HOYT AXTON
A RUSTY OLD HALO
(Jeremiah JH-5000)
July/1979
Produced by Chuck Mellone & Hoyt Axton
James Burton, Stephen Stills, Mike Allsup, Butch Sandford - guitar
Peter Grant - steel
Emory Gordy, Bob Glaub, Miranda Alcott - bass
Michael Botts, John Mauceri - drums
Glen D. Hardin, Donna Roberts - piano
Dr. John - keyboards
Mark Dawson - harmonica/vocals
Dennis Fetchet - fiddle/mandolin
Paul Butterfield - harmonica
Garth Hudson - accordion
David Woodford - sax
Marty Gwinn, Pepper Watkins, Jana Lee Dare, Shelby Flint, Marilyn Scott - vocals
1.
RUSTY OLD HALO
(Bob Merrill)
« © '55 Golden Bell Songs, ASCAP »
I know a man as rich as a king
Still he just won't give his neighbors a thing
He'll go to heaven someday I'll bet
He'll get up to heaven and here's what he'll get
A rusty old halo skinny white cloud second hand wings full of patches
A rusty old halo skinny white cloud robe that's so wooly and it scratches
Some people have them big shiny cars
Swimming pools fur coats and diamonds in jars
Real silver gates real golden doors
They'll get up to heaven and trade them all for
A rusty old halo skinny white cloud...
[ harmonica ]
While you're on earth you should shine like a star
Brighten up the corner wherever you are
Doing each day the best you can do
That way you're saure that they'll never hand you
A rusty old halo skinny white cloud...
A rusty old halo skinny white cloud...
**********
2.
DELLA AND THE DEALER
(Hoyt Axton)
« © '78 Irving Music, BMI »
It was Della and the Dealer and a dog named Jake and a cat named Kalamazoo
Left the city in a pickup truck gonna make some dreams come true
Yeah they rolled out west where the wild sun sets and the coyote bays at the moon
Della and the Dealer and a dog named Jake and a cat named Kalamazoo
If that cat could talk what tales he'd tell
About Della and the Dealer and the dog as well
But the cat was cool and he never said a mumblin' word
Down Tucson way there's a small cafe where they play a little cowboy tune
And the guitar picker was a friend of mine by the name of Randy Boone
Yeah Randy played her a sweet love song and Della got a fire in her eyes
The Dealer had a knife and the dog had a gun and the cat had a shot of Rye
If that cat could talk...
Yeah the Dealer was a killer he was eveil and mean
And he was jealous of the fire in her eyes
He snorted his coke through a century note and swore that Boone would die
And the stage was set when the lights went out there was death in Tucson town
Two shadows ran for the bar backdoor and one stayed on the ground
If that cat could talk...
If that cat could talk...
Two shadows ran from the bar that night and dog and cat ran too
And the tires got hot on the pickup truck as down the road they flew
It was Della and her lover and a dog named Jake and a cat named Kalamazoo
Left Tucson in a pickup truck gonna make some dreams come true
Yeah yeah yeah if that cat could talk...
If that cat could talk...
If that cat could talk...
**********
3.
HOTEL RITZ
(Hoyt Axton)
« © '79 Irving Music, BMI »
It was the Hotel Ritz down in Madrid Spain she fell in love with the Prince of Pain
Head over heels she was lost again and all her daddy's money couldn't save her
She was young and wild she was a rich man's child
She learned to dance and she learned to smile
Head over heels she was lost a while
And all her daddy's money couldn't save her
All her daddy's money couldn't save her
She was out on her own like a bird on the wing
Seventeen years and she didn't know a think about living
She'd been protected from the things that her daddy didn't want her to see
[ guitar - fiddle ]
She was born in a place with a silver spoon she learned to fly but she flew too soon
Head over heels she was off to the moon and all her daddy's money couldn't save her
All her daddy's money couldn't save her
She was out on her own...
It was the Hotel Ritz...
All her daddy's money couldn't save her all her daddy's money couldn't save her
**********
4.
SO HARD TO GIVE IT ALL UP
(Hoyt Axton)
« © '79 Irving Music, BMI »
So hard to give it all up when you have what you want
So hard to realize you've been a fool again
Sometimes when you take what you want you lose what you love
So hard to realize I'm losing you again
Up on the mountain is a motherless son
Sometimes he howls just like a wolf on the run
We're all just children and we're lost in the woods
The woman I love tells me she's misunderstood
And I say so hard to give it all up...
[ fiddle + harmonica ]
She knew she had me by the look in my eyes
She had the power she could sure hypnotize
I had been living in a fanciful dream
My heart was broken worse than you've ever seen
I say so hard to give it all up...
[ harmonica ]
So hard to give it all up...
**********
5.
EVANGELINA
(Hoyt Axton - Kenneth Higginbotham)
« © '76 Irving Music, BMI »
And I dream in the morning she brings me water
And I dream in the evening she brings me wine
Just a poor man's daughter from Puerta Pinasco Evangelina in old Mexico
There's a great hot desert south of Mexicali
If you don't have water boy you'd better not go
Tequila won't get you across that desert to Evangelina in old Mexico
And the fire I feel for the woman I love is drivin' me insane
Knowing she's waiting and I can't get there
God only knows that I wracked my brain to try and find the way
To reach that woman in old Mexico
[ ac.guitar ]
And I met a kind man he guarded the border
He said you don't need papers I'll let you go
I can tell that you love her by the look in your eyes now
She's the rose of the desert in old Mexico
And the fire I feel for the woman..
And I dream in the morning...
My Evangelina I miss you so I miss you so
**********
6.
TORPEDO
(Hoyt Axton)
« © '77 Irving Music, BMI »
She said you're a living legend I said thank you kindly ma'am
She said don't be so mug I don't mean good
I said I beg your pardon I just don't understand
She said that's all right I never thought you would
Oh she was a torpedo she got me in the engine
I never saw the bomb she threw at me
Oh she was a torpedo and when she exploded
I closed my eyes and sank beneath the sea
[ steel ]
She said I'd like to know you better I said honey here I am
She said don't move so fast I'm kind of shy
I said I beg you pardon she said I'm not that kind of girl
She took her beer and hit me in the eye
Oh she was a torpedo and I was her tanker
I knew right then she should be left alone
Oh she was a torpedo and I was her target
I closed my eyes and sank beneath the foam
[ guitar - steel ]
She said she'd never leave me and she'd treat me like a king
I told her that I'd love her all my life
She took me to the cleaners then she drove me up the wall
She borrowed my last dime and called my wife
Oh she was a torpedo and I was a tanker
I never should have met her in that bar
She was a torpedo and when she was loaded
She wrecked my life and then she wrecked my car
Oh she was a torpedo she got me in the engine
I never saw the bomb she threw at me
Oh she was a torpedo and when she exploded
I closed my eyes and sank beneath the sea
**********
7.
VIVA PANCHO VILLA
(Hoyt Axton)
« © '79 Irving Music, BMI »
In an old cantina down in Mexico
A bunch of dreamers drinking and thinking out loud
Panama Red told the Queen of Brazil
Ooh I love you I've loved you since I was a sailor
We'll go down to Rio we'll rob us a bank
And sail off to Paris in splendor hey we'll be some mighty big spenders
Abandoned and alone they were easily prone to get into trouble for money
In honky tonk dreams they rehearse their scenes
And rewrite them all in their favor rewrite them all in their favor
[ ac.guitar ]
Minnie the Mo said to Hokomo Joe ooh I'm bored and I'm broke
And I've run out of whiskey and honey
But Red knows a bank down in Rio that's ripe
Where we can fill our pockets with money
Hey we'll be some mighty big spenders
Abandoned and alone...
[ guitar ]
Madame Kazoo said to St Louis Lou
Ooh tell Panama Red I think that's the last train to Rio
The Topeka kid had a hole in his lid
They say that he once rode with Pancho
When Pancho was a mighty big spender
Viva Villa Viva Pancho Villa Viva Villa Viva Pancho Villa
Viva Villa Viva Pancho Villa Viva Villa Viva Pancho Villa
Viva Villa Viva Pancho Villa Viva Villa Viva Pancho Villa
Viva Villa Viva Pancho Villa Viva Villa Viva Pancho Villa
[ mandolin ]
Wouldn't you know they never did go
Ooh they kept on drinkin' and they never even left the cantina
And El Presidente de la Banque Brazil he never even lost him a penny
Hey he's still a mighty big spender the President's a mighty big spender
Abandoned and alone...
Viva Villa Viva Pancho Villa Viva Villa Viva Pancho Villa...
**********
8.
WILD BULL RIDER
(Hoyt Axton)
« © '78 Irving Music, BMI »
Dixie was a lady and a Rodeo Queen Billy was her lover ah you know what I mean
Billy rode the bulls in the big rodeo Dixie loved her man and she told him so
Dixie loved her man and she told him so
Brought a bad bull to the big rodeo said he killed a man out in New Mexico
Dixie said Billy please don't go don't ride that killer in the rodeo
You're the only man I love and I need you so
Then Billy he looked at Dixie looked her right in the eys
Said I'm a Wild Bull Rider and I love my rodeo
I'd ride that bull to hell and back for the money and the show
My pappy was a pistol I'm a son of a gun I ride wild bulls just to have some fun
And the higher they get a little too low for me
I said the higher they get a little too low for me
Billy rode that killer out of New Mexico
He rode him cross the Rockies through the rain and the snow
Rode across the desert to the shining sea rode across the water out to Hawaii
Rode across the water out to Hawaii
Aloha ha Aloha hey Aloha ha Aloha hey
Billy rode that bull around the world and then
He rode him out to Jupiter and back again
Picked up Dixie away they did fly like a shootin' star sailing through the sky
Like a shootin' star sailing through the sky
And I could hear Billy say
He said I'd rather be a lover than a fighter of wars
Be from Oklahoma than the nebulous stars
Spent a lot of time in some honky tonk bars
From Memphis to the China Sea yeah from Memphis to the China Sea
**********
9.
IN A YOUNG GIRL'S MIND
(Hoyt Axton - Mark Dawson)
« © '74 Irving Music, BMI »
Hand me my guitar there's a song I was singin'
When I was young had a hell of the time
A looking for love in the misty waters
Of the seas that roll in a young girl's mind
Only in shadows and lonly at night
She turns to you softly you turn on the light
You use her and abuse her and you know it ain't right
To treat one who loves you so badly when she's doing the best that she can
You know she's doing the best that she can
Do you believe in dreams oh do you believe in dreamers
Hoping that you'll find what you're looking for
You don't have to worry there's a bright tomorrow
In the dreams that roll in a young girl's mind
Only in shadows and lonly at night...
So hand me my guitar...
Of the seas that roll in a young girl's mind
**********
10.
GOTTA KEEP ROLLIN'
(Mae Boren Axton - John T. Axton)
« © '78 Irving Music, BMI »
I was just a stranger passin' through your town
Somethin' bout you baby made me want
It made me want made me want to settle down
I gotta keep rollin' rollin' rollin' gotta keep rollin'
Gotta keep rollin' night and day day and night
My daddy was a trucker my son's trucker's son
Love that rig I'm drivin' and the high
I said the high Lord the highway that I'm on
I gotta keep rollin'...
I like your kind of lovin' I'd like to hang around
Sun came up this morning and led me from your town
I gotta keep rollin'...
[ steel - fiddle ]
I like that quiet country can't stand the city strife
Guess that I'll keep rolling rolling all my life
I gotta keep rollin'...
My daddy was a trucker...
**********