Tom T. Hall - In Search Of A Song (2007) by Tom T. Hall (보컬) on maniadb.com

I remember the year that clayton delaney died
They said for the last two weeks that he suffered and cried
It made a big impression on me, although I was a barefoot kid
They said he got religion at the end and I'm glad that he did

Clayton was the best guitar picker in our town
I thought he was a hero and I used to follow clayton around
I often wondered why clayton, who seemed so good to me
Never took his guitar and made it down in tenn-o-see

Well, daddy said he drank a lot, but I could never understand
I knew he used to pick up in ohio with a five-piece band
Clayton used to tell me, "son you better put that old guitar away,
There ain't no money in it, it'll lead you to an early grave."



I guess if I'd admit it, clayton taught me how to drink booze
I can see him half-stoned a-pickin' out the lovesick blues
When clayton died I made him a promise, I was gonna carry on somehow
I'd give a hundred dollars if he could only see me now

I remember the year that clayton delaney died
Nobody ever knew it but I went out in the woods and I cried
Well, I know there's a lotta big preachers that know a lot more than I do
But it could be that the good lord likes a little pickin' too
Yeah, I remember the year that clayton delaney died

I met him in a hospital about a year ago
And why I still remember him I guess I'll never know
He'd lie there and cry out in a medicated fog,
"Here I am in this dang bed and who's gonna feed them hogs?"

"Four hundred hogs, they just standin' out there
My wife can't feed 'em and my neighbors don't care
They can't get out and roam around like my old huntin' dogs
Here I am in this dang bed and who's gonna feed them hogs?"

His face was lean and his hands were rough
His way was hogs and his nature was tough
His doctors tried to tell him that he may not live at all
But all he ever talked about was who's gonna feed them hogs

"Four hundred hogs, they just standin' out there
My wife can't feed 'em and my neighbors don't care
They can't get out and roam around like my old huntin' dogs
Here I am in this dang bed and who's gonna feed them hogs?"

Four hundred hogs comes to eight hundred hams
And that's a lot of money for a hog-raisin' man
Four hundred hogs comes to sixteen hundred feet
The market's up and there are people a-waitin' on that meat

Well, the doctors say they do not know what saved the man from death
But in a few days he put on his overalls and he left
That's all there is to this small song but waitress, before you leave,
Would you bring me some coffee and a hot ham sandwich, please?

Four hundred hogs they're just standing out there
His wife couldn't feed 'em and his neighbors didn't care
They couldn't get out and roam around like his old huntin' dogs...

Tossed and turned the night before in some old motel
Subconsciously recallin' some old sinful thing I'd done
My buddy drove the car and those big coal trucks shook us up
As we drove on into Hyden in the early morning sun

Past the hound dogs and some domineckered chickens
Temporary-lookin' houses with their lean and bashful kids
Every hundred yards a sign proclaimed that Christ was coming soon
And I thought, "Well, man, he'd sure be disappointed if he did."

On the way we talked about the 40 miners
Of the 39 who died and one who lived to tell the tale
We stopped for beans and cornbread at the Ed & Lois Cafe
Then went to see the sherrif at the Leslie County Jail

They took us to the scene of that disaster
I was so surprised to not find any sign of death at all
Just another country hillside with some mudholes and some junk
The mines were deadly silent like a rathole in the wall

"It was just like being right inside of a shotgun."
The old man coughed and lit a cigarette that he had rolled
Back in town I bought a heavy jacket from a store
It was sunny down in Hyden but somehow the town was cold

The old man introduced the undertaker
Who seemed refreshed despite the kind of work I knew he did
We talked about the pretty lady from the Grand Ole Opry
An' we talked about the money she was raisin' for the kids

Well, I guess the old man thought we were reporters
He kept reminding me of how his simple name was spelled
Some lady said, "They worth more money now than when they's a-livin'. "
And I'll leave it there 'cause I suppose she told it pretty well

Have you read any good telephone books lately?
If you ain't then let me recommend one
I've already read that Tulsa telephone book through thirteen times
If you don't know any last names it ain't much fun

Readin' that Tulsa telephone book, can drive a guy insane
Especially if that girl you're lookin' for has no last name
I gotta find her and tell her, I don't want our love to end
So I'm readin' that Tulsa telephone book again

Well, I was in Tulsa and didn't have anything goin'
She lived in Tulsa and didn't have anything on
She said, "My name is Shirley," and I said, "My name is T."
I woke up the next mornin' and she was gone

All of the Tulsa operators know my voice now
And they gotta know how long I've been alone
If you meet a girl named Shirley with some ribbons in her hair
Would you tell her that she's wanted on the phone

Readin' that Tulsa telephone book, can drive a guy insane
Especially if that girl you're lookin' for has no last name
I gotta find her and tell her, I don't want our love to end
So I'm readin' that Tulsa telephone book again

I'm readin' that Tulsa telephone book again

The Iowa weather was 13 below
I had come to Des Moines for a radio show
I awoke in the evening from a traveler's sleep
With notions of something to eat

The old elevator slid down past the floors
My head and my eyes said "You should have slept more."
The man at the desk said the restaurant was closed
Outside it was 14 below

The lounge was still open and so I walked in
In place of my food I had two double gins
I looked 'round the room, as a tourist would do
That's when I saw the girl in the booth

She sat there and cried in the smoky half-dark
The silent type crying that tears out your heart
Her clothes were not cut in the new modern way
And her suitcase had seen better days

Nobody asked her what caused her such pain
Nobody spoke up, yet no one complained
Without even asking, I knew why she cried
Life is just like that sometimes

The man at the desk said, "It's 15 below."
The bellhop said "Yeah man, that's cold...that's cold."
I went back to my room and I wrote down this song
Oh it sure can get cold in Des Moines

Oh, the little lady preacher from the limestone church
I'll never forget her, I guess
She preached each sunday mornin' on the local radio
With a big black Bible and a snow-white dress

She was 19 years of age and was developed to a fault
But I will admit she knew the Bible well
A little white lace hanky marked the text that she would use
She'd breathe into that microphone and send us all to hell

She had a guitar picker by the name of luther short
A hairy-legged soul lost out in sin
She would turn and smile at luther when the program would commence
With a voice as sweet as angels she would break out in a hymn

I was pickin' for her too with what we call the doghouse bass
I clung to every word that passed her lips
She was down on booze and cigarettes and high on days to come
And she'd punctuate the prophecy with movements of her hips


The lord knows how I loved her, he was there each time she preached
But ol' luther took her home each sunday morn'
Lookin' back I still recall the way it hurt my tender pride
I longed to be a hero but they're made not born

Sometimes ol' luther showed up at the studio half-tight
And smokin' was a thing he liked to do
She never said a word to him but said a prayer for me
I told her in a way that I'd been prayin' for her too

One sunday her old man showed up and said that she was gone
Said she and brother luther had a call
I can see me standin' in that studio that day
I had to face the heartbreak, unemployment and all

I don't know where they are 'cause I ain't seen them people since
Lord if I judge 'em let me give 'em lots o' room
I know ol' luther short and he's a hard ol' boy to change
And I've often sat and wondered who it was converted whom

I got off the airplane 'long about 7:30 in L.A.
What a drag to realize that everything's so different and so same
All my California friends are searchin' for their minds and it's been right there in their heads all the time

[Chorus]
L.A. Blues, L.A. Blues
You want me to be like you
Well, there ain't no way

California Charlie met me at my room when I got in
We toasted country pickin' and the health of all our good and mutual friends
Before the mornin' came we put a handle on the world and decided that we'd give it to the squirrels

[Chorus]

Soakin' up that sunshine an' eatin' eggs and bacon over light
Sleepin' through the daytime an' contemplatin' sin throughout the night
Please hand me my hat and darlin' give me back my things Ol' T's got a bunch o' songs to sing

[Chorus]

I like California, I wouldn't put it down-- no way
But I heard what you're thinkin' and it ain't exactly what I want to say
Some day California I'll come roarin' back to you if you don't fall in the ocean 'fore I do

[Chorus]

There were signs beside the road like "Jesus Saves"
And "Relieve yourself the fast and gentle way"
I was lookin' for an old man who lived way back in these hills
Who just might have a story I could tell

Pretty soon the blacktop disappeared
I felt the car change to a lower gear
I took a drink of liquor just to chase away the chill
I was 27 miles from Olive Hill

Ahead I saw the bridge where I turned right
A dirt road led straight up a mountainside
I pulled up to a farmhouse I thought I had seen before
An old man and his dog were at the door

They told me this old-timer knew this land
I told him, "Sir, I just don't understand
Why the kids in this state just grow up and move away
And leave the land where they were born and raised."

He said, "Son, you can't make it on this land
Unless you're happy workin' with your hands
There ain't no kids today that wanna stay and work it out
They wanna see the things they hear about."

He said, "I cleared this whole farm off myself
And I'd work it now but time has got my health."
Then starin' out the window restin' in his easy chair
He told me what I'd really come to hear

"You know, son, people used to tell their kids
'Now, I don't want you to have to work the way I did.'
They don't and some will tell you that it's a shame
But you have to think before you place the blame."

I guess we must have talked for half a day
'Til I told him that I'd best be on my way
He shook my hand and said, "I'm glad I met you, Mr. Hall
But I guess there ain't no song here after all."

Yeah, I remember it now, we were kids back then
Livin' down on the farm
We were told that the city
Could only bring us harm

"How far is the city?", somebody said
And, "Oh, that's a great big town"
And Barbara said, "Why, it's a million miles"
And the story got around

It's a million miles to the city
From the hills and valleys we know
It's a million miles to the city
And someday we all wanna go

There was a town nearby but a town is a town
And the city well, that's something else
Our daddy had been to a city
But he never was much help

Why the buildings are taller than Oak trees
Ah, but we knew better than that
Ain't nobody could climb that high
The cities were wide and flat

It's a million miles to the city
From the hills and valleys we know
It's a million miles to the city
And someday we all wanna go

Well, now time has passed and we have grown
And traveled far and wide
The cities have changed the kids we were
We see it in each others eyes

But I'd love to go back to those hills again
To the boy I used to be
Where the leaves and the wind and the whippoorwills
Were part of the land like me

It's a million miles to the city
From the hills and valleys we know
It's a million miles to the city
And someday we all wanna go

It's a million miles to the city
From the hills and valleys we know
It's a million miles to the city
And someday we all wanna go

I was working in Miami for a day or two
I decided I'd look up a girl that I once knew
I bought some flowers and went to see a girl I used to know
The lady at her door said she had married long ago
Times will change and towns will change; there I was alone
And suddenly I wondered, "Would Susie be at home?"
So with the flowers in my hand, I walked toward her gate
Someone touched me on the arm and said, "You'll have to wait."

Then I noticed there were people standing in a line
And some of them were holding pretty flowers just like mine
They explained that Susie had been in an awful crash
Doctors said that she had just a little while to last
When I walked into her room, I felt a sense of shame
But I heard Susie whisper, "I'm awfully glad you came."

She had been the girl that I had always gone to see
When someone that I cared for had been untrue to me
I handed her the flowers and she gently kissed my hand
She said, "Don't be embarrassed; you know I understand."

I said, "Goodbye" and as I bent to kiss her fevered brow
I heard her whisper, "Thank you for the second handed flowers."

Ramona lived just down the hill from us.
She kept the house ger mother drove the bus. (an old yellow school bus)
Ramona had a handicap the neighborhood knew well.
Ramona couldn't speak or couldn't spell. (and that left Ramona at a

Considerable disadvantage among the more fluent)
Although she couldn't write or couldn't talk,
Ramona really had a pretty walk. (a four letter figure)
Because she couldn't write or speak nobody asked her out.

But "bad-eye" Thompson hung around the house. (he was what you'd call a
Familiar figure in the neighborhood)
Well I guess their handicaps were common ground.
'Cause "bad-eye" Thompson always hung around.

He could squint that eye and spit tobacco thirty feet.
Ramona always grinned and stomped her feat.(because,to Ramona this was one of
The finer things in life)
One day Ramona found herself with child.

She couldn't speak. Her mom was going wild.
Confusion reigned for half a day as one could understand.
The county judge came down to lend a hand. (and I think it should be noted in
The interest of justice that the judge was acting in a strictly unofficial Capacity)

The neighbors gathered 'round Ramona's porch.
The judge said, "Understand, this is not a court".
Ramona squealed as all the breathless neighbors gathered 'round......
Then closed one eye and (puh-tui) spat upon the ground.

(And it's a familiar old phrase that "birds of a feather will flock together".
And justice will be done)