Billy Dean Album

(Billy Dean/David Gates)

Tennessee, Oh Tennessee
Lord there's nothing like a fall in Tennessee
It was a Smokey Mountain morning, October 25
You know she left here without warning
So I took a long, long drive
Tried to change the state my heart was in
Out of all the places I have been.

Tennessee, Tennessee
There's nothing' like a fall in Tennessee
For a gold old fashioned heartbreak
There's no place I'd rather be
'Cause there's nothin' like a fall in Tennessee.

She must of had her reasons
Was it the chill in the air
I guess lovers have their seasons
Where their souls are layin' bare
It's better now her true colors show
This time of year there's only one place to go.

Tennessee, Tennessee
There's nothing' like a fall in Tennessee
For a gold old fashioned heartbreak
There's no place I'd rather be
'Cause there's nothin' like a fall in Tennessee.

For a good old fashioned heartbreak
Theres no place I'd rather be
'Cause there's nothing like a fall in Tennessee...

(Billy Dean/David Gates)

I was mindin' my own business
When you came in dressed to kill
I knew right then, I was in trouble
But not of my own free will
Now I have to say in my defense
I ain't done nothin' wrong
Just circumstantial evidence
Is all you got me on.

I was just an innocent bystander
Caught up in love
And since when was that a crime
If sayin' that I'm wanting you is slander
And you're all I'm thinkin' of
Then I'll gladly do my time.

There's no jury, their right mind
Would convict someone like me
Cause the way you walk, the way you talk
I could plead insanity
But I'm prepared to tell the whole truth now
I don't need no alibi
You just put me on that witness stand
And I will testify.

I was just an innocent bystander
Caught up in love
And since when was that a crime
If sayin' that I'm wanting you is slander
And you're all I'm thinkin' of
Then I'll gladly do my time.

I was just an innocent bystander
Caught up in love
And since when was that a crime
If sayin' that I'm wanting you is slander
And you're all I'm thinkin' of
Then I'll gladly do my time
I was just an innocent bystander...

(Billy Dean)

I came home from college to see my old man
He was sittin' on the porch swing, with a book in his hand
He stared at my earring, and at my tattoo
He smiled and shook his head and said
It's good to see you
He chose his words carefully cause it was hard for me to come
And he knew I had ta temper and where I got it from
I waited for the sermon, the one I knew so well
But this time he wasn't preachin'
About heaven or hell
He said a real man knows the value of a woman.

A real man has got nothin to prove
He's strenthened by love
And the Lord up above
So do the best that you can
To be a real man.

Could it be that I saw just a glimpse of his soul
Or maybe losin' Mama had just taken it's toll
He gave me his Bible, stained with tears he had cried
And I opened up the cover
Where he wrote inside
And it said.

A real man has got nothin to prove
He's strenthened by love
And the Lord up above
So do the best that you can
To be a real man.

Do the best that you can
To be a real man...

(David Gates/Billy Dean)

You say that love makes you act like a fool
Makes you silly, makes you lose your cool
If that's what it does to you
I'm a fool too.

You daydream like an innocent child
Can't wait to do somethin' foolish and wild
If that's what it does to you
I'm a fool too.

If you're a fool to give in so quickly
To feelings as strong and true
If you're a fool to surrender so easy
To somethin' that's bigger than you
Then I'm a fool too.

You talk for hours on the telephone
Don't want to spend another night alone
If that's what it does to you
I'm a fool too.

You catch yourself just singin' along
To all them old Barry Manilow songs
If that's what it does to you
I'm a fool too.

If you're a fool to give in so quickly
To feeling as strong and true
If you're a fool to surrender so easy
To something that's bigger than you
I'm a fool too...

(Billy Dean/David Gates)

The movers came today
To take out things away
Memories that we held so dear
One by one they're out of here
I hung the "for Sale" sign
On what was yours and once was mine
One last look around to find
Any home we might have left behind
But the emptiness rings true
There's really nothing left to do.

Cause I'm not needed here now
You made it clear to me somehow
If it's not built on love
A home is just a house
So I'll close and clock this door
Not comin' back here anymore
It's time to face the fear
I'm not needed here now.

That's where he said his prayers
And learned to climb the stairs
Every room has history
That holds a part of you and me
In my heart it's getting through
It's tellin' me that without you.

Cause I'm not needed here now
You made it clear to me somehow
If it's not built on love
A home is just a house
So I'll close and clock this door
Not comin' back here anymore
It's time to face the fear
I'm not needed here now.

It's time to face the fear
I'm not needed here now...

(David Gates/Billy Dean)

If I could find the heart to love again
Wouldn't make the same mistakes I did back then
I wouldn't write a day
Or let a moment slip away
To tell her just how much she means to me.

If I could find the one I've waited for
Wouldn't take her love for granted like before
I'd try to recognize
The "want to" in her eyes
And her hopes and dreams I'd hold so carefully
I wouldn't let it fall apart
If I Could find the heart to love again.
If I could find the heart to love again.

I really wouldn't know where to begin
Time is passin' by
Still I'm to afraid to try
If only I could trust like I did then
I would make a brand new start
If I could find the heart to love again.

'Cause what I'm searchin' for
Is that special kind of love
They're just not makin' anymore
That lasts through all the years
The kind of love that lives
Beyond the laughter and the tears.

So I'll just keep on lookin' round the bend
And someday soon I'll reach my journey's end
Together we will grow
With a love we've come to know
And promises we'll keep eternally
I wouldn't let it fall apart
I would make a brand new start
If I could find the heart to love again.
If I could find the heart to love again...

(David Gates/Billy Dean)

You were a little older than me
When you bought me my first beer
You liked my company
For the first time in twenty-one years
I've laughed about the good old days
And how you kicked me out of your room
I guess you went through a phase
As your body was starting to bloom
Now we're grown up as grow-ups can be
Hell, I'm six foot three
But you're still Big Sister to me

When Jimmy Evans broke your heart
It was me he answered to
And then Mom and Dad fell apart
I remember leanin' on you
Now we have our own families
You know our blood runs deep
And you're still Big Sister to me

There's times you got under my skin like a stubborn thorn
And I'm sure there were days
When you wish I had never been born
But the years have drawn us closer somehow
And all that's water under the bridge
There's just miles between us now
And family photos all over the fridge

You call me once a week
With some advice that I don't seek
And if I Live to a hundred and three
You'll still be Big Sister to me...

(Richard Leigh/Billy Dean)
Choir Vocals - St. Nicholas School Children's Choir of
Chattanooga, TN

I found some shade beneath the willow tree
I fell asleep and started dreaming
That everything created here on Earth
All had voices singing.

Every rock and every blade of grass
Even the ivy that was clinging
Every leap and every drop of rain
All had voices singing.

It brought the angels down
In my dream so clear
And the Lord sat down.So that He could hear
The sea and waves were rushing to the shore
With the joy that they were bringing
A sound so perfect that it made Him cry
To hear their voices singing.

I could not help but want to add my own
To all the praises that were ringing
And over all the world there fell a hust
To hear my one voice singing.

And as the Lord sat down
The angels hovered near
But they made no sound
So that He could hear
Halleujah, hallelujah, hallelujah,
I heard voices singing.
Halleujah, hallelujah, hallelujah,
I heard voices singing...

(Billy Dean/Richard Leigh)

By my song, you will know the heart that's in me
By my song, you'll know that I am here
Just words and notes together, but
Long after I'm gone
You will know I loved you
By my song.

By my song, you will always be remembered
Yes, you'll live on, just as you are right now
Your eves won't lose their sparkle,
To the ages they'll belong
The world will know I loved you
By my song.

In these simple rhymes of mine
You will stay till the end of time
And in this tune where love abounds
Someday you'll come back around.

By my song, long as love is not forgotten
On and on, we'll sail beyond the years
Just words and notes together
To the ages they'll belong
The world will know I love you
By my song.

You will know I loved you
By my song...

(Billy Dean/Kenny Lewis/Tim Nichols)

She'll poison your heart
And break down your resistance
Like the bite of a rattler
At close striking distance
She'll show you no mercy
And tear you apart
She tempts and she taunts
She flirts and flaunts
She gets what she wants

On nights when she's lonely
She'll just drop by
She won't come out and say it
But it's clear in her eye
Sometimes I hold her
And sometimes I don't
Whenever it goes
As far as I know
She gets what she wants

Oh, and she
She's got em talkin all over town, oh and she
She's not afraid to stand her ground
She gets what she wants.
She gets what she wants...