JOHNNY HORTON
HONKY TONK MAN
(Columbia CS-8779)
March/1962
Produced by Don Law
Grady Martin - guitar/leader
Harold Bradley - guitar/banjo
Hank Garland, Tommy Tomlinson, Johnny Mathis - guitar
Bill Black, Floyd Chance, Joe Zinkan, Jesse Sparks - bass
Buddy Harman - drums
Allen Harris - piano
Charlie McCoy - harmonica
Strings:
Brenton Banks, Howard Carpenter, Lillian Hunt, Vernal Richardson, Wilda Tinsley
Recorded:
Jan 11/1956 - March 9/1960, Bradley Film & Recording Studio, Nashville
1.
HONKY TONK MAN
(Johnny Horton - Tillman Franks - Howard Hausey)
« © '56 Cedarwood Publishing, BMI »
I'm a honky tonk man and I can't seem to stop
I love to give the girls a whirl to the music of an old jukebox
But when my money's all gone I'm on the telephone
Callin' hey hey mama can your daddy come home
I'm living fast and dangerously but I've got plenty of company
When the moon comes up and the sun goes down
That's when I want to see the lights of town
Cause I'm a honky tonk man...
[ guitar ]
I'm a honky tonk man...
It takes a purty little gal and a jug of wine
That's what it takes to make a honky tonk mind
With the jukebox a moanin' honky tonk sound that's when I wanna lay my money down
Cause I'm a honky tonk man...
**********
2.
GOODBYE LONESOME HELLO BABY DOLL
(Lee Emerson)
« © '57 Acuff-Rose Music, BMI »
I've been here for a long long time waitin' all alone
Waitin' here in this old house by the telephone
Sittin' in this same old chair lookin' out to blind
There ain't been a day gone by that she ain't on my mind
Goodbye lonesome hello baby doll goddbye lonesome you almost drove me wild
Well I feel a little trickety on the line she's done told me she's mine oh mine
Goodbye lonesome hello baby doll
[ guitar ]
When she is here I'm tellin' you we're gonna celebrate
And all those hugs and kisses you couldn't count a late
When she holds me I can't explain the way I feel inside
Goodbye you old lonesome I got myself a bride
Goodbye lonesome...
**********
3.
I'M COMING HOME
(Johnny Horton - Tillman Franks)
« © '56 Golden West Melodies, BMI »
Got your face so pretty and your hair done right
Cause we're gonna do the town tonight
We're comin' into town right on time I still got your lovin' on my mind
I'm a coming home I gotta make some love
I'm a coming home sweet turtle dove
I'm a coming home to make sweet love to you
Well I see down the road there's a big truck stop
They got a pretty little waitress with the curly top
She's pretty as a doll pretty as can be
But don't you worry honey she ain't nothin' to me
I'm a coming home...
[ guitar ]
Well I came to a hill and the truck looked down
Throttled the blow she's huggin' the ground
Scratchin' gears but I'm goin' again I'm comin' home baby I'm doggin' it in
I'm a coming home...
Got your face so pretty...
**********
4.
I GOT A HOLE IN MY PIROGUE
(Johnny Horton - Tillman Franks)
« © '56 Cedarwood Publishing, BMI »
Well I went outta fishin' to make a little mon
To take to Cajun Leena so we could have some fun
On the way back I knocked a hole in my bowl
I got a hole in my pirogue I can't go see no gal
The prettiest sight that you ever have seen some moonlite night down in New Orleans
I'm up the river just around the bend
I got a hole in my pirogue I just can't haul it in
[ guitar ]
Cajun Leena's waitin' with tears in her eyes mouchin' and a crouchin' on a crawfish pie
I can't smell no feelin' floatin' through the air
I got a hole in my pirogue I can't go see my share
The prettiest sight...
[ guitar ]
Yeah I'm here on the bayoo sittin' all alone
With a busted bottom and I can't haul it home
Cajun Leena's waitin' lonesome as can be
I got a hole in my pirogue I can't go see my she
The prettiest sight...
**********
5.
SHE KNOWS WHY
(Johnny Horton - Claude King)
« © '52 Unichappell Music, BMI »
I have a story I'd like to tell broken heart's knowin' only too well
And she knows why I feel the way I do
She gave me all her love and then she took it away blue sky has turned to a solid grey
And she knows why I feel the way I do
Well I know I'm a walkin' down the lovesick trails been walked down by many before
But when she sees my side of tracks she'll know I've learned the score
I'll pick my tears put 'em on the shelf keep my heartaches to myself
Cause she'll know why I feel the way I do
[ guitar ]
When she finds somebody new then he'll find out what I went through
Cause she knows why I feel the way I do
She gave me her love and then she took it away blue skies had turned to a solid grey
And she knows why I feel the way I do
Well I know I'm a walkin'...
**********
6.
THEY'LL NEVER TAKE HER LOVE FROM ME
(Leon Payne)
« © '50 Acuff-Rose Music, BMI »
If today the sun should set on all my hopes and cares
There is one who's smiling face the Gods would see
Cause she'll walk along beside me up to golden stairs
Oh they'll never ever take her love from me
What a fool I was to go and break the trust she gave
And to see her love turn into sympathy
It's the one regret I'll carry with me to my grave
Oh they'll never ever take her love from me
[ strings ]
I'm so thankful for each golden hour of happiness
That we shared together in the used to be
Someone else's arms may hold her now in fond caress
But they'll never eever take her love from me
I thought I'd make her happy if I'd step aside
But I knew her love would never set me free
Even on the day that she became another's bride
Oh they'll never never take her love from me
**********
7.
OLE SLEW FOOT
(Howard Hausey - Eddie Manney)
« © '59 Little Hurry Music, BMI »
High on the mountain tell me what you see
Bear tracks bear tracks lookin' back at me
Better get your rifle boy before it's too late
Cause the bear's got a little pig and headed through the gate
He's big around the middle and he's broad across the rump
Runnin' ninety miles an hour takin' thirty feet a jump
Ain't never been caught he ain't never been treed
And some folks say he look a lot like me
[ harmonica ]
I saved up my money and I bought me some bees
And they started makin' honey way up in the trees
Cut down the trees but my honey's all gone
Old Slew Foot's done made himself at home
He's big around the middle...
[ harmonica ]
Winter's comin' on and it's twenty below
And the river's froze over so where can he go
We'll chase him up the gully then we'll run him in the well
And shoot him in the bottom just to listen to him yell
He's big around the middle...
**********
8.
I'M A ONE WOMAN MAN
(Johnny Horton - Tillman Franks)
« © '56 Cedarwood Publishing, BMI »
If you told me that you love me I would feel so proud
If you let me hold you honey I'd holler out loud
I'll never love another even if I can oh come to me baby I'm a one woman man
Won't you let me baby just kinda hang around
I'll always love you honey and I'll never let you down
I'll never love another even if I can oh come to me baby I'm a one woman man
[ guitar ]
I'd climb the highest mountain if it reached up to the sky
To prove that I love you I would jump off and fly
I'd even swim the ocean from shore to shore
To prove that I love you just a little bit more
Won't you let me baby...
[ guitar ]
Won't you let me baby...
**********
9.
SLEEPY EYED JOHN
(Tex Atchinson)
« © '60 Vanguard Songs, BMI »
Well away down yonder on the Candy Creek I wait a lot of fiddles on my wagon seat
I tune up the fiddle and I rosin' that bow and I play a little tune wherever I go
Sleepy eyed John better get your britches on sleepy eyed John better tie your shoe
Sleepy eyed John you better get your bitches on
Try to get to heaven fore the devil gets to you
[ harmonica ]
Well sleepy eyed John he stalked a goose that goose it flapped but couldn't get loose
Said John to the goose well you better be still
I'm gonna miss my supper and tea if you will
Sleepy eyed John...
[ banjo ]
Well sleepy eyed John he had one wooden leg wadn't nothin' but a little wooden peg
With one shoe off and one shoe on
He'd do the double shuffle till the cows come home
Sleepy eyed John...
[ harmonica ]
Well over in the hickory and down in the pine
The racoon laughs and the hound dog whines
And the hound dog whines and the racoon laughs
And they cross that river in a minute and a half
Sleepy eyed John...
**********
10.
EVERYTIME I'M KISSING YOU
(Carl Belew - Faron Young - Johnny Horton)
« © '57 Acuff-Rose Music, BMI »
I came home and I found you in the arms of a friend
Why didn't I leave you when I saw you kissin' him
You ask me to forgive you and you try to make amens
But everytime I'm kissing you I think of you kissing him
You said it didn't mean a thing you even said I was to blame
You said forget let's start anew I make amens and I'll be true
But you don't know the harm you've done even though it was in fun
Cause everytime I'm kissing you I think of you kissing him
[ guitar ]
You said it didn't mean a thing...
**********
11.
WILD ONE
(Merle Kilgore - Tillman Franks)
« © '57 Cedarwood Publishing, BMI »
Give me my cycle with star-filled sky above
And a good lookin' woman with a heart full of love
I'll go to any honky in any old town cause I am the wild one and I'll never settle down
I am the wild one I am the wild one I am the wild one I'll never settle down
I got a gal in every town who claims she loves me so
I love 'em and leave 'em I want 'em all to know
That when I hear that wild wind a blowin' down the road
I know I'll have to travel fast and leave without a load
I am the wild one I am the wild one I am the wild one I'll never settle down
I am the wild I believe in travelin' light
Just me and my cycle speedin' through the night
I love a lotta women I take 'em all around I am the wild one I'll never settle down
I am the wild one I am the wild one I am the wild one I'll never settle down
**********
12.
HONKY TONK HARDWOOD FLOOR
(Tex Atchinson - Eddie Hazlewood - Harrell)
« © '57 Vanguard Songs, BMI »
The fiddles're squeekin' the guitars're speakin' the piano plays a jelly-roll
The man on the drum is out from dumb and the bassman he plays from his soul
The tables're quakin' and your nerves're shakin' but you keep on beggin' for more
You keep a havin' your fun you lucky son of a gun on a honky tonk hardwood floor
On a honky tonk hardwood floor on a honky tonk hardwood floor
You keep a havin' your fun you lucky son of a gun on a honky tonk hardwood floor
[ guitar ]
There's a waitress handy and she don't sell candy and she don't sell soda pop
And there's a fat bartender who's there to serve you if you really wanna blow your top
If you got no money then there's a little honey she's a thing that you adore
You keep a havin' your fun you lucky son of a gun on a honky tonk hardwood floor
On a honky tonk hardwood floor...
[ piano ]
Your payday's Saturday you're broke on Sunday come Monday you're feelin' saur
You got big black eyes that you pick up from little from a little guy the night before
So you swear off off to drinkin' but when you get to thinkin'
Bout the goodtimes you had oh Lord
So keep a havin' your fun you lucky son of a gun on a honky tonk hardwood floor
On a honky tonk hardwood floor...
**********