Steve Earle Album

(Radio being switched between various stations)

I got a job but it ain't nearly enough
A twenty thousand dollar pickup truck
Belongs to me and the bank and some funny talkin' man from Iran
I left the service and got a G.I. loan
I got married bought myself a home
Now I hang around this one horse town and do the best than I can
Gettin' tough
Just my luck
I was born in the land of plenty now there ain't enough
Gettin' cold
I've been told
Nowadays it just don't pay to be a good ol' boy

Been goin' nowhere down a one-way track
I'd kill to leave it but ain't no turnin' back
Got the wife and the kids and what would everybody say
My brother's standin' on a welfare line
And any minute now I might get mine
Meanwhile it's the I.R.S. and the devil to pay

I hit the beer joints every Friday night
Spend a little money lookin' for a fight
It don't matter if I lose or win
'Cause Monday I'm back on the losin' end again

[No lyrics]

I was born by the railroad tracks
Well the train whistle wailed and I wailed right back
Well papa left mama when I was quite young
He said now "One of these days you're gonna follow me son"
Woh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh
I ain't ever satisfied
Woh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh
I ain't ever satisfied

Now I had me a woman she was my world
But I ran off with my back street girl
Now my back street woman could not be true
She left me standin' on the boulevard thinkin' bout you

I got an empty feeling deep inside
I'm going over to the other side

Last night I dreamed I made it to the promise land
I was standin' at the gate and I had the key in my hand
Saint Peter said "Come on in boy, you're finally home"
I said "No thanks Pete, I'll just be moving along"

There ain't a lot that you can do in this town
You drive down to the lake and then you turn back around
You go to school and you learn to read and write
So you can walk into the county bank and sign away your life
I work at the fillin' station on the interstate
Pumpin' gasoline and countin' out of state plates
They ask me how far into Memphis son, and where's the nearest beer
And they don't even know that there's a town around here

Someday I'm finally gonna let go
'Cause I know there's a better way
And I wanna know what's over that rainbow
I'm gonna get out of here someday

Now my brother went to college cause he played football
I'm still hangin' round cause I'm a little bit small
I got me a 67 Chevy, she's low and sleek and black
Someday I'll put her on that interstate and never look back

I was born in the city
I was born in the city
And I was raised up right around here
Daddy's down in the workhouse
Daddy's down in the workhouse
Daddy's down in the workhouse
Mama say ain't no way he's coming back here
Went to school with some rich kids
Went to school with some rich kids
Went to school with some rich kids
Bussed me half way across town
Call us white trash and no count
Call us white trash and no count
Call us white trash and no count
Say there wasn't no use in me staying round
I'm goin' down to the corner
I'm goin' down to the corner
I'm goin' down to the corner
Don't you wait for me to come in
Nothin' happens till midnight
Nothin' ever happens till midnight
Nothin' happens till midnight
The boys get restless bout then
Sometimes I feel like I'm drowning
Sometimes I feel like I'm drowning
Sometimes I feel like I'm drowning
And I don't know what I'm gonna do
I got a razor in my pocket
I got a razor in my pocket
I got a razor in my pocket and
I got a pistol hid down by the school
Lord get me out of West Nashville
Lord get me out of West Nashville
Lord get me out of West Nashville
Lord get me out of West Nashville

Ladies and gentlemen, attention please
Come in close so everyone can see
I got a tale to tell, a listen don't cost a dime
And if you believe that, we're gonna get along just fine

Now I've been travelin' all around
I heard trouble's come to your town
Well I've got a little somethin' guaranteed to ease your mind
It's call snake oil y'all, it's been around for a long, long time

Say your crops'll burn if it don't rain soon
Ain't seen a drop since the tenth of June
Well I can open up the sky, people have no fear
If you ain't impressed yet, just tell me what you wanna hear

Well you lost your farm, so you moved to town
You get a job, they shut the factory down
Now you sit around all day long feelin' sad and blue
You need snake oil y'all, tell you what I'm gonna do

I can heal the sick, I can mend the lame
And the blind shall see again, it's all the same

Well ain't your President good to you
Knocked 'em dead in Libya, Grenada, too
Now he's taking his show a little further down the line
Well, 'tween me and him people, you're gonna get along just fine

(Steve Earle's version)

Standing on the corner
I didn't mean no harm
When a big policeman
Grabbed me by the arm
Now, it was down in Memphis
On the corner of Beale and Main
He said "Now, hey big boy
I'm gonna have to know your name"

Now, you can find my name
On the tail of my shirt
I'm a Tennessee hustler
And I never have to work
But I'm telling all you rounders
You best leave my women alone
I'll take my .38 Special
And I'll run you rounders home

"I woke up this morning and I took a look around at all that I got
These days I've been lookin' in the mirror and wondering if that's me lookin' back or not
I'm still the apple of my mama's eye
I'm my daddy's worst fears realized
Here of late all this real estate don't seem all that real to me sometimes
I'm back out on that road again
Turn this beast into the wind
There are those that break and bend
I'm the other kind, I'm the other kind

Now my old buddy, what's his name, says, "Man what the hell are you thinkin' 'bout
Fool, you got two of everything, but you hang your head just like you was down and out"
And I'm damn sure not suffering from a lack of love
There's plenty more where that came from
Ah - but leave it up to me to say something wrong and hurt someone before I'm done

You see it used to be I was really free
I didn't need no gasoline to run
Before you could say Jack Kerouac you'd turn your back and I'd be gone
Yeah nowadays I got me two good wheels and I seek refuge in aluminum and steel
Aw, it takes me out there for just a little while
And the years fall away with every mile
"

My name is Billy Austin
I'm Twenty-Nine years old
I was born in Oklahoma
Quarter Cherokee I'm told
Don't remember Oklahoma
Been so long since I left home
Seems like I've always been in prison
Like I've always been alone
Didn't mean to hurt nobody
Never thought I'd cross that line
I held up a filling station
Like I'd done a hundred times
The kid done like I told him
He lay face down on the floor
guess I'll never know what made me
Turn and walk back through that door
The shot rang out like thunder
My ears rang like a bell
No one came runnin'
So I called the cops myself
Took their time to get there
And I guess I could'a run
I knew I should be feeling something
But I never shed tear one
I didn't even make the papers
'Cause I only killed one man
but my trial was over quickly
And then the long hard wait began
Court appointed lawyer
Couldn't look me in the eye
He just stood up and closed his briefcase
When they sentenced me to die
Now my waitin's over
As the final hour drags by
I ain't about to tell you
That I don't deserve to die
But there's twenty-seven men here
Mostly black, brown and poor
Most of em are guilty
Who are you to say for sure?
So when the preacher comes to get me
And they shave off all my hair
Could you take that long walk with me
Knowing hell is waitin' there
Could you pull that switch yourself sir
With a sure and steady hand
Could you still tell youself
That you're better than I am
My name is Billy Austin
I'm twenty-nine years old
I was born in Oklahoma
Quarter Cherokee I'm told

Well my name's John Lee Pettimore

Same as my daddy and his daddy before

You hardly ever saw Grandaddy down here

He only come to town about twice a year

He'd buy a hundred pounds of yeast and some copper line

Everybody knew that he made moonshine

Now the revenue man wanted Grandaddy bad

He headed up the holler with everything he had

It's before my time but I've been told

He never come back from Copperhead Road



Now Daddy ran the whiskey in a big black Dodge

Bought it at an auction at the Mason's Lodge

Johnson County Sheriff painted on the side

Just shot a coat of primer then he looked inside

Well him and my uncle tore the engine down

I still remember that rumblin' sound

Well the sheriff came around in the middle of the night

Heard mama cryin', knew something wasn't right

He was headed down to Knoxville with the weekly load

You could smell the whiskey burnin' down Copperhead Road



I volunteered for the Army on my birthday

They draft the white trash , first round here anyway

I done two tours of duty in Vietnam

And I came home with a brand new plan

I take the seed from Columbia and Mexico

I just plant it up the holler down Copperhead Road

Now the D.E.A.'s got a chopper in the air

I wake up screaming like I'm back over there

I learned a thing or two from ol' Charlie don't you know

You better stay away from Copperhead Road

Copperhead Road

Copperhead Road

Don't you worry bout what you've been told
Cause honey I ain't even close to cold
It's kinda soon to fall in love again
But sometimes the best that you can do is just jump back in
I got me a fearless heart
Strong enough to get you through the scary part
It's been broken many times before
A fearless heart just comes back for more

Folks'll tell you that I'm just no good
But I wouldn't hurt you honey if I could
I can't promise this'll work out right
But it would kill me darlin' if we didn't even try

I admit I fall in love a lot
But I nearly always give it my best shot
I know you must think I'm the reckless kind
But I want a lady with a fearless heart just like mine

Hey pretty baby are you ready for me?
It's your good rockin' daddy down from Tennessee
I'm just out of Austin bound for San Antone
With the radio blastin' and the bird dog on

There's a speed trap up ahead in Selma Town
But no local yokel gonna shut me down
'Cause me and my boys got this rig unwound
And we've come a thousand miles from a Guitar Town

Nothin' ever happened 'round my hometown
And I ain't the kind to just hang around
But I heard someone callin' my name one day
And I followed that voice down the lost highway

Everybody told me you can't get far
On thirty-seven dollars and a jap guitar
Now I'm smokin' into Texas with the hammer down
And a rockin' little combo from the Guitar Town

Hey pretty baby don't you know it ain't my fault
I love to hear the steel belts hummin' on the asphalt
Wake up in the middle of the night in a truck stop
Stumble in the restaurant, wonderin' why I don't stop

Gotta keep rockin' why I still can
I gotta two pack habit and a motel tan
But when my boots hit the boards I'm a brand new man
With my back to the riser I make my stand

And hey pretty baby won't you hold me tight
We're loadin' up and rollin' out of here tonight
One of these days I'm gonna settle down
And take you back with me to the Guitar Town

Ooh pretty baby what you doin' to me
The way your kisses burn right through me
I don't think I can last much longer
I get weaker and my love gets stronger
I don't think that my heart can take it
One little slip of a word might break it
Well believe me baby this ain't no crush
I think maybe I love you too much
Baby, baby, baby, oh baby, ooh baby, baby, I love you too much
Baby, baby, baby, oh baby, ooh baby, baby, I love you too much

I tell myself that it ain't no big thing
Then you give another little tug on that heart string
Well you cut me girl and I'm still bleedin'
Well just touch me baby, that's all I'm needin'
You must think that I'm easy, don't ya
But I got scars that I've never shown ya
Well every inch of me burns for your touch
I think maybe I love you too much

She was walking down the street
Looking fine as she could be, hey, hey
She was walking down the street
She's looking fine as she could be, hey, hey
You know I love you, baby
Oh hear what is say, hey, hey

She walked right up to me
Said, "Hey, big boy, what's your name?"
She walked right up to me
Said, "Hey, big boy, what's your name?" Hey, hey
We had love and conversation
Oh yeah, what I say, hey hey

She's about a mover
She's about a mover
She's about a mover
She's about a mover
Hey, hey

She's about a mover
She's about a mover
You know I love you, baby
Oh yeah, what I say, yeah, hey

Now, she walked right up to me, talkin' about me
She said, "Hey, big boy, what's your name?"
Well, she walked right up to me
Said, "Hey, big boy, what's your name?"
We had love and conversation
Oh yeah, what I say, hey hey

She's about a mover
She's about a mover
She's about a mover
She's about a mover, hey

The old man loaded up everything that he owned
On a wagon and headed out west
The old woman fearlessly faced the unknown
'cause she figured he knew what was best
And they settled down hard on a government grant
With six mouths to feed and forty acres to plant

And the rain came down
Like an angel come down from above
And the rain came down
It'll wash you away and there ain't never enough

Fall turned to winter another year gone
Over and over again
Some took their lives from their land and moved on
And some stayed on to plow it back in
And the good lord he giveth and he taketh away
And the restless shall go and the faithful shall stay

Now my grandaddy died in the room he was born in
Twenty-three summers ago
But I could have sworn he was beside me this morning
When the sheriff showed up at my door
So don't you come around here with your auctioneer man
'cause you can have the machines but you ain't taking my land

[No lyrics]