lp discography - covers & lyrics

1.

HIGHWAY PATROLMAN

(Bruce Springsteen)
« © '83 Bruce Springsteen Music, ASCAP »
My name is Joe Roberts I work for the State
I'm a sargent out in Perenville barracks No 8
I've always done an honest job honest as I could
Got a brother named Frankie Frankie ain't no good

Well ever since we were young kids it's been the same come down
I'd get a call on my short wave Frankie's in trouble downtown
Well if it was any other man I'd put him straight away
But sometimes when it's your brother you look the other way

Yeah me and Frankie laughin' and drinkin'
Nothin' feels better than blood on blood
Takin' turns dancin' with Maria
While the band played The Night Of The Johnstown Flood
I catch him when he's strayin' like any brother should
Man turns his back on his family he ain't no good

Well Frankie went into the army back in 1965
I got a farm deferment settled down took Maria for my wife
But them wheat prices kept on droppin' till it was like we's gettin' robbed
Frankie came home in '68 and me I took this job

Yeah me and Frankie laughin' and drinkin'
Nothin' feels better than blood on blood
Takin' turns dancin' with Maria
While the band played The Night Of The Johnstown Flood
I catch him when he's strayin' teach him how to walk that line
Man turns his back on his family ain't no friend of mine
[ guitar ] The night was like any other I got a call bout a quarter til nine
There was trouble at a roadhouse out on the Michigan line
There was a kid on the floor lookin' bad bleedin' hard from his head
There was a girl cryin' at a table it was Frankie she said

I ran out and I jumped in my car then I hit the lights
I must have done about a hundred and ten through Michigan County that night
It was down by the crossroads out by willow bank
Seen the buick with Ohio plates behind the wheel was Frank

Well I chased him through them county roads
Till the sign said Canadian border five miles from here
Pulled over to the side of the highway watched the taillights disappeared

Yeah me and Frankie laughin' and drinkin'
Nothin' feels better than blood on blood
Takin' turns dancin' with Maria
While the band played The Night Of The Johnstown Flood
I catch him when he's strayin' like any brother should
Man turns his back on his family he ain't no good
**********

2.

THAT'S THE TRUTH

(Paul Kenerley)
« © '83 Irving Music, BMI »
Saw a girl in Tampa I asked her for a date
She said baby I'm a sailor this thing better wait
I said I don't believe you would you show me some proof
She showed me her tattoo then I knew that that's the truth

Met a woman on a highway by the exit sign
You'd bet your last dollar that she was forty-nine
But she swored to me that she was still in her youth
When I turned down the lights I knew that that's the truth

Had a girl on the border I guess she was shy
Never spoke a word in years not even hi
But one night she said honey we're gonna raise the roof
She put on some dancin' shoes then I knew that that's the truth
[ guitar ] I knew a preacher's daughter in fact I knew her well
He said son you better ramble unless you've got somethin' to sell
It's an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth
He pulled out a fourty-four now I know that that's the truth
That's the truth
**********

3.

GOD BLESS ROBERT E. LEE

(Bobby Borchers - Mack Vickery)
« © '83 Tree Publishing, BMI »
When Robert E Lee surrended the Confederacy
Jefferson Davis was upset about it
He said how dare that man resend an order
Form the president of the Confederate States of America
Then somebody told him that General Lee had made the decision himself
In order to save lives because he felt that the battle comin' up
Would cost about 20.000 lives on both sides
And he said 240.000 dead already is enough
So this song is not about the North or the South but about the bloody brother war
Brother against brother father against son the war that nobody won
And for all those lives that were saved I gotta say God bless Robert E Lee

Well the mansion where the General used to live is burnin' down
Cottonfields are blue with Sherman's troups
I overheard a yankee say yesterday Nashville fell
So I'm on my way to join the fight General Lee might need my help

But look away look away Dixie I don't want them to see
What they're doin' to my Dixie God bless Robert E Lee

Sherman's troups burned Atlanta and the flames lit up the sky
And those of us who survived it are watchin' my Dixie die
But today at Appamattox General Lee sat down
And surrended to the yankees and Ulysees S Grant

So look away look away Dixie I don't want them to see
What they're doin' to my Dixie God bless Robert E Lee

I won't ever stop lovin' you my Dixie till they put me in the ground
And the last words they'll probably hear from me are God bless Robert E Lee
**********

4.

NEW CUT ROAD

(Guy Clark)
« © '79 World Song Publishing, ASCAP »
Coleman Bonner was a fiddle playin' fool
He's a backwoods rounder and a breaker of mules
Coleman Bonner's got a wore out bow
He's been playin' all day down the new cut road
[ guitar ] Coleman's little sister said you better act right Coleman
Daddy's gone to Louisville he'll be back tonight
He's gonna get another wagon and a good pair of mules
And we gonna move to Texas we just waitin' on you

Coleman's daddy pulled up in the yard
He said pack up your lives kids it's gettin' too hard
Kentucky's alright but there's too many people
Well just the other day I thought I saw a church steeple

Coleman said daddy don't you worry bout me
I'm gonna stay here in Kentucky till the day I d
I'm gonna drink that sourmash I'md gonna race that mare
And find that woman with the fox red hair

Now y'all been movin' west since the day you got married
Well I'm gettin' off the wagon daddy I'm too old to be carried
Gonna stay here in Kentucky where the bluegrass grow
I'm gonna play it all night down the new cut road
[ fiddle ] Coleman's daddy said now what's it all comn' to
Young people these days they just as stubborn as mules
You can't make him go naw he's too old for that
It's that damned ole fiddle and that bolder hat

Coleman's mama said let the boy stay
Cause he's raised up solid he can find his own way
But as for me honey I'm with you
I always thought Kentucky was just passin' through

Coleman's little sister then she started into a cryin'
And his daddy shook his head for the very last time
Coleman's mama said somebody's gotta do it
Wouldn't be no Kentucky less you didn't stick to it Coleman

Coleman Bonner stood on the porch of that cabin
Watched 'em all go to Texas in a covered wagon
He pulled out his fiddle and he rosined up his bow
And he played a little tune called the new cut road
[ fiddle - guitar ] **********

5.

JOHNNY 99

(Bruce Springsteen)
« © '83 Bruce Springsteen Music, ASCAP »
Well they closed down the auto plant in Mahwah late last month
Ralph went out lookin' for a job but he couldn't find none
He came home too drunk from mixin' Tanqueray and wine
He got a gun shot a night clerk now they call him Johnny 99

Down at the part of town where when you hit red light you don't stop
Johnny's wavin' his gun around and a threatin' to blow his top
When an off duty cop snuck up on him from behind
In front of the club Tip Top they slapped the cuffs on Johnny 99

Well the city supplied the public defender but the judge was mean John Brown
He came into the courtroom and he stared poor Johnny down
Well the evidence is clear gonna let the sentence fit the crime
98 and a year will make an even Johnny 99
[ guitar ] A fist fight broke out in the courtroom they had to drag Johnny's girl away
His mama stood up and shouted judge don't take my boy this way
Well son you got any statements you'd like to make
Before the bailiff comes to forever take you away

Yes judge I got debts no honest man could pay
The bank was holdin' my mortgage they was takin' my house away
Now I ain't sayin' that makes me an innocent man
But it was more than all this that put that gun in my hand

And your honor I do believe I'd be better off dead
If you can take a man's life for the thoughts that are in his head
Then won't you sit back in that chair and think it over one more time
Then let 'em shave off my head and burn Johnny 99
**********

6.

BALLAD OF THE ARK

(Steven Rhymer)
« © '83 Tessa Publishing, BMI »
Well I'll tell you a story about a good man
Who had many a problem before he reached dry land
It ain't easy for a good man to go down
Naw it ain't easy for a good man to go down

On the earth there was trouble sorrow and pain
So the Lord said to Noah I'm gonna make it rain
It ain't easy for a good man to go down
Naw it ain't easy for a good man to go down

Noah gathered his sons and the ark it was raised
Two by two came the animals that they might be saved
It ain't easy for a good man to go down
Naw it ain't easy for a good man to go down
[ guitar ] Well it rained forty days and it rained forty nights
All the earth it was covered the mountains out of sight
It ain't easy for a good man to go down
Naw it ain't easy for a good man to go down

When the waters receded and the earth it was dry
The Lord said to Noah go forth and multiply
It ain't easy for a good man to go down
Naw it ain't easy for a good man to go down

Yes the Lord made a rainbow way up in the sky
He promised no flood would ever murder you and I
It ain't easy for a good man to go down
Naw it ain't easy for a good man to go down
**********

7.

JOSHUA GONE BARBADOS

(Eric VanSmith)
« © '83 Minglewood, ASCAP »
Cane standin' in the field gettin' old and red
Lot of misery in Georgetown three men' layin' dead
Joshua head of the government he said strike for better pay
Cane cutters are strikin' but Joshua gone away
Joshua gone Barbados stayin' in a big hotel
People on St Vincent got many sad tales to tell

The sugar mill owner told the strikers I don't need you to cut my cane
Bring me another bunch of fellas your strike be all in vain
Get a bunch of tough fellas bring 'em from Zion Hill
Bring 'em in a bus to Georgetown know somebody could kill

Sunny Child the overseer I swear he's an ignorant man
Walkin' through the canefields pistol in his hand
Joshua gone Barbados just like he don't know
People on the island got no place to go
[ guitar ] Police givin' protection new fellas cuttin' the cane
Strikers can't do nothin' strike be all in vain
Sunny Child cussed the strikers wave his pistol round
They're beatin' Sunny with the cutless beat him to the ground

There's a lot of misery in Georgetown you can hear all the women bawl
Joshua gone Barbados he don't care at all
Cane standin' in the fields gettin' old and red
Sunny Child in the hospital pistol on his bed
[ guitar ] I wish I could go to England Trinidad or Curacao
People on the island got no place to go
Joshua gone Barbados stayin' in a big hotel
People on St Vincent got many sad tales to tell
**********

8.

GIRL FROM THE CANYON

(Jonathan Edwards)
« © '77 Joina Tune Earthwoods Publishing, ASCAP »
The girl from the canyon smiled a smile that brought me home
As sick and bleeding as I was she took me on her own
Brought me to the canyon where the sun poured down like rain
Her smiling eyes and the mountain light I thought myself insane

These hills have seen me runnin' till my horse could hardly stand
Hidin' by day in the mountains movin' with the moon on the land
I'm hopin' to find my freedom in a world that wants me dead
The girl from the canyon took and healed my wounds instead

The girl from the canyon she don't need to know what I done
She laughed with me in the moonlight till the mornin' brought the sun
The girl from the canyon the girl from the canyon she was the only one
[ guitar ] An outlaw is a hunted one with a price upon his head
We're all outlaws in a way that is what she said
And so I left the canyon when I was strong enough to ride
The girl from the canyon she was riding by my side

The girl from the canyon she don't need to know what I done...
She was the only one
**********

9.

BRAND NEW DANCE

(Paul Kenerley)
« © '83 Irving Music, BMI »
[ with June Carter ] Baby you're tired I can see in your eyes I know how you feel
We've been together too long to conceal
What's in our hearts maybe we should part but after so many years
That would only bring loneliness sorrow and tears and anyway

I never could never would never will ever kill what's between us
So let's try again we'll start a brand new dance between ol' friends

There will always be days when it don't seem to pay when it just doesn't rhyme
Well it's bound to happen some of the time
Our best days ain't gone we don't need to move on well maybe we could try
But I don't think you ould make it and neither could I and anyway
I never could...
[ guitar ] Baby come here love ain't disappeared you're just feelin' low
And let me tell you my darlin' it's a feelin' I know
It don't mean too much we just got out of touch well that's easy to change
Cause lovin' you ain't too hard to arrange and anyway

I never could never would never will ever kill what's between us...
**********

10.

I'M RAGGED BUT I'M RIGHT

[ # 75 country hit ] (George Jones)
« © '56 Fort Knox Music, BMI / Trio Music, BMI »
Well I've come here to tell you folks I'm ragged but I'm right
I'm a tramp and a gambler I stay out late at night
But a porterhouse steak three times a day for my board
That's more than any loafer in this big town can afford

Well I got an electric fan to keep me cool while I sleep
A little baby boy playin' round at my feet
I'm a rambler and a gambler and I've lead a dirty life
Well I tell you folks I'm ragged but I'm right
[ fiddle - guitar - piano ] Well then I got married I knew I'd settle down
And I built a little love nest right here in my hometown
Now I've got a family one that I'm proud of
I know that we'll be happy cause they're the ones I love

Got a big electric fan to keep me cool while I sleep...

I tell you folks I'm ragged but I'm right
[ harmonica ] I'm a rambler and a gambler I've lead a dirty life
Well I tell you folks I'm ragged but I'm right
**********