| Disc 1 | ||||||
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| 1. |
| 5:19 | 
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My Daddy played poker on a stump in the woods back in his younger days
Prohibition was the talk, but the rich folks walked to the woods where my Daddy stayed Jugs and jars from shiners, these old boys here, they ain't miners They came from the twenty-niners It didn't take a hole in the ground to put the bottom in their face Back in the thirties when the dust bowl dried And the woods in Alabama didn't see no light My Daddy played poker by a hard wood fire Squeezing all his luck from a hot copper wire Scrap like a wildcat fights till the end Trap a wildcat and take his skin Deal from the bottom, put the ace in the hole One hand on the jug but you never do know Son come running You better come quick This rotgut moonshine is making me sick Your Mama called the law and they're gonna take me away Down so far even the Devil won't stay Where I call to the Lord with all my soul I can hear him rattling the chains on the door He couldn't get in I could see he tried Through the shadows of the cage around the forty watt light Daddy tell me another story Tell me about the lows and the highs Tell me how to tell the difference between what they tell me is the truth or a lie Tell me why the ones who have so much make the ones who don't go mad With the same skin stretched over their white bones and the same jug in their hand My Daddy played poker on a stump in the woods back when the world was gray Before black and white went and chose up sides and gave a little bit of both their way The only blood that's any cleaner is the blood that's blue or greener Without either you just get meaner and the blood you gave gives you away |
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| 2. |
| 4:14 |
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The clouds started forming, five o'clock pm
The funnel clouds touched down five miles north of Russellville The siren's were blowing, clouds spat rain And as the thing came through, I swear, it sounded like a train "It came without no warning", said Bobby Jo McLean She and husband Nolen always loved to watch the rain It sucked him out the window, he ain't come home again All she can remember's that it sounded like a train Pieces of that truckstop Litter up the highway I been told And I hear that missing trucker ended up in Kansas Maybe it was Oz The Nightmare Tour ended for my band and me The night, all the shit went down Homecoming concert, the night the tornadoes hit my home town The few who braved the weather got sucked out of the auditorium I can still remember, sound of their applause in the rain As it echoed through them storm clouds, I swear, it sounded like a train |
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| 3. |
| 3:48 |
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I watched the rain; it settled in. We disappeared for days again.
Most of us were staying in, lazy like the sky. The letters flew across the wire filtered through a million liars. The whole world smelled like burning tires the day John Henry died. We knew about that big machine that ran on human hope and steam. Bets on John were far between and mostly on the side. We heard he put up quite a fight. His hands and feet turned snowy white. That hammer rang out through the night the day John Henry died. When John Henry was a little bitty baby nobody ever taught him how to read but he knew the perfect way to hold a hammer was the way the railroad baron held the deed. It didn't matter if he won, if he lived, or if he'd run. They changed the way his job was done. Labor costs were high. That new machine was cheap as hell and only John would work as well, so they left him laying where he fell the day John Henry died. John Henry was a steel-driving bastard but John Henry was a bastard just the same. An engine never thinks about his daddy and an engine never needs to write its name. So pack your bags, we're headed west and L.A. ain't no place to rest. You'll need some sleep to pass the test, so get some on the flight and say your prayers John Henry Ford 'cause we don't need your work no more. You should have known the final score the day John Henry died. |
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| 4. |
| 4:55 |
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Mary Alice had a baby and he looked just like I did
We got married on a Monday and I been working ever since Every week down at the Ford Plant but now they say they're shutting down God damned Reagan in the White House and no one there gives a damn Double Digit unemployment, TVA be shutting soon While over there in Huntsville, They puttin' people on the moon So I took to runnin' numbers for this man I used to know And I sell a few narcotics and I sell a little blow I ain't getting rich now but I'm gettin' more than by It's really tough to make a living but a man just got to try If I died in Colbert County, Would it make the evening news? They too busy blowin' rockets, Puttin' people on the moon Mary Alice quit askin' why I do the things I do I ain't sayin' that she likes it, but what else I'm gonna do? If I could solve the world's problems I'd probably start with hers and mine But they can put a man on the moon And I'm stuck in Muscle Shoals just barely scraping by Mary Alice got cancer just like everybody here Seems everyone I know is gettin' cancer every year And we can't afford no insurance, I been 10 years unemployed So she didn't get no chemo so our lives was destroyed And nothin' ever changes, the cemetery gets more full And now over there in Huntsville, even NASA's shut down too Another Joker in the White House, said a change was comin' round But I'm still workin' at The Wal Mart and Mary Alice, in the ground And all them politicians, they all lyin' sacks of shit They say better days upon us but I'm sucking left hind tit And the preacher on the TV says it ain't too late for me But I bet he drives a Cadillac and I'm broke with some hungry mouths to feed I wish I'z still an outlaw, was a better way of life I could clothe and feed my family still have time to love my pretty wife And if you say I'm being punished. Ain't he got better things to do? Turnin' mountains into oceans Puttin' people on the moon Turnin' mountains into oceans Puttin' people on the moon |
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| 5. |
| 5:26 |
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Life ain't nothing but a blending up of all the ups and downs
Dammit Elvis, don't you know You made your Mama so proud Before you ever made that record, before there ever was a Sun Before you ever lost that Cadillac that Carl Perkins won Mr. Phillips found old Johnny Cash and he was high High before he ever took those pills and he's still too proud to die Mr. Phillips never said anything behind nobody's back Like "Dammit Elvis, don't he know, he ain't no Johnny Cash" If Mr. Phillips was the only man that Jerry Lee still would call sir Then I guess Mr. Phillips did all of Y'all about as good as you deserve He did just what he said he was gonna do and the money came in sacks New contracts and Carl Perkins' Cadillac I got friends in Nashville, or at least they're folks I know Nashville is where you go to see if what they said is so Carl drove his brand new Cadillac to Nashville and he went downtown This time they promised him a Grammy He turned his Cadillac around Mr. Phillips never blew enough hot air to need a little gold plated paperweight He promised him a Cadillac and put the wind in Carl's face He did just what he said he was gonna do and the money came in sacks New contracts and Carl Perkins' Cadillac Dammit Elvis, I swear son I think it's time you came around Making money you can't spend ain't what being dead's about You gave me all but one good reason not to do all the things you did Now Cadillacs are fiberglass, if you were me you'd call it quits |
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| 6. |
| 4:12 |
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George A. was at the movies in December '41
They announced it in the lobby what had just gone on He drove up from Birmingham, back to the family's farm Thought he'd get him a deferment, there's was much work to be done He was a family man, even in those days But Uncle Sam decided he was needed anyway In the South Pacific, over half a world away He believed in God and country, things was just that way Just that way When I was just a kid, I spent every weekend On the farm he grew up on so I guess so did I And we'd stay up watching movies on that black and white TV We watched 'The Sands of Iwo Jima' starring John Wayne Every year in June George A. goes to a reunion Of the men that he served with and their wives and kids and grandkids My great uncle used to take me and I'd watch them recollect About some things that I could not comprehend And I thought about that movie, asked if it was that way He just shook his head and smiled at me in such a loving way As he thought about some friends he will never see again He said, "I never saw John Wayne on the sands of Iwo Jima" Most of those men are gone now but he still goes every year And George A.'s still doing fine, especially for his years He's still living on that homestead in the house that he was born in And I sure wish I could go see him today He never drove a new car though he could easily afford it He'd just buy one for the family, take whatever no one wanted He said a shiny car didn't mean much after all the things he'd seen George A. never saw John Wayne on the sands of Iwo Jima George A. never saw John Wayne on the sands of Iwo Jima |
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| 7. |
| 5:45 |
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Let the night air cool you off.
Tilt your head back and try to cough. Don't say nothing 'bout the things you never saw. Let the night air cool you off. I ain't living like I should. A little rest might do me good. Got to sinking in the place where I once stood. Now I ain't living like I should. Can you hear that singing? Sounds like gold. Maybe I can only hear it in my head. Fifteen years ago we owned that road now it's rolling over us instead. Richard Manuel is dead. God forbid you call their bluff. Like the nightmares ain't enough. Remember when we used to think that we were tough? God forbid you call their bluff. First they make you out to be the only pirate on the sea. Then they say Danko would have sounded just like me. "Is that the man you want to be?" Can you hear that song? It sounds like gold. Maybe I could make it bigger overseas. Fifteen years ago we owned this road now it only gives us somewhere else to leave. Something else you can't believe. Can you hear that singing? Sounds like gold. Maybe I can hear poor Richard from the grave singin' where to reap and when to sow when you've found another home you have to leave. Something else you can't believe. |
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| 8. |
| 4:25 |
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We gonna take you up to McMary county Tennessee
Back in the days when Sheriff Buford Busted around things around there Sheriff Buford Pusser Was tryin to clean up McMary county Tennessee From all them boot leggers that was bringin' crime and corruption And illegal liquor into this little dry county And for his troubles he got ambushed And his wife was murdered and his house got blown up And they made a movie about it called, "Walking tall" This is the other side of that story Well, they caught you smokin' grass And the judge threw the book And I saw a little opportunism in your look You can take it from me, boy Take it from a crook We got friends on the inside And friends on the outside They'll sneak up beside you So keep on their good side I can see you standin' there Starin' down at your shoes Thinkin' 'bout your mom and dad And wonderin' what to do Well you best look inside yourself, boy We're all watchin' you We got friends in jail Who can see you through Boy, don't forget no matter what you do Don't piss off the boys from Alabama You know we won't let it slide Well, they might find your body in the Tennessee river Or they might not find it at all And there'll be no place to run and hide And your family ain't safe at all So don't piss off the boys from Alabama We're keepin' an eye on you Were're keepin' an eye on you Don't piss off the boys from Alabama You better take it like a man Ain't nobody gonna stick anythin' up your ass If you remember who your friends are We got good help down in Franklin county They'll hunt you like a dog You can take your fall or lose it all The choice is up to you I wouldn't piss off the boys from Alabama If I was you If I was you |
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| 9. |
| 6:21 |
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I came to tell my story to all these young and eager minds
To look in their unspoiled faces and their curious bright eyes Stories of corruption, crime and killing, yes it's true Greed and fixed elections, guns and drugs and whores and booze It's been a while since I put on a suit of my own clothes And even longer since I cast my shadow on a church house door They say every sin is deadly but I believe they may be wrong I'm guilty of all seven and I don't feel too bad at all I used to have a wad of hundred dollar bills in the back pocket of my suit I had a .45 underneath my coat and another one in my boot I drove a big ole Cadillac, bought a new one anytime I pleased And I put more lawmen in the ground than Alabama put cottonseed I spent a few years on vacation, sanctioned by the state I mentioned But a man like me don't do no time too hard to come back from The meanest of the mean, I see you lock away and toss the key But they're all just loud mouth punks to me, I've scraped meaner off my shoe Somewhere, I ain't saying, there's a hole that holds a judge The last one that I dug myself And I must admit I was sad to lay him in it, but I did the best I could Once his Honor grows a conscience, well folks, that there just ain't no good There's a pretty girl out there said "Daddy, you stay cool tonight All I need from you is to come home and be here by my side Say what you gotta say to shut their Bibles and their mouths If they was to tie a noose, they'd have to lay their Bibles down" I ain't here to save no souls and even if I could I could never save enough to put back half the ones I took So if they rest in torment you can't say it's cause of me They'd long been bought and paid for like that fool's in Tennessee |
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| 10. |
| 4:40 |
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Now Sheriff Buford Pusser's gotten too big for his britches
With his book reviews and movie deals Down at the car lot makin' public appearances For breakin' up our homes and stills I know he likes to brag how he wrestled a bear But I knew him from the funeral home Ask him for a warrant, he'll say "I keep it in my shoe" That son of a bitch has got to go That son of a bitch has got to go Now they lined up around the block to see that movie And cryin' for his ambushed wife Marvelin' about shot eight times and stabbed seven Some folks can't take a hint They say he didn't take no crap from the State Line Gang Oh, what the hell they talkin' 'bout? I'm just a hard workin' man with a family to feed And he made my daughter cry Said he made my daughter cry "Watch out for Buford", is what they keep on tellin' me But to me he's just another crooked lawman from Tennessee He gets a hot new car to keep us on our toes And that ridiculous stick where the press corp goes And some big time Hollywood actors playin' him on the big screen Watch out for Buford, he's shuttin' down our stills and whores" It ain't like he's all that different from what was there before It wouldn't take my man long to do the job Just a partially sawed through steering rod And I wouldn't have to worry about the good Sheriff anymore Now the funeral's got'em lined up for twenty blocks No one liked that SOB when he's alive But the ruckus he began keeps on spreadin' like a wildfire Not sure if I'm gonna survive Hit an embankment doin' one twenty on a straight away The Lord works in mysterious ways They'll probably make another movie, glorifying what he done But I'll never have to hear them say Watch out for Buford Watch out for Buford |
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| 11. |
| 5:53 |
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Before I could walk, I had a wrench in my hand
I was my Mama's little angel and my Daddy's second chance He went end over end the first year he went pro Lost part of his eyesight and he couldn't race no more But he never lost his touch when he got underneath the hood He knew how to make them run and he knew one day he would See his name in victory lane and engraved on that cup Just like all them other crazy fools with racing in their blood He would put me on his lap when he'd drive and I'd take the wheel He'd say "What do you think about that son? How does she feel? You just wait till them little legs get long enough to reach the gas Once you put her on the floor one time there ain't no turning back" Every Saturday, he'd take me out to the garage He'd take an empty bucket and fill it full of engine parts He's sit me down and pour em out in front of me on the floor I'd have to tell him what each one was and what each one was for We'd jump into the car and go down to the race that night He'd tell me what each driver was doing wrong and what each one did right He could always pick the winner before they ever took a curve #3 might have the car but 43 has got the nerve Before I turned 18 Daddy said "Now pretty soon You'll be old enough to drive but I'll leave it up to you I taught you all about it, taught you everything I know You gotta have a car to do it and you gotta work and buy your own" The first one I bought was a Mustang #2 Nobody kept'em any longer than they kept a pair of shoes They started showing up at every used car lot in town A V-8 on a go-cart, easy terms, no money down Me and Daddy and my uncle took her home and tore her down Checked her out real good, cleaned her up and bored her out Took out all the seats, pulled the carpet off the floor Knocked out all the glass and welded up the doors The first time that I raced my qualifying was a shame I started out way in the back and came back about the same I pulled her in the pit, couldn't look my Daddy in the eye He said "If you quit now son, it's gonna haunt you all your life" It ain't about the money or even being #1 You gotta know when it's all over you did the best you could've done Knowing that it's in you and you never let it out Is worse than blowing any engine or any wreck you'll ever have Since then I've wrecked a bunch of cars and I've broke a bunch of bones It's anybody's race out there and I've learned to race my own I'd shove em in the wall and I'd hit em from behind I'd let them know that I was there, I'd let them know that track was mine It's been several years now since my Daddy passed away But his picture's on my dash every time I go to race I lost more than I won but I ain't gonna give up Till they put me in the ground or Daddy's name's on that cup |
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| 12. |
| 5:24 |
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Let this be a lesson to you, girl
Don't come around where you know you don't belong They're riding on the avenue and probably coming after you And they all look mean and strong Mean and strong like liquor, mean and strong like fear Strong like the people from South Alabama And mean like the people from here Take it from me, we ain't never gonna change And Daddy used to empty out his shotgun shells And fill 'em full of black-eyed peas He'd aim real low and he tear out your ankles Or rip right through your knees There ain't much traffic on the highway There ain't much traffic on the lake 'Cause the ATF and the ABI got everything they could take Didn't take it from me, they didn't take it from me Take it from me We ain't never gonna change We ain't doin' nothin' wrong We ain't never gonna change So, shut your mouth and play along Well, I thought about going in the army I thought about going overseas I wouldn't have trouble with a piss test Only problem is my bad left knee My brother got picked up at Parker's Got him a ride in a new Crown Vic They said that he was movin' on with federal level But they couldn't really make it stick Take it from me We ain't never gonna change We ain't doin' nothin' wrong We ain't never gonna change So, shut your mouth and play along And you can throw me in the Colbert County jailhouse You can throw me off the Wilson Dam But there ain't much difference in the man I wanna be And the man that I really am We ain't never gonna change We ain't doin' nothin' wrong We ain't never gonna change Just shut your mouth and play along We ain't never gonna change We ain't never gonna change We ain't never gonna change We ain't never gonna change |
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| 13. |
| 5:01 |
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Come walk with me through endless time
See what has been and what the future sees Share the wisdom of the old world that has passed Step in a life that's yet to be born You spill the blood Eternal soul I'll show you sights that you would not believe Experience pleasures thought unobtained At one with evil that has ruled before Now smell the stench of immortality You spill the blood Eternal soul Spill your blood, let it run on to me Take my hand and let go of your life Close your eyes and see what is me Raise the chalice, embrace for evermore You've spilt the blood I'll have your soul |
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| 14. |
| 4:59 |
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I got green and I got blues
And everyday there's a little less difference between the two I belly up and disappear Well I ain't really drownin' 'cause I see the beach from here I could take a Greyhound home but when I got there it'd be gone Along with everything a home is made up of So I'll take two what you're havin' and I'll take all of what you got To kill this goddamn lonely, goddamn lonely love Sister, listen to what your daddy says Don't be ashamed of things that hide behind your dress Belly up and arch your back Well I ain't really fallin' asleep I'm fadin' to black And you could come to me by plane, but that wouldn't be the same As that old motel room in Texarkana was So I'll take two of what you're havin' and I'll take all of what you got To kill this goddamn lonely, goddamn lonely love Stop me if you've heard this one before A man walks into a bar and leaves before his ashes hit the floor Stop me if I ever get that far The sun's a desperate star that burns like every single one before And I could find another dream, one that keeps me warm an' clean But I ain't dreamin' anymore, girl I'm wakin' up So I'll take two of what you're havin' and I'll take everything you got To kill this goddamn lonely, goddamn lonely love All I got is his goddamn lonely, goddamn lonely love All I got is his goddamn lonely, goddamn lonely love All I got is his goddamn lonely, goddamn lonely love |
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