Music

1

Texas

There's a place not too far away from here
Out with the cows and the Lone Star beer
Where the livin' and lovin' is quite all right with me
Well they call it Texas and it's a mighty fine place to be

Runs from Texarkana to El Paso
And Oklahoma down to old Mexico
And there's Houston, Dallas, Austin and San Antone
People in Texas sure do make you feel at home

They just want everybody to leave them alone
While they drink their whiskey and roll their own
And they like their music with a little bit of southern sound
They kick up their heels every evening when the sun goes down

And you can call them country and they don't care
And if you don't like the way they wear their hair
You can take your like and shove 'em on up the line
People in Texas don't care if the sun don't shine

2

Willie Jones

Willie Jones was a man I met when I lived in Baltimore
I was a guard and he was doing time
In the three long years he stayed there I got to know him well
Willie Jones he was a friend of mine

He used to say buddy you know where I'm going when they let me out of here
Alabama could be heaven if the Lord was there
And he talked about the southland though he'd drifted from its shores
I never seen a man who loved it more

He talked about the whippoorwills in the Alabama night
Honeysuckle vine and sugar cane
Swimming holes and fishing poles and early morning frost
And sleeping under a tin roof when it rained

He talked about a country road and a cabin in the pines
And a girl with wavy long chestnut brown hair
He talked about the beauty of his Blue Ridge Mountain home
And darn near made me think that I was there

He used to say buddy you know where I'm going when they let me out of here
Alabama could be heaven if the Lord was there
When a man ain't got no freedom the time sure passes slow
Willie Jones had ten long years to go

It's been almost a years now since that hot night in July
Willie hit the guard and jumped the fence
I had my rifle ready but I couldn't let it fly
I shot over his head and we ain't seen him since

Then last week the postman brought a letter to my door
Marked No Return Address and No Reply
It just said nobody north of Birmingham is gonna see this boy again
But if you're ever down our way won't you please drop by

He used to say buddy you know where I'm going when they let me out of here
Alabama could be heaven if the Lord was there
And he talked about the southland though he'd drifted from its shores
I never seen a man who loved it more

3

Franklin Limestone

Franklin Limestone, always been my home
I was born in Nashville, a place I call my own
Where the mountains, and the rivers, and the valleys
We were married, you and me

We were both so happy just being together
Like a possum in the wood
So please forgive me if I forget to tell you
What you mean to me

Hard cold winter took away my mother
Papa got the fever, Lord he said he couldn't leave her
You carried me through bad times, through the worst times
You were my driving wheel

We were both so happy just being together
Like a possum in the wood
So please forgive me if I forget to tell you
What you mean to me

Workin in a coal mine, slaving in the day time
Lookin to the Good Lord for any peace of mind
The feeling if you left me on that hillside
Would break this heart of mine

We were both so happy just being together
Like a possum in the wood
So please forgive me if I forget to tell you
Lord, what you mean to me

4

Evil

I was born way back in the woods & swamp
On the Hickory River shore
In a dirty old one-room pine-log shack
With sawdust on the floor
Was a graveyard out in the back of the house
And a skull up over the door
I been handling snakes since I was three
And I ain't gonna take it no more
Cause I'm evil
Keeps pouring out of me
I said I'm evil
Keeps pouring out of me
All my life I've been evil as I can be

My daddy was a Louisiana mojo man
The devil followed him around
You always know when grass wouldn't grow
Where his foot wouldn't touch the ground
My momma could snap her fingers
And make the fire come tumbling down
I'm the seventh son of the seventh son
You better not mess around
I said I'm evil
Keeps pouring out of me
Evil
Keeps pouring out of me
All my life I've been evil as I can be

5

Everything Is Kinda All Right

Early mornin' sun shines through the bubbles in my bed
The whistle on the westbound leaves a come on in my ear

I think today is Sunday but I'm just to drunk to say
But there ain't no to sweat it hell its just another day

Everything is kinda alright
We gonna make it through the long night
Everything is gonna work out alright
'Long as we keepa movin’ on

Last nights cigarettes are still smokin' in my mind
I need to get myself together but I just can't find the time

I'd like to go to California but you can't get very far
On an empty pack of Zig-Zags and a out of tune guitar

Everything is kinda alright
We gonna make it through the long night
Everything is gonna work out alright
'Long as we keepa movin'

6

Funky Junky

You can mess around if you want to
But there�s some thing a man don�t wanna do
And if you see him comin� walkin� down the street
You better jump back outta his way
Everyone knows the streets get empty
Every time he comes to town
'Cause he�s got somethin� in his left hip pocket
Make a bulldog hug a hound

Funky junky
Funky junky

Lives on Misery Boulevard
About a half o� mile south of the graveyard
In a rundown leaky roof, funky old dirty floor
One room pine log shack
Lives on�muskrat barbeque
And he slieeps�on a�railroad track
He�gotta tiger in his living room
He gotta monkey on his back

Funky�junky
Funky�junky

7

Birmingham Blues

Sittin' here in L.A., looking down at my shoes
Drownin' my troubles on small talk and booze
Sittin' here wonderin' if I could have been born to lose

I think movin' is losin' and now I can see
I let a false hearted woman make a fool outta me
And now all I got left now is a bad case of Birmingham Blues

[Chorus:]
Days are alright
I can't take these, L.A. nights
This place is a jungle when a man's on his own
I wish I could go home

Had me a fine woman down in Birmingham town
Took care of my money and she didn't play around
All I got left now is a bad case of Birmingham Blues

[Chorus]

[Instrumentals]

[Repeat 1st verse]

[Repeat 2nd verse]

8

Damn Good Cowboy

He's the loosest dude I've ever been exposed to
He loves a bottle and a dirty joke
He likes to hang out on the street
And he'd druther fight than eat
And his nose and the women keep him broke

He's been in every jail from here to Juarez
And every funky old backstreeet saloon
He's a victim of his fate
Born a hundred years too late
But sometimes I think
A hundred years too soon

He's a outlaw, He's a bum
He's a rounder and then some
He's as ornery as a redneck fool can be
He ain't ever gonna be no different
He's a damn good cowboy
And I hope to hell he stays in Tennessee

He didn't finish school or go to college
When he turned 16 he just had to go
And while everyone who did
Was building homes and having kids
He was out West ridin' in some rodeo

He got busted up in Cheyenne last September
And he had to get his hat and pack his trunk
And he came on back to town,
He just kinda hangs around
He's the local hero and the local drunk

He's a outlaw, He's a bum
He's a rounder and then some
He's as ornery as a redneck fool can be
He ain't ever gonna be no different
He's a damn good cowboy
And I hope to hell he stays in Tennessee

You may think he's a little crazy
And you may think that where he's at's nowhere
And in your righteous sight,
You just might be right
But he damn sure did have fun gettin' there

He's a outlaw, He's a bum
He's a rounder and then some
He's as ornery as a redneck fool can be
And if you don't like him you won't like me either
He's a damn good cowboy
And I hope to hell he stays in Tennessee

9

Tomorrow's Gonna Be Another Day

Workin' out here on the railroad line
Breaking my back for nickles and dimes
Sweatin' in the hot sun all of the time
Well I wake up and pray that the sun don't shine

Tomorrow morning I swear to my soul
I'm gonna go cut me a hickory pole
And sit right back by the fishin' hole all day

Tomorrow
Tomorrow
Tomorrow's gonna be another day
Tomorrow
Tomorrow
Tomorrow's gonna be another day

So go tell that man that I won't be back
To lay no more of that railroad track
I got little green weeds growing round my shack
I keep my money in a gunny sack

Well I'm never gonna be a millionaire
Just pass me over 'cause I don't care
I'll sit right back in my easy chair all day

Tomorrow
Tomorrow
Tomorrow's gonna be another day
Tomorrow
Tomorrow
Tomorrow's gonna be another day

Nightrider (1975)