Lyrics H-N

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Hard to Believe
by Adam Carroll / Slaid Cleaves . . . ArtMob Music, BMI/Magic Rat Music, BMI
from the CDs Everything You Love Will Be Taken Away and Sorrow & Smoke: Live at the Horseshoe Lounge

We got old time bars still standing on downtown city streets
Old ladies serving drinks inside with no color in their cheeks
Listening to a Haggard song
You can put your old blue collar on
It’s another New Years Eve
It’s hard to believe

Street girls hop from foot to foot, trying to keep warm
Trying to pay down a few bills before the next big storm
On a corner, trembling in the wind
Amazed at the mess they’re in
Wipin’ their noses on their sleeve
It’s hard to believe

I swore I’d leave the day they knocked that old smokestack down
But there’s a guy I need to talk to before I quit this town
Drivin’ past the prison yard
Still got my old Teamsters card
Still waitin’ on my reprieve
It’s hard to believe

When I looked into her smiling eyes I saw dreams so fine
Like the Spirit of Chicago on a lonesome old railroad line
I would have gone with her that day
I just watched her as she drove away
I guess one of us had to leave
It’s hard to believe

Here comes another blown up kid from over there
Making the whole world safe for the millionaires
The same old swindle hides
Behind a fresh new coat of lies
It’s no time to be naive
It’s hard to believe

We got old time bars still standing on downtown city streets
Old ladies serving drinks inside with no color in their cheeks
Listening to a Haggard song
You can put your old blue collar on
It’s another New Years Eve
It’s hard to believe

 

Hearts Break
by Slaid Cleaves . . . Happy Valley Music, BMI
from the CD Wishbones

Get out of bed, put on your shoes
Make some coffee, catch the news
There’s people dyin’, cryin’, singing the blues
In every age of the centuries’ span
Wise men try to understand
Why sorrow is forever the song of man

Hope lives in the hearts of men
Hatred creeps in now and again
I hate to tell you kid, but it’ll never end
The women cry as the men kill
Always have and always will
You know we’re never gonna run out of blood to spill

Hearts break, hearts mend
Pick up the pieces, you get up again
The sun comes up and the sun goes down
That’s just the way the world goes round

Lions kill and rabbits run
Men make bread and butter and guns
Death comes around to visit everyone
Empires crumble and fall from the
Twin towers to the wailing wall
One thing remains: the terrible beauty of it all

Hearts break, hearts mend
The river flows around the bend
The sun comes up and the sun goes down
That’s just the way the world goes round

Hearts break, hearts mend
Hope lives in the hearts of men
The Sun comes up and the sun goes down
That’s just the way the world goes round

Hearts break, hearts mend
Pick up the pieces, you get up again
Sun comes up and the sun goes down
That’s just the way the world goes round

 

Horses
by Slaid Cleaves . . . Happy Valley Music, BMI
from the CDs Wishbones and Sorrow & Smoke: Live at the Horseshoe Lounge

I met Willie by the still, he was brewin’ a batch
He had a short cigar and one last match
He was tellin’ me ’bout his latest trouble with the government
He had child support and alimony
He was looking depressed and kinda lonely
Just trying’ to figure out where all his hard earned money went

“Well I’ll be go to Hell,” he said,
“I got nothing but a Ford and a barn full of hay
If it weren’t for horses and divorces
I’d be a lot better off today”

Well I said, “Willie, that sounds like a song”
He said, “Son you know you might not be all wrong
Could you give me a little piece of the pie if you make it a hit?
I got a ’51 Ford I’d like to fix up
I got 2 sick ponies and one sick pup
And my third wife’s coming today to take my TV set”

“Well I’ll be go to Hell,” he said,
“I got nothing but a Ford and a barn full of hay
If it weren’t for horses and divorces
I’d be a lot better off today”

Well God bless poor old Willie McCann
You know he’s always been a good hard working man
He bought me a beer last night down at the Lost and Found
He said, “Horses and women are fine sure ’nuff
But if you don’t treat ‘em right things are gonna get rough
Believe me, I’ve got these four year marriages down”

“Well I’ll be go to Hell,” he said,
“I got nothing but a Ford and a barn full of hay
If it weren’t for horses and divorces
I’d have a lot more money, and less grey hair
I might even be a millionaire
If it weren’t for horses and divorces
I’d be a lot better off today”

 

Horseshoe Lounge
by Slaid Cleaves / Karen Poston . . . Happy Valley Music, BMI/Pistol Girl Music, BMI
from the CDs Broke Down and Sorrow & Smoke: Live at the Horseshoe Lounge

Ricky got the quarters for the table and broke
While I pulled hard on the sorrow and smoke
Raising up my bottle I looked for a chance
As you set your glass down on the bar with a glance at me

Down at the Horseshoe Lounge
Shuffleboard and neon light
Down at the Horseshoe Lounge
Cigarettes and whiskey tonight

Ricky said, “She’s out of your league, let her go”
As I watched you pick your partner on that old dance floor
I know it didn’t work out the first time we tried
But I’d do anything to have you by my side again

Down at the Horseshoe Lounge
Peel the label off a Miller lite
Down at the Horseshoe Lounge
I sit here thinkin’ ’bout you every night

Were you the one who faltered?
Was I the one who strayed?
Maybe God left us out of the plans he made

So here’s to missed beginnings and things that never start
For these are the ghosts that run around in my heart
When I see that where I’m going isn’t where I want to be
I get the urge to look you up, see if you would come and meet me

Down at the Horseshoe Lounge
Hey buddy, have you got a light?
Down at the Horseshoe Lounge
One more and I’ll be all right

Down at the Horseshoe Lounge
Peel the label off a Miller lite
Down at the Horseshoe Lounge
I sit here thinkin’ ’bout you every night

Ricky got the quarters for the table and broke
While I pulled hard on the sorrow and smoke

 

I Feel the Blues Moving In
by Del McCoury . . . Happy Valley Music, BMI
from the CD Broke Down

The last letter that you wrote
Was on a blue piece of paper
That old feeling’s back
The clouds are moving in

Though the miles are between us
I thought our love would strengthen
As it had so many times before
But something has happened
I can see it in your writing
I can tell my world is crumbling
And the blues are at my door

The last letter that you wrote
Was on a blue piece of paper
That old feeling’s back
The clouds are moving in
The beginning of the end is near
I fear your love is fading
In the darkness
It seems to have no friend
I feel the blues moving in

Oh it’s not the words you wrote
That made me sad and broken hearted
And put me in this sad shape I’m in
Between the lines are mixed emotions
There’s teardrops on the paper
And you said, “That’s all I’ll write today”
“I’ll close for now as friends”

The last letter that you wrote . . .

Oh this state of mind is desperate
And the hole that I’m sinking in
Gets deeper while I’m diggin’ to get out
Oh please give the right answer
To the questions I’m asking
If you told me that you loved me
It would turn my world about

The last letter that you wrote . . .

 

Jennie’s All Right
by Slaid Cleaves / Rod Picott . . . Happy Valley Music, BMI/Welding Rod Music, BMI
from the CD No Angel Knows

Jennie had a little trouble back when
Home to home and back again
Now it’s job to job and that’s how it goes
Holding on to secrets nobody knows

Hey, hey, Jennie’s all right
Just to find someone to hold through the night
Hey, hey, Jennie’s okay
A-rollin’ and a-tumblin’ through to the daylight

Jennie’s new job keeps her in line
She’s out all night but she’s in at nine
Jennie knows this life is gonna end
And she’ll be back on the street again

Hey, hey, Jennie’s all right
Just to find someone to hold through the night
Hey, hey, Jennie’s okay
A-rollin’ and a-tumblin’ through to the daylight

She’s been waiting her whole life through
She’s been waiting so long
She still waits to see what the morning light brings
She gets up to see if the daylight shows
Those bright shiny things
See if this bird sings

Jennie caught his come-on just about there
Between her third margarita and Eddie’s third beer
She never gave a second to how she’d get home
Too short on love and too long alone

Hey, hey, Jennie’s all right
Just to find someone to hold through the night
Hey, hey, Jennie’s okay
A-rollin’ and a-tumblin’ through to the daylight

 

Key Chain
by Slaid Cleaves . . . Happy Valley Music, BMI
from the CDs Broke Down and Sorrow & Smoke: Live at the Horseshoe Lounge

I had plenty of keys
On my key ring
A beautiful home
I had everything
With a lovin’ wife
And a car to drive
I came home from work
Every day at five

And one by one
I started losin’ them keys
My darling wife
I just couldn’t please
My boss got on
My nerves one day
I knew that I
Was on my way

I lost my wife, I lost my home
Quit my job, and set out alone
With just one key on my key chain
I’m gonna start all over again

Well she finally decided
We just couldn’t be
She wanted things
I just couldn’t see
She said, “I’m tired”
“Of waiting around”
She took the last
Train out of town

I lost my wife, I lost my home
Quit my job, and set out alone
With just one key on my key chain
I’m gonna start all over again

Well the bankers came
And took the key to my home
Just one key left
From all I ever owned
I’m turning that key
Lettin’ out the clutch
I never did like
This town that much

I lost my wife, I lost my home
Quit my job, and set out alone
With just one key on my key chain
I’m gonna start all over again

 

Last of the V-8′s
by Slaid Cleaves . . . Happy Valley Music, BMI
from the CD No Angel Knows

In these hard times, everything’s breakin’
There ain’t much left, every seat’s taken
And you wonder why we seem a little down
Well come with me girl, hold my hand
And we’ll ride through this used up forsaken land
I got a V-8 engine, and I love to hear the sound

With blood and bone and wood and steel
We fight against time and it’s a losing deal
Can’t you see it slippin’ by fast
Baby don’t you know we’re the last of the V-8′s baby
Can’t you see we’re the last of the V-8′s now

Just one old man tryin’ to figure
Why another’s hand is ever on the trigger
He’s tired of living, living under the gun
This world ain’t ours, you know it well
We’ve been left with nothing but a story to tell
And we’ll speak it softly through the streets of the broken town

With blood and bone and wood and steel
We try to remember what we used to feel
Can’t you see it slippin’ by fast
Baby don’t you know we’re the last of the V-8′s baby
Can’t you see we’re the last of the V-8′s now

Our pride’s been broke, our innocence stolen
There’s not much hope, but we’re not beholden
To anyone here, we’re all on our own
We’ll keep on riding this junkyard machine
As long as there’s highways and cheap gasoline
We ain’t finished yet, but we’re still so far from home

With blood and bone and wood and steel
We fight against time and it’s a losing deal
Can’t you see it slippin’ by fast
Baby don’t you know we’re the last of the V-8′s baby
Can’t you see we’re the last of the V-8′s now

 

Look Back At Me
by Slaid Cleaves / Laura Nadeau . . . Happy Valley Music, BMI
from the CD No Angel Knows

What if I told you it’s OK
What if I took your breath away
You’d follow me, I know you would
What if I prove I’m worthy of
The price you pay to earn my love
I’m savin’ myself for you

When you walk by my doorstep baby
I can’t help watching you I’m waiting to see
‘Cause you just might look back at me

Maybe you’ll answer all my prayers
Maybe you’ll stop at the foot of my stairs
And talk to me ’bout the sunny day
Maybe I’ll write you a lovin’ song
Maybe I’ll love you all night long
I’m savin’ myself for you

When you walk by my doorstep baby
I can’t help watching you I’m waiting to see
‘Cause you just might look back at me

 

Lost
by Slaid Cleaves / Kent Finlay . . Magic Rat Music. BMI/Paper Napkin Music, BMI
From the CD For the Brave and Free

Prince Charming was just around the corner
You never thought he’d fail to appear
Dressed in white you sat there and you waited
While the days turned into months, turned into years
Now you pay the price and it ain’t pretty
The cool autumn nights are getting long
The boys don’t come knocking any longer
Roses fade like memories when the summer’s gone

And it’s a poor crying shame when you get down
To the last damn coin that you can toss
It’s a wonder how far you can travel
Before you realize that it’s late and you’re lost

Well you get up every morning to shuffle on
To a job that drags you down year by year
You work so hard you never notice
That you work to hide the doubt and numb the fear
But time does not like to be cheated
And when he catches up to you he won’t be kind
You’ll remember the life you used to dream of
Then you’ll know that time was never on your side

And it’s a shame when you get down to your last chance
When going on don’t seem worth the cost
It’s a wonder how far you can travel
Before you realize that it’s late and your lost

 

Lydia
by Karen Poston . . . Pistol Girl Music, BMI
from the CDs Broke Down and Sorrow & Smoke: Live at the Horseshoe Lounge

Lydie lit a cigarette today
Ancient fumbling fingers in her way
From a forty-year-old coffee cup she sipped a bit of gin
Closed her eyes and let the memories in

She lives in the old place all alone
Keeps in touch with neighbors by the phone
Grows herbs upon the graves of her first born and his father
And the coal trucks never bothered her

Oh, Lydie let him go, the boy is gone
Her mother struggled as she tore him from her arms
Oh, Lydia, your tears are heaven’s rain
But she never was the same

A cotton dress and satin shoes
Indian summer sun, dressed in amber hues
Spending time with a coal miner’s son
To an old-time fiddle tune

The months blew by just like a breeze that year
They wed in June and by the fall the boy was here
Word come down from big stone, there’s a fire in the mine
And eleven men they couldn’t find

Oh, Lydie let him go, the boy is gone
Her mother struggled as she tore him from her arms
Oh, Lydia, your tears are heaven’s rain
But she never was the same

She watched them pull him from the hole
The overalls he wore were blackened by the smoke
Lydie twice had had this dream and twice it had come true
And when she saw his father’s boots she knew

Oh, Lydie let him go, the boy is gone
Her mother struggled as she tore him from her arms
Oh, Lydia, your tears are heaven’s rain
But she never was the same

Lydie lit a cigarette today
Ancient fumbling fingers in her way
From a forty-year-old coffee cup she sipped a bit of gin
Closed her eyes and let the memories in

 

Marty
by Slaid Cleaves . . . Magic Rat Music, BMI
From the CD For the Brave and Free

Marty took a little too much acid, so they say
But that ain’t the reason that he’s slow
Marty’s thirty but you know he hasn’t aged a day
Since he found his mother sixteen years ago

Marty’s mother was a socialite who should’ve married well
But she settled for the preacher in our town
This preacher’d been to Harvard and he didn’t believe in hell
They bought a haunted house and settled down

They raised the family proper, and the kids grew up just fine
They left their happy home one by one
Marty was the last one born in 1959
Eight years after mother figured she was done

Now Marty’s mother loved this baby and she kept a careful guard
Watching over him wherever he would go
So it comes as no suprise that little Marty took it hard
When he found his mother on the kitchen floor

Marty took a little too much acid, so they say
But that ain’t the reason that he’s slow

 

Monster In Law
by Slaid Cleaves . . . Magic Rat Music, BMI
From the EP Holiday Sampler

My girl and I settled down
We were as happy as we could be
We thought we were doing all right
But her momma just didn’t agree
No matter how I try to please her
She’s the meanest woman you ever saw
Lordy she ain’t my momma she’s my monster in law

Monster in law
She’s got breath of fire
Calls me a bum and a liar
She’s always pickin’ a fight
I can’t do nothin’ right
She’s gonna track me down start wagging her jaw
Lordy she ain’t my momma she’s my monster in law

Her daughter’s pure as the driven snow
And she deserves a shining white knight
But she ended up with me somehow
And momma won’t give up without a fight
I know that I’m not perfect
But she picks on my every flaw
Lordy she ain’t my momma she’s my monster in law

Monster in law
Fe fi fo fum
She’s big and mean as they come
Gives me the evil eye
Get on your broom and fly, fly, fly

She’s got a hair on her chin, a wart on her nose
On her back is big old hump
And I know if I reached out a hand to her
I’d pull back a bloody stump

Monster in law
She’s like a bad dream
She makes me want to scream
She’s coming round the bend
I’ll hit the road again
I see her arch her back and sharpen up each claw
Lordy she ain’t my momma she’s my monster in law

 

New Years Day
by Slaid Cleaves . . . Happy Valley Music, BMI
from the CDs Wishbones and Sorrow & Smoke: Live at the Horseshoe Lounge

You might think there’s nothing left but ashes
In a box on a table at Crosby’s Bar
But there’s more than meets the eye
You didn’t leave us when you died
Your spirit will live on in what we do and who we are

Aunt Betty’s gonna tell us stories ’bout the family
Daughter Susan is gonna sing your favorite song
Cousin Perry will spend the day
Tellin’ tales of the blue and grey
And the Cajun will keep on pickin all night long

We’ll be putting down the briskett and tequila
Down in Kerrville with the seekers of the shade
Coz a piece of you lives on
Not only in this song
But in all the lives you touched and every friendship that you made

We’re gonna go up to Maine, eat some clams and lobsters
Bite the worm down in sunny Cancun bay
We’ll be home by Christmas eve
Tellin’ tales you won’t believe
And we’ll swim in Barton Springs on New Years Day

Well Greg’s gonna walk the aisles up at Carlisle
Bringing smiles just like you used to do
Uncle Dave’s got a whiskey toast
I’ll be driving coast to coast
And your smilin’ face will live on in the heart of widow Sue

We’re gonna jump across the mighty Mississippi
Way up north where it’s just a little stream
Brother Bill’s gonna keep an eye
On the kin you left behind
For you taught us how to live and you showed us how to dream

We’re gonna go up to Maine, eat some clams and lobsters
Bite the worm down in sunny Cancun bay
We’ll be home by Christmas eve
Tellin’ tales you won’t believe
And we’ll swim in Barton Springs on New Years Day

We’re gonna go up to Maine, and suck on the heads of lobsters
Like a Cajun, gone home to Frenchman Bay
We’ll be home by Christmas eve
Tellin’ tales you won’t believe
And we’ll swim in Barton Springs on New Years Day

 

No Angel Knows
by Slaid Cleaves . . . Happy Valley Music, BMI
from the CDs No Angel Knows and Sorrow & Smoke: Live at the Horseshoe Lounge

On a desert highway, an old chevrolet
My engine dyin’, tryin’ to get away
Thinkin’ ’bout the consequences of the road I chose
Now I know what no angel knows

She was no angel, a woman of the world
I thought I’d learn from this mystery girl
She pulled a diamond from this heart of coal
Now I know what no angel knows

No angel knows the sin of a broken vow
No angel knows the suffering of love
No angel knows the shame of a fallen man
Now I know what no angel knows

I held her close with all my might
I held her ’till her face turned white
Now my heart sleeps where the cold wind blows
Now I know what no angel knows

Faith walks on water, hope brings it home
I never thought I’d end up alone
I once had a true heart, that was long ago
Now I know, now I know

No angel knows the sin of a broken vow
No angel knows the suffering of love
No angel knows the shame of a fallen man
Now I know what no angel knows
I once had a true heart, that’s how it goes
Now I know what no angel knows

 

Not Going Down
by Slaid Cleaves / Rod Picott . . . Happy Valley Music, BMI/Welding Rod Music, BMI
from the CD No Angel Knows

We were born in a dying town
Where desperate souls just hang around
Waiting for a reason to believe
The young get old and the old they stay
And slowly they just fade away
But I’m not going down that way, no I’m not going down

‘Cause I’ve been the loser desperate to win
And I’ve tasted snake oil and I’ve tasted sin
I’ve stumbled through the darkness on the outskirts of town
But I’m not going down that way, no I’m not going down

I met a waitress out on 95
She lived her life like throwing dice
Her habit finally took the best of her
She drew me in day by day
Yeah, love’s a drug, that’s what they say
But I’m not going down that way, no I’m not going down

‘Cause I’ve been the loser depserate to win
And I’ve tasted my share of snake oil and sin
I’ve stumbled through the darkness on the outskirts of town
But I’m not going down that way, no I’m not going down

Let it go . . .

You flash that shiny golden smile
You say it’ll be all right in a while
But I’m not about to shake your hand
Yes I’ve made promises I couldn’t keep
And I’ve lost a couple of nights of sleep
But I’m not going down with you, no I’m not going down

‘Cause I’ve been the loser desperate to win
And I’ve tasted snake oil and I’ve tasted sin
I’ve stumbled through the darkenss on the outskirts of town
But I’m not going down that way, no I’m not going down

Let it go . . .

 

November Skies
by Mark Farrington, BMI
From the EP Holiday Sampler

Across the road down at the bottom of the field
There’s a rusty tractor, used to read “John Deere”
It’s been there since my daddy’s daddy was a boy
The engine quit, and there she sits
Like an old forgotten toy

Further on down where the white birches grow
Grandpa used to take me for his favorite evening show
He said he liked to watch the leaves fall from the trees
I kinda think he just liked being with me

I used to think that time was something that never changed
I used to think that life was always easy
Now I know that seasons change and so must I
And I’ve grown to love November skies

November Skies, smile down on me
Let the winds of change come set me free
November skies, try to ease my tired mind
‘Cause I know that the winter winds aren’t far behind

I used to tag along while Grandpa did his chores
I can still remember that squeaky old barn door
Seems I’d always end up getting in his way
He’d just shake his head and smile
And he always let me stay