GUY CLARK
BETTER DAYS
(Warner Bros 23880) '83
Produced by Rodney Crowell
Reggie Young, Gary Nicholson - guitar
Hank DeVito - steel
Emory Gordy - bass
Larry Londin - drums
Tony Brown - keyboards
Johnny Gimble - fiddle
Rodney Crowell, Vince Gill, Paul Kennerley - vocals
1.
BLOWIN' LIKE A BANDIT
(Guy Clark)
« © '83 April Music, ASCAP / GSC Music, ASCAP »
Lawdy mercy land of goshen shades of gray out on the ocean
Don't you dare take that boat out to sea
For the high seas are runnin' you will sure enough be done in
If you dare take that boat out to sea
Cause out there in the gulf the wind is blowin' like a bandit
And I'm talkin' bout a hurricane and your riggin' will not stand it
There's an ill wind a blowin' you better get back to your moorin'
Don't you dare take that boat out to sea
You better take a weather warnin' you'll be shark bait in the mornin'
If you dare take that boat out to sea
[ guitar - fiddle ]
You better give up on that shrimpin' you just might come home a limpin'
If you dare take that boat out to sea
You better not make one more drag you're gonna wind up in a bag
If you dare take that boat out to sea
Cause out there in the gulf the wind is blowin' like a bandit
And I'm talkin' bout a hurricane and your riggin' will not stand it
Lawdy mercy land of goshen shades of gray out on the ocean
Don't you dare take that boat out to sea
For the high seas are runnin' you will sure enough be done in
If you dare take that boat out to sea
**********
2.
BETTER DAYS
(Guy Clark)
« © '83 April Music, ASCAP / GSC Music, ASCAP »
Standing at the window her face to the glass
As far as she can see the time has come to pass
As far as she can see oh the sky is all ablaze
And this looks like the first of better days
She's taking charge of her life for a change
She's takin' it back that she's lost
It's just as clear as the window pane she'll survive at all cost
[ guitar - fiddle ]
Now see the wings unfolding that weren't there just before
On a ray of sunshine she dances out the door
Out into the morning light where the sky is all ablaze
This looks like the first of better days
She's taking charge...
It's just as clear as the window pane she'll survive at all cost
**********
3.
HOMEGROWN TOMATOES
(Guy Clark)
« © '83 April Music, ASCAP / GSC Music, ASCAP »
Ain't nothin' in the world that I like better
Than bacon and lettuce and homegrown tomatoes
Up in the mornin' out in the garden get you a ripe and don't get a hard one
Plant 'em in the spring eat 'em in the summer
All winter without them's a culinary bummer
I forget all about the sweatin' and diggin' everytime I go out and pick me a big one
Homegrown tomatoes homegrown tomatoes
What'd life be without homegrown tomatoes
Only two things money can't buy that's true love and homegrown tomatoes
[ fiddle ]
I've been out to eat and that's for sure
But it's nothin' a homegrown tomato won't cure
Put 'em in a salad put 'em in a stew you can make your very own tomato juice
Eat 'em with eggs eat 'em with gravy eat 'em with beans pinto or navy
Put 'em on the side put 'em in the middle
Put a homegrown tomato on a hotcake griddle
Homegrown tomatoes...
[ fiddle ]
If I's to change this life that I lead I'd be Johnny tomato seed
Cause I know what this country needs homegwrown tomatoes in every yard you see
When I die don't bury me in a box in a cemetery
Out in the garden would be much better I could be pushin' up homegrown tomatoes
Homegrown tomatoes...
Homegrown tomatoes...
**********
4.
SUPPLY AND DEMAND
(Guy Clark)
« © '83 April Music, ASCAP / GSC Music, ASCAP »
What is that sound what is that noise
I cannot figure it out for the life of me boys
Is it the coast guard or is it the wind
Is it the mother ship comin' again
Convicted on charges of supply and demand he was unloadin' the American Dream
Caught in the middle of a bigger plan it was a South American scheme
He is no smuggler he is a fisherman all of his debts they are owed to the sea
Some call it justice but it just ain't right this ain't live and let live and let be
He sing what is that sound...
[ steel ]
Layin' in his cell and thinkin' bout Ulysses
How he picked up his oar and walked away from the sea
Until someone said you ain't from round here are you
And that's how far away he feels
He thinks of his wife and he thinks of his children
Ande thinks about 'em takin' his boat
He thinks about the killer in the bunk below
And he's tryin' to keep his hopes afloat
He sing what is that sound...
Singin' what is that sound...
**********
5.
RANDALL KNIFE
(Guy Clark)
« © '83 April Music, ASCAP / GSC Music, ASCAP »
My father had a Randall knife my mother gave it to him
When he went off to World War Two to save us all from ruin
If you've ever held a Randall knife then you know my father well
If a better blade was ever made it was probably forged in hell
My father was a good man a lawyer by his trade
And only once did I ever see him misuse the blade
It almost cut his thumb off when he took it for a tool
The knife was made for darker things and you could not bend the rules
Well he let me take it camping once on a Boy Scout Jamboree
I broke a half an inch off tryin' to stick it in a tree
Well I hid it from him for a while but the knife and he were one
He put it in his bottom drawer without a hard word one
There it slept and there it stayed for twenty some odd years
Sort of like Excalibur except waiting for a tear
[ guitar ]
My father died when I was forty and I couldn't find a way to cry
Not because I didn't love him not because he didn't try
Well I'd cried for every lesser thing whiskey pain and beauty
But he deserved a better tear and I was not quite ready
So we took his ashed out to sea and poured 'em off the stern
And threw the roses in the wake of everything we'd learned
When we got back to the house oh they asked me what I wanted
Not the lawbooks not the watch I need the things he's haunted
Oh my hand burned for the Randall knife there in the bottom drawer
And I found a tear for my father's life and all that it stood for
**********
6.
CARPENTER
(Guy Clark)
« © '83 April Music, ASCAP / GSC Music, ASCAP »
Let us now praise a carpenter and the things that he made
And the way that he lived by the tools of his trade
I can still hear his hammer singing ten penny time
Working by the hour till the day he died
Oh he was tough as a crowbar quick as a chisel
Fair as a plane and true as a level
He was straight as a chalkline and right as a rule
He was square with the world he took good care of his tools
[ guitar ]
Oh he worked his hands in wood from the crib to the coffin
With a care and a love you don't see too often
He built boats out of wood big boats working in a shipyard
Mansions on the hill and a birdhouse in the backyard
He was tough as a crowbar...
[ steel - guitar ]
He said anything that's worth cuttin' down a tree for
Is worth doin' right don't the Lord love a two by four
Well they asked him how to do some he'd say just like Noah built the ark
You got to hold your mouth right son and never miss your mark
To be tough as a crowbar...
**********
7.
UNCERTAIN TEXAS
(Guy Clark)
« © '83 April Music, ASCAP / GSC Music, ASCAP »
The crickets are singin' the bluegills been bitin'
The fireflies are flashin' with all of their might
Down on the river ol' Reagan went fishin'
He's layin' for a big one on a full moon lit night
We get high on the lake then we float down the river
Get off on the backroads get lost in the woods
Very deep in the heart of uncertain Texas
I tried hard to leave there but never did good
Tomorrow we're havin' the world's largest fish fry
Eat catfish and crappie till they come out our ears
Have it made in the shade of a sleepy pine thicket
Get covered up in chiggers and drink ten tubs of beer
We get high on the lake..
So give him his guitar and a long legged girl
Moonlight in Texas and a sixpack of Pearl
**********
8.
NO DEAL
(Guy Clark)
« © '83 April Music, ASCAP / GSC Music, ASCAP »
**********
9.
TEARS
(Guy Clark)
« © '83 April Music, ASCAP / GSC Music, ASCAP »
Now whoever said the hand is quicker than the eye
Has never tried to brush away a tear
Quicker than a wink there'll be something in your eye
You can't beat a tear if you try
Well tears of joy have graced us all tears of sorrow sometimes fall
Some tears betray you just before you know and some tears don't ever show
Whoever said the hand is quicker...
[ fiddle ]
Now some tears are harder than stone and some tears are better left alone
Well I've seen them kept in bottles and I've seen 'em left to dry
You can't beat a tear if you try
But whoever said the hand is quicker...
Oh you can't beat a tear if you try
**********
10.
FOOL IN THE MIRROR
(Guy Clark)
« © '83 April Music, ASCAP / GSC Music, ASCAP »
Well I wake up every morning Lord and what do I see
I got a fool in my mirror and he's lyin' to me
He says aw man she's comin' back you just hide and watch
That fool in my mirror singin' the same ol' song
But it still don't change the fact that my baby is gone
I got wrinkles round my eyes I got grey in my hair
I'm puttin' on a little bit of weight but I don't seem to care
Fool say hey slick you lookin' good lie lie lie
That fool in my mirror singin' the same old song
But it still don't change the fact that my baby is gone
Now I just figured out what she meant when she sid
And she was not comin' back so why don't I drop dead
Well I can't live with him I can't live without him
I can't believe a word he says but I don't dare doubt him
He says aw man she just went off to get a loaf of bread
Say you losin' a litle bitty weight aren't you
That fool in my mirror singin' the same old song
But it still don't change the fact that my baby is gone
[ guitar ]
Now I just figured out what she meant when she sid
And she was not comin' back so why don't I drop dead
Well I wake up every morning Lord and what do I see
I got a fool in my mirror and he's lyin' to me
He says oh man she's comin' back don't worry
That fool in my mirror singin' the same old song
But it still don't change the fact that my baby is gone
But it still don't change the fact that my baby is gone
**********