SAMMY KERSHAW
LABOR OF LOVE
(Mercury 536318)
November 4/1997
Produced by Keith Stegall
Brent Mason - el.guitar
John D. Willis - ac.guitar
Paul Franklin - steel
Glenn Worf - bass
Eddie Bayers - drums
Hargus Pig Robbins - piano/keyboards
Stuart Duncan, Joe Spivey - fiddle
Vocals:
John Wesley Ryles, Steve Lowery, Mark Nevers
1.
HONKY TONK AMERICA
(Bob McDill)
« © '97 Ranger Bob Music, ASCAP / Songs Of PolyGram, BMI »
Well the day it ends when the sun comes up and it starts when the sun goes down
Out on the backroads and on the back streets of every farm and factory town
There in the world of weekly wage there's always a place out there
And the names and the faces are the same everywhere
Well the room is full it's a Friday night we all wanna hear Louie Louie
Been a long hard day and a long hard life and this is how we make it through it
It's a blue collar place a red blooded crowd ionight everything's all right
In honky tonk America
There's a flashing sign on a rain soaked street that lights up just about dark
A welcome beacon on life's highway when your weary and when you lost heart
Never say its loneliness it's only the drinks and the band
But something brings us back here again and again
Well the room is full it's a Friday night we all wanna hear Proud Mary
Been a long hard day and a long hard life we all got our crosses to carry
It's a blue collar place a red blooded crowd ionight everything's all right
In honky tonk America
Well talk about freedom alright but maybe some other time
Tonight everyone's feeling fine
Well the room is full it's a Friday night we all wanna hear Wolly Bully
Been a long hard day and a long hard life Monday morning well all do our duty
It's a blue collar place a red blooded crowd ionight everything's all right
In honky tonk America honky tonk America honky tonk America
[ guitar ]
Honky tonk America honky tonk America
**********
2.
SHOOTIN' THE BULL (IN AN OLD COWTOWN)
(Monty Criswell - Mitchel White)
« © '97 Music Of Stage Three, BMI / Caribbean Stud Music, ASCAP »
Me and Junior Sunny and Steve hangin' at the fillin' station
And drinkin' cokes out by the grease rack a week before graduation
Telling lies bout the girls we knew perpetuatin' backseat legends
Four years worth of near misses too numberous for me to mention
Shootin' the bull in an old cowtown watching grass grow as the sun goes down
Cruisin' Fridays nights at the Dairy Queen drivin' round and round
Shootin' the bull in an old cowtown
[ fiddle ]
I got tired of sittin' around chewing on the same old stories
And I decided the girl next door wasn't enough to hold me
I left town on the 4th of July and caught a glimpse in my rearview mirror
Of Junior Steve and Sunny at the gas station lookin' like a permanant fixture
Shootin' the bull in an old cowtown watching grass grow as the sun goes down
Better be careful were you take a step keep one eye on the ground
Shootin' the bull in an old cowtown
Well I took a long gander at the high rise world and life on the big city streets
It's folks talking on the corner and gabbing on the streets
When I think about it all well I'd much rather be
Shootin' the bull in an old cowtown watching grass grow as the sun goes down
While life goes by at a much slower pace than the speed of sound
Shootin' the bull in an old cowtown shootin' the bull in an old cowtown
**********
3.
ONE DAY LEFT TO LIVE
(Dean Dillon - Randy Boudreauy - Johnny Northrup)
« © '97 Acuff-Rose Music, BMI / Mike Curb Music, BMI / That's A Smash Publishing, BMI /
Big Ole Hit Music, ASCAP / CPN Music, ASCAP »
I rolled out of bed grabbed a cup of caffeine this morning
Walked out the door didn't even kiss you goodbye
Hurryin' to work a car pulled out no warning
In an instant it all flashed before my eyes
And I'm gonna live the rest of my life
Like I got one day left to live one night left to love you
Startin' right now I'm startin' all over doin' what I should do
Should this be my last or I've got a hundred years
From this day on I'm gonna live my life like I got one day left to live
What a close call could of been all she wrote me
Think I'll turn this car around and head back home
There's a lesson to be learned in this it showed me
Take nothin' for granted in a second it could all be gone
And I'm gonna live...
One night left to love you...
**********
4.
COTTON COUNTY QUEEN
(Wally Wilson - Sam Hogin - Phil Barnhart)
« © '94 Feed Them Kids Music, BMI / Simply Irresistible Music, BMI / Tree Publishing, BMI »
My baby came and got me in her mama's Cadillac
We went parkin' by the river near the honeydew patch
She started talkin' bout the birds and the bees
My mind ran wild with the possibilities
Like Rhett and Scarlett climbin' up the stairs
We were on our way to heaven in the melons out there
She was the centerfold picture in a country boy's dream
Prettiest thing I ever had seen
Tupelo honey in a pair of blue jeans
The upper Mississippi Delta Cotton County Queen
[ fiddle ]
She had a judge for a daddy he made her tow the line
Brother he was tougher than a year of hard time
He came by and caught us rollin' in the weeds
Said boy get goin' if you're ever gonna leave
I took off runnin' out of that place
All the while thinkin' bout her beautiful face
She was the centerfold picture...
[ steel - fiddle ]
Snuck up to the house in the heat of the night
Hid in the hedge till they turned out the lights
Tapped on the windows said darling let's go
And we were gone with the wind in her El Dorado
She was the centerfold picture...
Yeah she's the centerfold picture in a country boy's dream
The upper Mississippi Delta Cotton County Queen
[ fiddle ]
Upper Mississippi Delta Cotton County Queen
**********
5.
MATCHES
(Roger Springer - Skip Ewing)
« © '96 April Music, ASCAP / Acuff-Rose Music, BMI / Write On Music, BMI »
We met at the Broken Spoke Restaurant and Lounge
I lit your cigarette then you wrote your number down
On the inside of a matchbook that was laying on the bar
And a fire started burning somewhere in my heart
I didn't see it comin' guess I didn't see the signs
I just never thought you'd leave me after all this time
But today when I came home my key was hollow in the door
And there was nothing but a worn out book of matches on the floor
You took the bed you took the dishes and the car
And you broke my trust and you took advantage of my heart
And you left me here with empty rooms and walls with holes
And scars and scratches now I find the strength to burn your memory down
At least you left the matches
The color's old and faded the cover's worn and stained
But I can still make out the numbers and the heart beside your name
Until tonight they'd only lit a single cigarette
Now one by one I'm striking them to help me forget
And everybody at the Broken Spoke well they all thought my crazy story was a joke
Now they're all out in the parking lot staring at the smoke
You took the bed you took the dishes...
Baby all that's left of our love now is ashes thank God you left the matches
**********
6.
LABOR OF LOVE
(Billy Lawson - Larry Boone)
« © '96 Cross Keys Publishing, ASCAP / Music Of Windswept, ASCAP »
Well I got a cousin that's twice removed had a crush on a girl back in school
She didn't know it he didn't let it show now she's married to a banker in El Paso
You gotta swing that hammer and beat that drum
Swing that hammer beat that drum work work work it's a labor of love
Well I once knew a couple from Arkansas and she did hair and he hauled logs
Saved up their money and built on a room
Now there's three of them where there used to be two
You gotta swing that hammer...
No matter if you're low class high class middle class
Well it don't discriminate no it don't
It don't matter if you're redneck intellect a beatneck
Well it all works the same Lordy Lordy Lordy Lord now
[ fiddle - guitar ]
You gotta swing that hammer...
Gotta swing that hammer...
Work work work it's a labor of love
**********
7.
THANK GOD YOU'RE GONE
(Mike Fornes - Sammy Kershaw)
« © '97 Songs Of PolyGram, BMI »
Well I really look a mess ever since you left I guess
And the grass outside needs mowing
Laundry's stacked up three foot tall but I don't even care at all
And I don't know where I'm going
Thank God you're gone so you don't see me fall apart
Picking up the pieces of my shattered broken heart
You left me my world came down it's a good thing you're not around to see
I'm really not that strong thank God you're gone
Well they took all my things today even hauled my truck away
And the vines died that grew our roses
Don't know if it will ever end seems like I can't find a friend
I find a door and it just closes
So thank God you're gone...
[ steel ]
Thank God you're gone...
Thank God you're gone thank God you're gone
**********
8.
LITTLE DID I KNOW
(Bill McCorvey - Greg Crowe - Dave Gibson)
« © '97 House Of Integrity Music, BMI / Little Tornadoes Music, BMI /
Timberock Music, BMI / Songs Of PolyGram, BMI »
Little Jolena a dark haired darling skin of ivory angel eyes
Every man in Louisana wanted her sweet love
But she swore on the Bible she was mine all mine
Hey little did I know she was wild as the bayou
Catch a man on a cane pole hang his heart on the line
I thought I could hold her me oh my oh
Little did I know she had bigger fish to fry
[ accordion ]
My brother tried to warn me Mama she scorned me
My friends all told me I was under her spell
But I wouldn't listen I was lovesick
Without Jolena life would be a living hell
Hey little did I know...
At the church in the Wildwood standin' at the alter little Jolena never showed
I heard later on she left with a dandy and headed down to Mexico
Hey little did I know...
Hey little did I know she had bigger fish to fry
[ accordion ]
**********
9.
ARMS LENGTH AWAY
(Monty Criswell - Lee Miller - Michael White)
« © '97 Caribbean Stud Music, ASCAP »
How long have we been the very best of friends
I've always heard you say I could tell you anything
Oh the times I made you laugh the times I dried your tears
Through the good and bad I've always been right here
An arms length away right in front of your face
This close to your lips right at your fingertips
That one true love you're dreaming of darling what would you say
If I told you it's an arms length away
For so long I've longed to hold you oh the nights I almost told you
I stopped myself afraid of just what you might say
And the love that you have searched for that seems so out of reach
Have you ever stopped to think it might be me
An arms length away...
[ steel ]
That one true love...
That one true love...
**********
10.
ROAMIN' LOVE
(Sammy Kershaw)
« © '97 Songs Of PolyGram, BMI »
Well you broke my heart then you said goodbye
You didn't stick around long enough to see me cry
I tried to get you on the phone but you were long gone
Guess I'll just spend a whole bunch of nights sittin' all alone
Time and time again I would let you back in
After foolin' around with some of my old friends
You thought it didn't show and I would never know
That you were up to no good every time you walked out the door
You've been playin' with my heart from the very start
Well we should've had a thing they couldn't pull apart
You kept me standin' in line for a long long time
Just waitin' for your roamin' love that should have been all mine
[ fiddle - steel - guitar ]
You've been playin' with my heart...
You kept me standin' in line...
Just waitin' for your roamin' love that should have been all mine
**********
11.
LOVE OF MY LIFE (YOU ARE THE LOVE OF MY LIFE)
(Keith Stegall - Dan Hill)
« © '97 Blackwood Music, BMI / Tower Street Music / Little Cayman Music, BMI »
You are the love of my life and you are the reason I'm alive
And baby baby baby when I think of how you saved me I go crazy
I've never known love like this and it fills me with a new tenderness
And I know I know I know you're in my heart you're in my soul you're all I can't resist
And I need to tell you the first time I held you I knew you are the love of my life
I spent a lifetime waiting always hestitating until you
I was lost so deep inside my shell till you came and saved me from myself
Now all I really know is I need you
And you are the love of my life all the joy and tears that I cry
And baby baby baby you don't have to say a word I see it in your eyes
As we stand together I promise forever till the day that I die
You are the love of my life
[ steel ]
I spent a lifetime waiting...
You are the love of my life you are the reason I'm alive
**********