Unlike many performers, Tucker arrived two years earlier a fully developed artist. No matter what song she was presented with, she sang the hell out of it with equal conviction, and in her reedy yet throaty wail, the voice of a woman existed in the body of a young girl. Whether it's a somewhat kitschy number like Bobby Braddock's "I Think the South's Gonna Rise Again" or John Rostill's hymn to commitment and undying love, "Let Me Be There," or the tough gospel of "The Baptism of Jesse Taylor," Tucker handles the lyrics and melodies with so much control and aplomb that it's difficult to believe how young she is here. This is also the album that finally convinced everybody that Tucker was no fluke; the cynics liked her first record but credited it to luck, the second they grudgingly accepted, and they embraced this one wholeheartedly and a new superstar was born in country music. The funny thing is, by listening to this record — now available as part of a two-fer with What's Your Mama's Name on Collectables with fine sound — you would know Tucker had no doubts from the beginning. Her story has proved her right.
TANYA TUCKER
WOULD YOU LAY WITH ME
(Columbia KC-32744)
December/1973
Produced by Billy Sherrill
Recorded:
Sept/1973, Columbia Recording Studio, Nashville
1.
WOULD YOU LAY WITH ME (IN A FIELD OF STONE)
(David A. Coe)
« © '74 Captive Music, BMI / Careers Music, BMI »
Would you lay with me in a field of stone
If my needs were strong would you lay with me
Should my lips grow dry would you wet them dear
In the midnight hour if my lips were dry
Would you go away to another land
Walk a thousand miles through the burning sand
Wipe the blood away from my dying hand if I give myself to you
Will you bathe with me in the stream of life
When the moon is full will you bathe with me
Will you still love me when I'm down and out
In my time of trials will you stand by me
Would you go away...
Would you lay with me in a field of stone
Should my lips grow dry would you wet them dear
Will you bathe with me in the stream of life
Will you still love me when I'm down and out
**********
2.
HOW CAN I TELL HIM
(Kent LaVoie)
« © '73 Big Tree Enterprises, ASCAP »
He knows when I'm lonesome he's there when I'm sad
He's up in the good times he's down in the bad
Whenever I'm discouraged he knows just what to do
That boy doesn't know about you
I can tell him my troubles makes 'em all seem right
I can make up excuses not to hold him at night
We can talk of tomorrow I tell him things I wanna do
But boy how can I tell him about you
How can I tell him about you boy please tell me what to do
Everything seems right whenever I'm with you
So boy won't you tell me how to tell him about you ah ah ooh
How can I tell him I don't miss him whenever I am away
How can I say it's you I think of every single night and day
But when is it easy tellin' someone we're through
Oh boy help me tell him about you
How can I tell him about you...
**********
3.
LET ME BE THERE
(John Rostill)
« © '73 Al Gallico Music, BMI »
Wherever you go wherever you may wander in your life
Surely you know I'll always wanna be there
Holdin' your hand and standing by to catch you when you fall
Seeing you through in everything you do
Let me be there in your morning let me be there in your night
Let me change whatever's wrong and make it right
Let me take you through that wonder land that only two can share
All I ask you is let me be there
[ guitar + harmonica ]
Watching you grow and going through the changes in your life
That's how I know I'll always wanna be there
Whenever you feel you need a friend to lean on here I am
Whenever you call you know I'll be there
Let me be there in your morning...
Let me be there in your morning...
All I ask you is let me be there
**********
4.
BED OF ROSE'S
(Don Reid - Harold Reid)
« © '67 House Of Cash, BMI »
She was called a scarlet woman by the people
Who would go to church but leave me in the street
With no parents of my own I never had a home
And a fifteen year old girl has got to eat
She found me outside one Sunday morning
Begging money from a man I didn't know
She took me in and wiped away my childhood
That woman of the street this lady Rose
This bed of Rose's that I lay on where I was taught to love a man
This bed of Rose's where I'm livin' is the only kind of life I'll understand
She was a handsome woman just thirty-five
Who was spoken to in town by very few
She managed a late evening business
Like most of the town wished they'd do
I learned all the things a man should know
From a woman not approved of I suppose
She died knowing someone really loved her
From life's bramble bush I picked a rose
This bed of Rose's that I lay on...
This bed of Rose's that I lay on...
**********
5.
MAN THAT TURNED MY MAMA ON
(Ed Bruce)
« © '73 Tree Publishing, BMI »
I wish I'd known the man a little better that turned my mama on
He must have been a heck of a man cause mama was a lady don't you know
Mama was no prude but she was proper never wore her dress too short
She didn't care if you did but she'd never taken a drink
Grandma Kate did the best she could to see mama grew up right
So she'd be fittin' one day for courtin' and to wear some gentleman's ring
I wish I'd known the man a little better that turned my mama on
People was always laughing and sang a right sweet song
I wish I'd known the man a little better that turned my mama on
He must have been a heck of a man cause mama was a lady don't you know
I hear he came to town one day in a rusty old '49 Ford
Sellin' ladies shoes and assorted greeting cards
He was killin' goodlookin' and easy to like and turnin' all the ladies heads
But he saw mama first and Lord knows how some of them travelin' men are
I wish I'd known the man...
Mama seemed to forget the things that grandma Kate had always told her
She ran away one night with that traveling man
They bought gas at Reba's Truck Stop and drove to Deseto County
But he brought her home with a ring upon her hand
Mama's told me how the fever took him when I was barely five
But I remember him pitchin' me up and catchin' me
And I love to sit and listen to her tell me about my daddy
She says she thought the sun must surely rise and set in me
I wish I'd known the man...
**********
6.
I BELIEVE THE SOUTH IS GONNA RISE AGAIN
(Bobby Braddock)
« © '73 Tree Publishing, BMI »
Mama never had a flower garden
Cause cotton grew right up to our front door
Daddy never went on a vacation
He died a tired old man at forty-four
Our neighbors in the big house called us redneck
Cause we lived in a poor sharecropper shack
The Jackson's down the road were poor like we were
But our skin was white and their was black
But I believe the south is gonna rise again
But not the way we thought it would back then
I mean everybody hand in hand I believe the south is gonna rise again
I see wooded parks and big skyscarpers
Where dirty rundown shack stood once before
I see sons and daughter and sharecroppers
But they're not pickin' cotton anymore
But more important I see human kindness
As we forget the bad and keep the good
A brand new breeze is blowing cross the southland
And I see a brand new kind of brotherhood
Yes I believe the south is gonna rise again...
I believe the south is gonna rise again
I believe the south is gonna rise again
**********
7.
OLD DAN TUCKER'S DAUGHTER
(Curly Putman - Buddy Killen)
« © '73 Tree Publishing, BMI »
Mama died havin' me and papa tried to raise me
And then he took to drinking when I was only three
I'd follow him and his guitar along the streets of Mobile
Where he'd sing for just a drink and a lollipop for me
Then at night he sat me on the bar while he did some singin'
I played with his old railroad watch when I was a dancin'
And I passed around his worn out hat they're pitchin' down some quarters
Oh how proud I was to be old Dan Tucker's daughter
Things seemed to go from bad to worse as I grew sadly older
And papa looked so down and out failin' more each day
And pride I always felt to him slowly turned to pitty
And Lord you know it broke my heart each time I hear them say
Get out away old Dan Tucker take this dime and take this quarter
Get out away old Dan Tucker take your wine and take your daughter
[ fiddle ]
Papa died just today a cold grey Mobile morning
Now here I stand all alone crying on his grave
Not a single soul from Mobile came to wish him well his journey
But at least for papa's goin' no one there will say
Hey get out away old Dan Tucker...
**********
8.
NO MAN'S LAND
(Don Wayne)
« © '73 Sherrill Music, BMI »
Many years ago in Brushcreak Georgia
Molly Marlo was a virgin girl
She lived a mile from a fool named Barney Dawson
Hell bent on gettin' inside Molly's world
He caught her after church one Sunday morning
And took her body with his rough hard hands
And walked off laughin' as she lay there crying
Since then she's been known as No Man's Land
Molly Marlo was No Man's Land love could never grow in No Man's Land
The men all tried but she denied them and they sighed and wrung their hands
But they couldn't go walking in No Man's Land
Molly grew into a luscious beauty
Each man's head would turn as she walked by
And as their hot eyes watched her body moving
They'd swallow hard and shake their heads and sigh
Molly went to school and studdied nursing
Now you might laugh but it's an honest fact
The first year that she nursed at Millards Clinic
Six men pretended they had heart attacks
Molly Marlo was No Man's Land...
Years later Barney Dawson lay in prison
In feaverish pain that sufferin' shell of a man
He was glad to see the nurse from Millards Clinic
Till he saw the burnin' eyes of No Man's Land
Molly Marlo was No Man's Land love could never grow in No Man's Land
Barney cried but she denied him and he prayed and wrung his hands
Now his soul's walking through No Man's Land
**********
9.
WHY ME
(Kris Kristofferson)
« © '72 Resaca Music, BMI »
Now that I know that I've needed you so
Help me Jesus my soul's in your hands
Why me Lord what I have ever done
To deserve even one of the pleasures I've known
Tell me Lord what did I ever do
That was worth loving you or the kindness you've shown
Lord help me Jesus I've wasted it so
Help me Jesus I know what I am
Now that I know that I've needed you so
Help me Jesus my soul's in your hands
Try me Lord if you think there's a way
I can ever repay all I've taken from you
Maybe Lord I can show someone else
What I've been through myself on my way back to you
Lord help me Jesus...
Jesus my soul's in your hands
**********
10.
BAPTISM OF JESSE TAYLOR
(Dallas Frazier - Sanger D. Shafer)
« © '72 Acuff-Rose Music, BMI »
Among the local taverns there'll be a slack in business
Cause Jesse's drinking came before the groceries and the rent
Among the local women there'll be a slick in cheatin'
Cause Jesse won't be steppin' out again
They baptized Jesse Taylor in Cedar Creek last Sunday
Jesus gained a soul and Satan lost a good right arm
They all cried hallelujah when Jesse's head went under
Cause this time he went under for the Lord
The scars on Jesse's knuckles were more than just respected
The county courthouse records tell all there is to tell
The pockets of the gamblers will soon miss Jesse's money
And the black eye of the law will soon be well
They baptized Jesse Taylor...
From now old Nancy Taylor can proudly speak to neighbors
And tell them how much Jesse hooked up with little Jim
Now Jimmy's got a daddy and Jesse's got a family
And Franklin County's got a lot more man
They baptized Jesse Taylor...
**********
11.
WHAT IF WE WERE RUNNING OUT OF LOVE
(Linda Hargrove)
« © '73 Careers Music, BMI »
Everybody's wonderin' what this world will get around
Now that we're all runnin' out of gas
But me I'm kinda happy that this world is slowin' down
Seems to me we were movin' much too fast
Now folks you're gonna have to slow it down (slow it down)
But that won't stop this world from goin' round
Well I could think of a whole lotta worse the things to be out of
What if we were running out of love
Now everybody's thinking that this world would fall apart
Cause we ain't got no fuel to feed the flame
What if we all lost the love we used to fill our hearts
Seems to me life wouldn't be the same
Now folks you're gonna have to slow it down...
Now everybody's wonderin' just how going's gonna get
How they're gonna keep each other on
Simple disillusion to the problem I've seen yet
Just cuddle up with someone in your arms
Now folks you're gonna have to slow it down...
What if we were running out of love
What if we were running out of
**********