Back in 1979, during the height of drugstore, er, Urban Cowboy mania, there were some artists who were beginning to be forgotten by the public due to the media's obsession with the glamour of the moment. It's a shame, because a number of country artists — such as George Jones, Merle Haggard, David Allan Coe, Mickey Gilley, Tammy Wynette, Gail Davies, and the man whose name is on this album — were making some of the best records of their careers. Ol T's in Town is a hard country album recorded during a time when country music was beginning to forget where it came from. Pedal steel, honky tonk pianos, fiddles, banjos, and acoustic guitars saturate the upfront production of Roy Dea (he died shortly after finishing the recording). In addition, some of Hall's most memorable songs are here, including "Jesus on the Radio (Daddy on the Phone)," "The Old Side of Town," "I Left You Some Kisses on the Door," and "You Show Me Your Heart (I'll Show You Mine)." Hall is a storyteller, and in a mix this clean and simple the power of his pastoral images comes across with immediacy and majesty. As an album, this acts like a collection of songs laid out in a grid. The opener, "The Last Country Song," is the first in a series of songs that reflect on the innocence of earlier times ("The Old Side of Town," "Old Habits Die Hard") and as warnings against a future of rampant opportunism ("Greed Kills More People Than Whiskey"). Once the societal concerns are out of the way the topic turns to love — newly discovered, mature ("The Different Feeling"), broken, and resolved ("I Left You Some Kisses on the Door"). The entire album is a journey through the tradition of country music as well as through the emotional terrain of a songwriter who is at a crossroads when the music he loves is changing, and is also observing the lives of the people he has spent his career writing about as they change. Ol T's in Town is brilliant; its transfer to CD is sonically flawless and it is an essential building block in Hall's collection.
TOM T. HALL
OL' T'S IN TOWN
RCA Victor AHL1-3495October/1979
Produced by Roy Dea & Tom T. Hall
Dale Sellers - guitar/dobroRay Edenton, Jerry Shook, Jimmy Capps - rh.guitar
Rock Money - ac.guitar
James Marshall - bass guitar
Larry Sasser - steel/dobro
Bob Moore - bass
Hayward Bishop - drums
Hargus Pig Robbins, Bobby Wood - piano
Ray Edwards - banjo/mandolin/dobro
Bill Osment - fiddle
Vocals:
The Nashville Edition, Lea Jane Singers
Arrangements by Cam Mullins
Recorded:
1979, Toy Box Studio, Brentwood
1.
LAST COUNTRY SONG
(Tom T. Hall) « © '79 Hallnote Music, BMI / Acuff-Rose Music, BMI »It's the last country song by the last country band
In the last honky tonk in the world
It's the last country dance on the last hardwood floor
For the last country boy and girl
And there will be no more steel guitars and fiddle
If the people don't know what they're worth
It's the last country tune beneath the last country moon
For the last country people on earth
[ ac.guitar - steel - fiddle ] It's the last country song on the last country jukebox
By the last country singer alive
It's the last country tear in the last cold beer
It's the last country song that survive
There will be no more mandolins and banjos
That St John has torn us apart
It's the last country song on the last country station
For they've broken the last country heart
**********
2.
OLD HABITS DIE HARD
Michael Talley) « © '79 Acuff-Rose Music, BMI »Old habits die hard old habits like loving you
Like spending my days and nights in missing you
Hours that were yours echoe like empty rooms
Strange faces and your place can't keep away the gloom
Old habits die hard now that you're gone
Old habits die hard old habits like being true
Like counting the hours till I could be with you
Things we used to share I now keep alone
I waste my nights here by the telephone
Old habits die hard now that you're gone
[ piano ] Hours that were yours echoe like empty rooms...
**********
3.
JESUS ON THE RADIO (DADDY ON THE PHONE)
(Tom T. Hall) « © '79 Hallnote Music, BMI / Acuff-Rose Music, BMI »Mama likes to listen to the grand old gospel time
Daddy is a cowboy drinkin' beer and wine
Mama's in the kitchen standin' there all alone
She got Jesus on the radio and daddy on the phone
Daddy says come on down to Tootsie's and have yourself a beer
Mama's in the kitchen standin' there in tears
My mama love my daddy but it's breaking up our home
She got Jesus on the radio and daddy on the phone
Mama don't like drinkin' and she don't understand
Daddy's had a hard life a deeply troubled man
It's honky tonk and gospel that's breaking up our home
She got Jesus on the radio and daddy on the phone
Daddy says come on down to Tootsie's...
I came home one evening there was mama on her knees
Big old tears of gospel joy running down her cheeks
She says you don't have to worry son we are not alone
I got Jesus on the radio and Jesus on the phone
Daddy says come on down to Tootsie's...
**********
4.
OLD SIDE OF TOWN
(Tom T. Hall) « © '79 Hallnote Music, BMI / Acuff-Rose Music, BMI »Ain't it strange how people change and almost over night
Who once was a country girl is now a socialite
We're proud for you but when you're through
And seek some common ground
Oh we miss you on the old side of town
We still drink cokes and tell old jokes and we bowl at splits and strikes
Country music still plays on a jukebox every night
Society is not for me but I can still be found
Oh we miss you on the old side of town
[ steel ] RSVP is not for me and black tie's not my style
I thought you'd like to know cause you ain't been here for awhile
We read about your tour de force we're glad you get around
But we miss you on the old side of town
We still drink cokes and tell old jokes...
Babe we miss you on the old side of town
**********
5.
GREED KILLS MORE PEOPLE THAN WHISKEY
(Tom T. Hall) « © '79 Hallnote Music, BMI / Acuff-Rose Music, BMI »I was standin' outside of a hotel in Houston
Blinkin' my eyes in the bright morning sun
A feller next to me said where are you headed
I told him to Nashville cause that's where I'm from
I said I had one or too many last evening brother
I damn near fell off of my steed
He said yeah whiskey gets 'em and whiskey gets many
But listen son nothin' kills people like greed
I said huh and I turned to him and he was a cowboy
Bout fifty years old in a big western hat
Sir if you said that greed killed more people than whiskey
If my taxi don't come tell me more bout that
[ as.guitar ] He said I knew a guy who made millions on millions
Then he turned right around and made millions on that
He had crude oil and blue chips and good barns and feed lots
He could touch an old steer and just turn into fat
And he coveted the money that other folks lived on
He never spent nickels he thought he could keep
It was money that made him a night hawk and a worrier
And soon it was money that robbed him of sleep
And they buried him deep in a west Texas graveyard
They put up a tombstone of all he had done
And I am the man that he fired for a few beers
But I'm sure feeling good in the west Texas sun
[ ac.guitar ] I shook hands with that man and I crawled in the taxi
And I thought of the two things that I keep doing wrong
The man said that the greed killed more people than whiskey
And I'm sittin' here hung over writin' a song
**********
6.
YOU SHOW ME YOUR HEART (AND I'LL SHOW YOU MINE)
(Tom T. Hall) « © '79 Hallnote Music, BMI / Acuff-Rose Music, BMI »You show me your heart and I'll show you mine
I'm not gettin' hurt anymore
That's a promise I made me for sometime ago
I've never ran into things hard and unbending
When I was just traveling slow
If it's down to this and I'm taking my chances
I've just got one offer in mind
Let's see a teardrop whatever else you got
You show me your heart and I'll show you mine
You show me your heart and I'll show you mine
I'm weak and I'm uncertain in fact I'm still hurtin'
And hurt put on hurt just won't heal
So make me a promise you'll laugh when I laugh
And you'll cry when I cry it's a deal
I'm strong and I'm able but weak and unstable
When somebody steps on my mind
You have to be willin' the free milk I'm spillin'
You show me your heart and I'll show you mine
You show me your heart and I'll show you mine
There was a time I'd be willin' to risk
Just the day of my life on the nights
But if you've been away say at four in the morning
The memories crawlin' by your side
If you want to take it or if you can
Just make it a one sided offer that's fine
I just got one proposition to make you
You show me your heart and I'll show you mine
You show me your heart and I'll show you mine
**********
7.
DIFFERENT FEELING
(Tom T. Hall) « © '79 Hallnote Music, BMI / Acuff-Rose Music, BMI »She was sadder than the day she lost her mother
He felt worse than the day when he was drafted
She was packing and she kept her eyes diverted
He was sippin' on a beer and playin' with the dog
Another single word passed between them
A silence we affirmed that it was over
And the sad eyed puppy sat there on the floor
He couldn't understand the different feeling
(Different feeling is a mystery)
[ ac.guitar ] They sold that house and each took half the money
They gave that dog to his best friend's great Uncle
He went back to drinkin' and carrousin'
She got her old job back and she moved in with a friend
Six months went by before their chance to meetin'
And she wore the dress he bought her for her birthday
He showed up drunk and she got mad and cried
Hey they couldn't understand the different feeling
(Different feeling is a mystery)
[ ac.guitar ] She met some guy and she moved to Massachussets
He met a girl he liked and he remarried
Later on she got married too
She had a little girl and she joined the PTA
They seldom ever think about each other
We're both too busy of tryin' make to livin'
That sad eyed puppy starved itself to death
He couldn't understand the different feeling
(Different feeling is a mystery different feeling is a mystery)
**********
8.
GIRL YOU SURE KNOW HOW TO SAY GOODBYE
(Tom T. Hall) « © '79 Hallnote Music, BMI / Acuff-Rose Music, BMI »(Girl you sure know how to say goodbye)
You kissed me and you said I was a gentleman to you
You said I was a person you could trust
You told me that you love me in a way that couldn't die
Girl you sure know how to say goodbye
You kissed me in a way you never did when love was right
Girl you sure know how to say goodbye
I stood and watched you walk away and I didn't even cry
Girl you sure know how to say goodbye
[ piano ] You gave me that old pep talk as you cried on my sleeve
You said that you'd come running day or night
You said that I could call on you throughout my lonely life
Girl you sure know how to say goodbye
You kissed me in a way...
**********
9.
WHAT DO YOU MEAN WHEN YOU SAY GOODBYE
(Tom T. Hall) « © '79 Hallnote Music, BMI / Acuff-Rose Music, BMI »(What do you mean what do you mean what do you mean)
What do you mean when you say goodbye
You're back again and I don't know why
I thought goodbye meant that we'd let it die
What do you mean when you say goodbye
I understood all of your little lies
I tried to make something out of my life
You're back again and I'm so surprised
What do you mean when you say goodbye
They all tell me that love is a game
I say well now what's her name
Let's call it something it makes me cry
What do you mean when you say goodbye
I understood all of your little lies...
Next time you'll leave then we'll both know
You can't come back here anymore
Don't come smiling I know that disguise
What do you mean when you say goodbye
I understood all of your little lies...
(What do you mean when you say goodbye)
**********
10.
I LEFT YOU SOME KISSES ON THE DOOR
(Tom T. Hall) « © '79 Hallnote Music, BMI / Acuff-Rose Music, BMI »(I left you some kisses on the door)
Your mama says I can't see you the judge says that it's right
We can't be together cause me and mommie fights
But you're my little girl and daddy loves you more and more
And I left you some kisses on the door
I came by to see you but mommie just said no
I knocked but mommie saw me as she peeked through the hole
I only wanna hold you honey mommie thinks it's war
But I left you some kisses on the door
[ guitar ] You know your daddy worries honey but it's not mama's fault
You do what your mommie says you know that she's the boss
No matter what I gave you mommie thought you needed more
But I left you some kisses on the door
Hey you're my little angel babe and it don't make much sense
To only get to watch you play through that old schoolyard fence
Someday you'll come to me sweetheart that's all I'm waitin' for
Cause I left you some kisses on the door
**********
