be something wrong

If I'm up singing Dang Me all night long

And Chug a Lug at the break of dawn

My baby hates when I play Roger Miller songs

My liver's licked, my kidneys are stoned I've got breaded fingers and battered bones

I like my brisket smoked and my chicken fried.

My uncle used to love me but she died…. And I like Roger Miller Time

Some nights I feel fit to be tied. I start playing King of the Road and Engine Number 9

Sometimes I can't remember the words that rhyme.

All bets are off when it's Roger Miller

The first word in lonesome is one, My pappy was a pistol I'm a son of a gun

You can't roller skate in a buffalo herd,

but you can Do Whacka-do Whacka-do and baby I love you

When he starts singing about Husbands and Wives. It always brings a tear to my eye

I remember that the grass aint really greener on the other side

I never loved you better than Roger Miller time

King’s Highway

I woke last night from a fever dream, sweat was pouring down in streams

I couldn’t rest, I couldn’t sleep ‘til dawn

My mother’s house was burning down, ashes scattered all around

I heard your voice then your voice was gone

When that axe comes down, your heart will be the only sound

Beating in my ears as I pass on

There’s no place in Heaven or Hell, for lovers like ourselves,

Darling I can feel it’s coming soon

It’s a cold wind that blows on a bitter man, hardens his heart like his calloused hands. It steals the life out of every breath he takes

I don’t care what other people say, I’m gonna love you just any old way

And I’ll take that walk down the King’s Highway

And when the Armageddon comes, you and I will be the only ones,

Walking through these streets when the Kingdom comes,

There’s no place in Heaven or Hell, for lovers like ourselves,

Darling I can feel it’s coming soon

And we’ll walk through these streets of fire, fueled by wild desire,

And burning love in this ghost town of a world

In these end of times, we’ll be all that’s left behind

You wrapped your legs around me, and the Rapture’s here

Fix This Broken Heart

“There’s some kinds of damage a man can’t walk away from...” my friend Steve said the to me, shortly before he passed away. True story

We always called him Saab Steve, cause he fixed up old cars, in between sad stories and trips to the bar. And if we didn’t have the cash he’d say “don’t worry. Pay me later.” True story

“I‘ve worked on some real fixer uppers. Motors are rough but humans are tougher. I can fix a muffler or a cracked oil pan.
Bad engine parts, I understand.”

They say a broken clock’s right twice a day
You can get the hands back turning, but the moment’s slipped away
By the time you hear the thunder, lighting’s torn the sky apart
Time can mend so many things, but it can’t fix this broken heart

Some night when it’s all too much to take
I get my motor running, and I head down to the lake
I drive around in circles draining my gas tank
But as long as them wheels are rolling I feel safe

“Babe you picked a winning horse in me..
I promised that so many times, I almost believed
But I didn’t show or place, I barely showed up for the race
Now I’m stuck here spinning wheels eternally

That railroad truss where we scrawled our names that day
Had turned to rust and the pant faded away
Creosote and smoke mingled in the air
It was only for a moment... you were there

Paris, Texas

We’ve seen Amarillo in the morning ain’t that right?

And Dallas from a DC9 at night

Lubbock in the rearview and we’ve seen the Marfa lights,

But the prettiest thing I ever did see was my hometown coming in sight

Do you remember the Alamo? Those walls weren’t all the tall

And the Mona Lisa too? She was awful small

Them stars at night are paradise, skyscrapers can’t compare

And we’ll always have Paris, Texas, and the redneck Riviera

We’ve been to Georgia on a fast train

We’ve felt the West Texas rain.

Sipped Champaign on the Champs-Elysees and Patron in San Antone

Call it love but the craziest buzz I ever caught was grown at home

We’ve been exiled on Main St, in the south of France in spring

Crossed the channel listening to London Calling

Buck Owens and the Beatles, both say “act naturally”

Loving you babe, has always been, the most natural thing to me

Do you remember the Alamo? Those walls weren’t all the tall

And the Mona Lisa too? She was awful small

Them stars at night are paradise, skyscrapers can’t compare

And we’ll always have Paris, Texas, and the redneck Riviera

Yes we’ll always have Paris, Texas, and the redneck Rivera

One to Remember, Two to Forget

I woke up on Tuesday, couldn't find my feet

Staggered on to Wednesday, couldn't find the toilet seat

I pissed all over Thursday, spent Friday night 'neath the starry light

I found my way to Sunday, it began the same again

I'm drinking one to remember, two to forget

Three to imagine, that you never left

Four for the heartache, a fifth for the shame

Six might kill the bottle but, it won't kill the pain...

Objects in the mirror are closer than they appear,

every time I look up, I see you standing near.

I've got two questions for you, one's why'd you leave my dear?

the other's where'd I leave.... My ber

I woke up this morning, I went back to bed.

Woke up this afternoon, my eyes were steaming red

Went to bed at midnight with two things on my mind

One was you my sweet thing, the other was a bottle of wine

I'm drinking one to remember, two to forget

Three to imagine, that you never left

Four for the heartache, a fifth for the shame

Six might kill the bottle but, it won't kill the pain...

It won’t kill the pain

Drink You Off My Mind

Shadows lengthen, as it darkens. In the cooling afternoon

You’re standing in your old apartment, smiling like you do. Just like you used to

And I still can’t find a way, to drink you off my mind

After all this time. But honey I’m trying.

Honey I’m trying

Headlights cut out into the darkness, Lucinda’s on the radio

She says that she can’t, that she can’t let go. And the memories take hold

Is it future, or is it past? Is this feeling really here to last?

Same old blanket, same old bed. Same old pillow, beneath my head.

Nothing’s changed much here darling, since you went away. Minutes turn into hours, hours turn into days

And I still can’t find a way, to drink you off my mind

After all this time. But honey I’m trying.

Honey I’m trying

You Shouldn't Have Trusted Me

I tried real hard to be, the man you saw in me. I tried real hard, I tried to make them see

that I was better than they said I was, what we found was real love,

I guess we showed them all, that's what time does.... You shouldn't have trusted me.

Farther than you could throw, but Darling you need to know, I only lied to you because the truth would hurt you so.

I promised you I would stay, that I would not walk away, but we both knew I'd be leaving you one day.

What felt right on a Saturday night, in the morning cuts like a knife. The truth hurts worse than I ever thought it might.

So I bundle up my pain, and walk out into the rain, another Sunday morning soaked in shame.

I let you down. I let you down. I let you down. Baby you let me.

The heart wants what it wants, even when you wish it won't. A man can try real hard, but he can't feel a way he don’t. And a man can only stay so strong, hold on for so long, when he's clinging to what's already gone.

You shouldn’t have trusted me…

Ethan Alien

Betty and Barney Hill went out driving one nigh looking for a thrill

When down from the sky swept a big ol’ Ufo

Though they found it all quite stunning, truth is it’s been a long time coming

Aliens have been round here for years, or so the story goes

Ethan Allen was an alien

Him and all the other little green mountain men

Created a state of being for outlaws just like them

Ethan Allen was an alien

And if you want to believe

We’ve got cider, skis and did I mention weed?

The finest cheese this side of the moon

Hops for days and IPAs. Best in the Milky Way

And UFO beers brewed by Harpoon

Ethan Allen was an alien...

You can’t take the green out of these mountains,

or the ET out of Ethan Allen

Can’t take Champy out of the Vermontster lake

It was immigrants from outer space

Helped to make this country great

Let me tell you ‘bout some other ETs in my home state

Ben and Jerry, Snowflake Bentley... Ethan alien

Neko Case and a Band Called Death

Randy Quaid, Luis Guzman. Fred Tuttle he’s an Ethan Alien,

The Dos Equis beer guy.. He’s the most interesting man in this world. but in the entire universe he only ranks 27. Still pretty good

Chester Arthur and Calvin Coolidge not so much, but

Bernie Sanders, he’s a hardcore Ethan alien

Rose’s are red and time’s a flat circle

Sugar is sweet and so’s Vermont maple syruple

So be good to each other and treat strangers like friends

In the parts of the galaxy where we come from

Visitors are always welcome

And from outer space, y’all are all aliens

Ethan Allen was an alien….

I Need You

I need you like a dog needs a collar. A down and out drunk needs a dollar
Baby, I... I need you
I need you like a biscuit needs gravy. Janis needs her Mercedes
Baby, I... I need you

I need you that’s the gods honest truth. I couldn’t make it out there on the loose
In the wild, I would not survive
Truth is I’d be a goner. That’s a fact, scout’s honor
Baby I... I need you

I need you like whiskey needs a chaser, Rolling tobacco needs a paper
Baby, I... I need you
I need you like a Mustang needs breaking. A throttle needs a governor, a dish needs chafing... Baby I need you

And if the devils at our door

Tell him this, and nothing more

I am yours, I am yours, I am yours

I need you like a B3 needs a Leslie. Princess Buttercup and her Westley
Johnny needs June, and Baby I need you
I need you like a steer needs lasso. Marty Robbins, Felina and the town of El Paso
You’re the one. Baby, I need you

Automated Trucker Blues

White knuckles on a steering wheel.

Jonesing for a honky tonk number or at least something real

An itchy trigger finger punching that FM dial.

Looks like another corporate country mile.

When you aint got nothing, you aint got nothing better to do

Than sing along to these automated trucker blues.

In a cubicle in Nashville half past noon, there’s a computer cranking out brand new Luke Bryan tunes

An algorithm of trucks, cutoff jeans and bikini tops. Reboot the system, a new single drops

18 wheels rolling down a lost highway. I got 16 tons of weight that I can’t shake

And the tell me that a robot’s gonna take my job away. John Henry knows, machine’s don’t get paid

When you aint got nothing, you aint got nothing better to do

Than sing along to these automated trucker blues.

Ashes to Ashes

Twenty six years in a dead end town,

every time I left she turned me around

She picked me up and then she beat me down,

when I got lost I wound up found

There’s a boom before there’s a bust, I was a copper penny before I turned to rust

Riding high and then I washed up. Ashes to ashes, dust to dust

There’s gone for good and then there’s here to stay,

and there’s those in between little shades of gray

Some folks come home for the holidays,

but there’s some of us that never went away

Thought we’d outrun all our reservations,

when we filled up down at the corner station

We took a right and then we took a left.

Through the cooling twilight we drove on towards death

There’s a boom before there’s a bust, I was a copper penny before I turned to rust

Riding high and then I washed up. Ashes to ashes, dust to dust

What Would Waylon Jennings Do?

Detained in Dallas, midway through an LA turnaround

Some off-duty cops got fresh and I wound up with the man downtown

As I pondered for a moment just what to expect from the boys in blue

I asked myself, just what would Waylon Jennings do?

I’ve always been crazy and crazy it comes with some risks

My doctors and lawyers tell me I ain’t living long like this

But I’d walk through hell on a Sunday, just because you asked me to

After all Little Darling, that’s what Waylon Jennings would do

Getting back to the basics with Willie, Waylon and the Boys

If Hank Williams were alive today, you know that he would be unemployed

Today’s country singers they worship their heroes the say

But can you tell me with a straight face, that ‘ol Waylon would’ve don it this way.. no you cant

Now paycheck is passed out at the foot of George Jones’ bed

Across Joshua Tree desert, half of Gram Parsons’ ashes are spread

In Mesa Arizon, Jessi laid ol’ Waylon in his grave

For the first time in their lifetime, she sang He Stopped Loving Her Today

I’ve always been crazy, but I went crazy on the day that I met you

When hearts like ours meet we’re bound like Johnny and June

Wild desire formed a burning ring of fire round us two

I’ll love you ‘till the world stops turning.

That’s what Waylon Jennings would do

Stranded at the Rodeo

I came to in Nashville at the Whiskeybent Saloon

Where swing dancers swirled to a Roger Miller tune

We hollered at the band for more Merle Haggard songs

Threw dollar bills at them until they finally played along

We sang Tonight the Bottle Let Me Down

We found the last pedal steel player in a guitar town

Gram Parsons died so country music could be free

His ashes scattered reckless from Cheyenne to Tennessee

My cosmic American sweetheart left me stranded at the rodeo

With all these clowns and one trick ponies on bro country radio

We drank Lonestar beers and we poured one out by his astroturf graveside

We paid good money just to see the car he died inside

And the song that started playing as we stared at that Cadillac

Was a tune that had hit number one on the week he passed

It went, no matter how you struggle and strive

You’ll never get out of this world alive

We drove 3,000 miles, in a Dodge caravan. Playing for the uncaring, just to stay at the Joshua Tree Inn

When you go who knows pray and wait, someday they might be to stay in your room 8

Gram Parsons died so country music could be free

His ashes scattered reckless from Cheyenne to Tennessee

My cosmic American sweetheart left me stranded at the rodeo

With all these clowns and one trick ponies on bro country radio

Hank Williams’ Cadillac

Monday mornings, really aren’t that bad

And Tuesday’s labor, isn’t gonna break my back

I can make it through the work days, punching in and punching out,

But I get a little bit restless every year when the birds fly south

When the stars come out

When a cloud, goes across the moon

When the radio is playing, a high and lonesome tune

I get restless, reckless and blue

I was traveling when I met you babe, but since I’ve settled down

The promises I made back then, I’m keeping now

I wouldn’t trade this home together for all the treasure in this town

But I still get restless when the dead leaves hit the ground

So I’m up late wondering, what it felt like there in the back

Of old Hank Williams’ Cadillac

I breathe in deeply, and I strike a match.

I feel it for a moment, then the moments past

When the stars come out

When a cloud, goes across the moon

When the radio is playing, a high and lonesome tune

I get restless, reckless and blue