1.

(# 21 country hit)

Out Among The Stars

Adam Mitchell

© Warner-Tamerlane Pub, BMI

It's midnight at a liquor store in Texas
Beneath the neon close up has just begun
When a boy walks in the door and points a pistol
He can't find a job but man he's found a gun

But a change of heart before there's confrontation
Lets the old man live and run out in the street
But he knows that soon they'll come with guns blazin'
And already he can feel great relief

Oh how many travelers get weary
Bearing both their burdens and their scars
Don't you think they'd love to stop complaining
And fly like eagles out among the stars

He pictures the arrival of the cruisers
Sees that old familiar anger in their eyes
He knows that when they're shooting at this loser
They'll be aiming at the demons in their lives

Oh how many travelers get weary...

The evening news it carries all the details
He dies in every living room in town
And in his home a bottle's thrown in anger
And his father cries we'll never live this down

Oh how many travelers get weary...
Oh and fly like eagles out among the stars

**********

2.

My Life's Been Grand

Merle Haggard - Gordon Terry

© Tree Pub, BMI

My life's been grand
I've been a hand at livin' it up all the way
I've had good times and bad times and hard times and done time
But life's been a blessing every day

My life's been grand
You know I'd write home and tell 'em
But they wouldn't believe how good my good luck's been
And if it ended today hell I've been all the way

My life's been grand
My life's been grand
I'd write home and tell 'em
But they wouldn't believe how good my good luck's been
And if it ended today I've been all the way
My life's been grand
My life's been grand

**********

3.

Love Keeps Hanging On

Merle Haggard

© Blue Book Music, BMI

Lately I've been losin' the darkness in my hair
The years are catchin' up with you and me but we don't care
We're growin' old together but we won't be alone
In lots of ways we've fallen off but love keeps hanging on

Lately I've been watchin' the strands of time unwind
The years are catchin' up with you and me but we don't mind
We're growin' old together but we won't we won't be alone
In lots of ways we've fallen off but love keeps hanging on

We still love to dance a slow three quarter time
But my old legs won't climb the hills they used to climb
I could be mistaken but our tender years are gone
In lots of ways we've fallen off but love keeps hanging on

I could be mistaken but our tender years are gone
In lots of ways we've fallen off but love keeps hanging on

**********

4.

Why Can't I Cry

Merle Haggard

© Blue Book Music, BMI

Life comes down so heavy sometimes I can't bear it on my shoulders
I can't cry at all my tears won't fall as I get older
Guess I'm goin' through the change I feel so cold and strange
Wish I could fall apart and get it over

Why why can't I cry like you do when I need to
Why why can't I cry when I need to
And God knows I need to oh so bad

A woman can cry so easy you never have to hold the hurt down deep inside you
But I can't let go I can't let it show like you do
Guess I'm goin' through a change I feel so cold and strange
Wish I could just break down and cry like you do

Why why can't I cry like you do when I need to...

**********

5.

Love Don't Hurt Anymore

Merle Haggard

© Blue Book Music, BMI

Love don't hurt every time
Sometimes love can be kind
So don't turn away from these arms of mine
Love don't hurt every time

Love has a mind of it's own
Sometimes it's one way alone
This time could be that once in a lifetime
This feeling we feel coming on

Love don't hurt every time...

So don't turn away from these arms of mine
Love don't hurt every time

**********

6.

Pennies From Heaven

Johnny Burke - Arthur Johnson

© Chappell Co, ASCAP

Everytime it rains it rains pennies from heaven
Don't you know each cloud contains pennies from heaven
You'll find your fortune falling all over town
Make sure that your umbrella is upside down

Trade them for a package of sunshine and flowers
If you want the things you love you must have showers
So when you hear it thunder don't run under a tree
There'll be pennies from heaven for you and me

Everytime it rains it rains pennies from heaven...
Trade them for a package of sunshine and flowers...

**********

7.

Tell Me Something Bad About Tulsa

Red Lane

© Tree Pub, BMI

Love is so beautiful when everything is fine
But when it is like yours and mine
It lives and dies at least ten thousand times

Tell me something bad about Tulsa
How those old oil wells smell in the wind
Tell me something bad about Tulsa
So I won't have to go back believing I belong there again

Eyes as blue as Tulsa sky
I kept getting lost in when I met her
Hair like Oklahoma sand
I could run my hands through forever
But all good things must end
All rivers have to bend
But I keep a runnin' out
And she keeps pullin' me back in

Tell me something bad about Tulsa...

Tell me all the bad things about Tulsa
So I won't have to go back believing I belong there again

**********

8.

The Show's Almost Over

Chuck Howard

© Warner-Tamerlane Pub, BMI

He walked up to the bandstand
And asked me could an old man sit in
And across his face I saw the pain
And I felt it in these words I heard him sing

I can't believe what I see when I look in life's mirror
So many leftover scars from a dreamer's career
I stole from the good life and now it wants payment from me
I've got nothin' but memories and little to give back you see

And the show's almost over let me sing one more song
The world sure looks lonely when the crowd's almost gone
So children you listen hey but don't sing along
‘Cause the mountains are mean boy and the meaning all wrong

He said on my way up I didn't want my woman around
You see I was too busy bathing in the fame I had found
Well now the circus is over won't somebody please tell the clown
And baby I'm sorry forgive me if I let you down

And the show's almost over hey let me sing one more song...
Hey the show's almost over let me sing one more song...

**********

9.

Bleachers

Merle Haggard

© Blue Book Music, BMI

All the wrong plays I've made have come back on my head
And I'm kind of bald in the front
I can't get the team to the goal line no more
So I think I'll just stand back and punt

Football and poker's a whole lot like life
And I'm like a blare that's through
Think I'll cash in my winnings and walk off the green
Come sit in the bleachers with you

The grandstand of life ain't no place for a wife
To be sittin' and sweatin' alone
Can't be no pinch hitter but I'm not a quitter
These are just thoughts of my own

I'm so glad you came to see my last game
You're the one fan who cares how I do
Think I'll turn in my jersey and walk off the field
Come sit in the bleachers with you

There's a time when a winner must give up his chair
Throw in a hand when it's bad
Football and poker's both played on the green
But there's three shades of green and I'm glad

The roar of the crowd don't thrill me enough
My days in the big time are through
Think I'll cash in my winnings and walk off the green
Come sit in the bleachers with you

The grandstand of life ain't no place for a wife...

I'm so glad you came to see my last game...

Think I'll cash in my winnings and walk off the green
Come sit in the bleachers with you

**********

10.

Susie

Merle Haggard

© Blue Book Music, BMI

All you got to do to please me
Is take me in your arms and squeeze me
Susie
And I'll be happy

All you got to do to keep me
Is promise that you'll never cheat me
Susie
And I'll be happy

I don't want a lot
But that don't mean that I'm not choosy
Lotsa little things come before the rains do Susie

All you got to do to please me...
I don't want a lot...
All you got to do to please me...

(Take me in your arms and squeeze me)

**********

11.

(# 58 country hit)

Almost Persuaded

Billy Sherrill - Glenn Sutton

© Al Gallico Music, BMI

Last night all alone in a barroom
I met a girl with a drink in her hand
She had ruby red lips and coal black hair
And a smile that would tempt any man

Then she came and sit down at my table
And as she placed her soft hand on mine
I found myself wanting to kiss her
For temptation was flowing like wine

And I was almost persuaded
To strip myself of my pride
Almost persuaded
To push my conscience aside

Then we danced and she whispered I need you
Take me away from here and be my man
Then I looked into her eyes and I saw it
The reflection of my wedding band

And I was almost persuaded
To let strange lips lead me on
Almost persuaded
But your sweet love made me stop and go home

**********