1.

Honky Tonk Heroes

Billy Joe Shaver

© Return Music, BMI

Low down leavin's sun done did everything that needs done
Woe is me why can't I see I'd best be leavin' well enough alone
Them neon lightin' nights couldn't stay out of fights
Keep a hauntin' me in memories
Well there's one in every crowd for cryin' out loud
Why was it always turnin' out to be me

Where does it go the good Lord only knows
Seems like it was just the other day
I was down at Green Gables a hawkin' them tables
And generally blowin' all of my hard earned pay
Piano roll blues danced holes in my shoes
There weren't another other way to be
For loveable losers and noaccount boozers
And honky tonk heroes like me hey hey

Where does it go the good Lord only knows...
[ instrumental ]
Where do it goes the good Lord only knows...

**********

2.

Old Five And Dimers Like Me

Billy Joe Shaver

© Return Music, BMI

I've spent the lifetime making up my mind to be
More than the measure of what I thought others could see
Good luck and fast bucks are too far and too few between
Catalog buyers and old five and dimers like me

She stood beside me letting me know she would be
Something to lean on when everything ran out on me
Fenced yards ain't hole cards and like is not never will be
Reason for rhymers and old five and dimers like me
[ instrumental ]
It's takin' me so long and now that I know I believe
All that I do or say is all I ever will be
Too far and too high and too deep ain't too much to be
Too much ain't enough for old five and dimers like me
Mhm mhm an old five and dimer is all I intended to be

**********

3.

Willy The Wandering Gypsy And Me

Billy Joe Shaver

© Return Music, BMI

Three fingers whiskey pleasures the drinkers
And movin' does more than the same thing for me
Willy he tells me that doers and thinkers
Say movin' is a closest thing to bein' free

Willy rosins his riggins laid back his wages
He's dead cert on ridin' the big rodeo
My woman's tight with an overdue baby
And Willy keeps yellin' hey Gypsy let's go

Willy you're wild as a Texas Blue Norther
Ready rolled from the same makins as me
Well I reckon we're gonna ramble till hell freeze us over
Willy the wanderin' Gypsy and me

Ladies we surely will take up your favors
And we'll surely worn you there never will be
A single soul livin' that could put brand or handle
On Willy the wanderin' Gypsy and me

Well dance on the mountains shout in the canyons
Swarm it ain't loose herd like a wild buffalo
Jammin' our heads full of figures and angles
And tellin' us stuff that we already know

Willy you're wild as a Texas Blue Norther...
Yeah Willy you're wild as a Texas Blue Norther...

**********

4.

Low Down Freedom

Billy Joe Shaver

© Return Music, BMI

Long haired young girl here beside me
Fit my body warm my mind
Sleeping quiet never knowin'
By tomorrow she'll be one more thing I'm gonna leave behind

Like them big wheels I'll be rollin'
Like them rivers gonna flow to sea
Cause I'd rather leave here knowin'
That I'd made the fool of love before it made the fool of me

Low down freedom you done cost me
Everything I'll ever lose Lord
You're as empty as my pockets
From the top of where you start down to the bottom of my shoes

Open highway lonesome wind blows
Tell me something I don't know
Wrapped in woman arms around me
Tell me why I'm gonna leave and I don't really wanna go

Low down freedom you done cost me...
Low down freedom you done cost me...

**********

5.

Omaha

Billy Joe Shaver - Hillman Hall

© Return Music, BMI

Omaha you've been weighin' heavy on my mind
Guess I never really left it all
I'm turnin' all those roads I walked around the other way
Coming back to you Omaha

Omaha Nebraska was that good enough for me
Always thought I was the roamin' kind
With the pockets full of dreams in my worn shirt on my back
I left there looking for some things to find

Rode my thumb to San Francisco I worked down by the bank
Got some schoolin' faithful by the law
The hardest thing I learned there was there ain't no easy way
To get ahead behind those county walls

So it's so long California reckon I'll be a movin' on
I'm leavin' even if I had to crawl
I've got some losin's layin' round that I left them burn
Waitin' there for me in Omaha

Omaha you've been weighin' heavy on my mind...

**********

6.

(# 8 country hit)

You Asked Me To

Billy Joe Shaver - Waylon Jennings

© Return Music, BMI

Long ago and far away
In my ol' common labor shoes
I turned the world all which a way
Just because you asked me to

Like unto no other feel
Simple love is simple true
There's no end to what I'd do
Just because you asked me

Let the world call me a fool
But if things are right with me and you
That's all that matters and I'll do
Anything you asked me to
[ instrumental ]
Knowing how much I love you
And after all that I've been through
I'd turn and walk away from you
Just because you asked me to
Lord I hope you'll never do

Let the world call me a fool...

**********

7.

Ride Me Down Easy

Billy Joe Shaver

© Return Music, BMI

Highway she's harder than nine kinds of hell
Light there it scares as the rain
When you're down to your last shop with nothing to sell
And too far away from the train

Well the good month of Sundays and a guitar to go
Had a tall drink of yesterday's wine
Left the long string of friends some sheets in the wind
And some satisfied women behind

Hey ride me down easy Lord ride me on down
Leave word in the dust where I lay
Say I'm easy come easy go
And easy to love when I stay
[ instrumental ]
Put snow on the mountain raised hell on the hill
Lotsa horns of the devil himself
Where the rodeo bum a son of a gun
And a hobo with stars in his crown

So ride me down easy Lord ride me on down...
Ride me down easy Lord ride me on down mhm mhm

**********

8.

Ain't No God In Mexico

Billy Joe Shaver

© Return Music, BMI

Down the road a ways I've heard said a new day's coming on
Where the women folks are friendly and the law leaves you alone
I'll believe it when I see it and I haven't seen it yet
Don't mind me just keep on talkin' I'm just lookin' for my hat

There ain't no God in Mexico ain't no way to understand
How that border crossing feelin' makes a fool out of a man
If I'd never felt the sunshine hell I would not curse the rain
If my feet could fit a railroad track I guess I'd been a train
[ instrumental ]
Me and Louise Higgins Botham used to chase across the yard
Back in 1947 that's when more than times were hard
Well pity me I didn't find the line in time like a fool
In front of God and everybody I politely blew my cool

Ain't no God in Mexico ain't no comfort in the kin
When you're down in Madamoris gettin' busted by the man
If I'd never felt the sunshine hell I would not curse the rain
If I hadn't been railroaded well I guess I'd been a train

**********

9.

Black Rose

Billy Joe Shaver

© Return Music, BMI

Way down in Virginia amongst the tall grown sugar canes
Lived a simple man and a dominique hen
And a rose of a different name

Well the first time I felt lightly I was standing in the drizzlin' rain
With a tremblin' hand and a bottle of gin
And a rose of a different name

Well the devil made me do it the first time
The second time I done it on my own
Lord put a handle on a simple handed man
And help me leave that black rose alone
[ instrumental ]
When the devil made that woman Lord she threw the pattern away
She was built for speed with the tools you need
To make a new fool every day

Way down deep and dirty on the darker side of shame
I caught a cane cuttin' man with a bottle of gin
With a rose of a different name

The devil made me do it the first time...
The devil made me do it the first time...

**********

10.

(# 28 country hit)

We Had It All

Troy Seals - Donnie Fritts

© Danor Music, BMI

I can hear the wind a blowing in my mind
Just the way it used to sound through the Georgia pines
You were there to answer when I called
You and me Lord knows we had it all

Remember how I used to touch your hair
While reaching for a feeling that was always there
You were the best thing in my life that I recall
You and me we had it all

I know that we can never live those times again
So I let my dreams take me back to where we've been
Then I'll stay with you girl as long as I can
Oh it was so good oh so good hmm when I was your man

Never stop believing in your smile
Even though you didn't stay it was all worth while
You were the best thing in my life that I recall
You and me we had it all mhm

**********