Drive-By Truckers Album

You were talkin' on that cell phone, driving your Mercedes way too fast
All of the sudden there was this dial tone, you hit the pylons on the overpass
And your whole life passed before you, from the old days and the honky-tonks...
...to that last shot of vodka; and all them miles in between.

George Jones, better leave that cell phone alone
Don't be talkin' as you try to get back home
If you don't change your ways my friend
You'll be singing duets with Tammy again.

Foot down heavy on the pedal, talking to your daughter in the car
Next sound you heard was twisted metal, another dead genius country star
Better get your shit together, everything's been torn in two
Good thing your liver is made of leather, cause we'd all be born in the likes of you

George Jones, better leave that cell phone alone
Don't be talkin' as you try to get back home
If you don't change your ways my friend
You'll be singing duets with Tammy again.

And I heard it on the news, he almost stopped loving her today
Better stay on that riding lawn mower, if you're going to keep carrying on that weight.

George Jones, better leave that cell phone alone
Don't be talkin' as you try to get back home
If you don't change your ways my friend.
George Jones

[No lyrics]

They powered up the city with hydro-electric juice.
Now we got more electricity than we canever use.
They flooded out the hollow and all the folks down there moved out,
but they got paid so there ain’t nothin’ else to think about.

Some of them made their living cutting the timber down,
snaking it one log at a time up the hill and into town.
T.V.A. had a way to clear it off real fast.
Lots of men and machinary, build a dam and drown the rest.

Uncle Frank lived in a cabin down on Cedar Creek,
bought fifteen acres when he got back home from overseas.
Fifteen rocky acres, figured noone else would want,
'till all that backed up water had to have some place to go.

Uncle Frank couldn’t read or write
Never held down a job, or needed one in his life.
They assured him there’d be work for him in town building cars.
It’s already going down.

The cars never came to town and the roads never got built
and the price of all that power kept on going straight uphill
The banks around the hollow sold for lake-front property
where Doctors, Lawyers, and Musicians teach their kids to waterski.

Uncle Frank couldn’t read or write
so there was no note or letter found when he died.
Just a rope around his neck and the kitchen table turned on it’s side

[No lyrics]

Honey, take care of the children, make them do as they’re told
I got a meeting in the morning down at the end of the Goode’s Field Road
Nothing much for a man in my position
A man like me don’t last too long in prison
And all those friends down at Police Department
will act like they never had anything to do with me

Started out down at the junk yard taking orders from a moron
And a man my size don’t like taking orders from anyone
Bought myself an old beat up wrecker, built an empire with my labor brains and sweat
But it’s hard to make an honest living and a man takes any help he gets

Nothing much for a man in my position, a second mortgage and three
college kids’ tuition and all them friends that I helped along the way
Will act like they never had anything to do with me

But you and me, we had us some good times and I’ve always been a family
man deep down. Ain’t much a believer of hiring work from “out of state”
but they’ll be asking questions when I’m found. They’ll be asking
questions when I’m found

Honey, take care of the children, pay the house off when the salvage yard gets sold
And you don’t know nothing when the insurance man asks questions
Bout what went down at the Goode’s Field Road

[No lyrics]

People staring at me as they wheel me
Down the ramp towards my plane
The war is over for me
I've forgotten everything except the pain
Thank you sir, and yes sir, it was worth it
For the ol' red, white and blue
And since I won't be walking
I suppose I'll save some money buying shoes

The bottle hidden underneath the blanket
Over my two battered legs
I can see the stewardess make over me
And ask, "Were you afraid?"
I'll say, "Why no? I'm Superman"
And couldn't find the phone booth quite in time
A GI gets a lot of laughs
He remembers all the funny lines

Mama bake a pie
Daddy kill a chicken
Your son is coming home
11:35, Wednesday night

Mama will be crying and daddy's gonna say
"Son, did they treat you good?"
My uncle will be drunk and he'll say
"Boy, they doing some real great things with wood"
The letter that she wrote me said, "Goodbye"
She couldn't wait and lots of luck
The bottle underneath the blanket
Feels just like an old friend to my touch

I know she'll come and see me
But I bet she never once looks at my legs
Now, she'll talk about the weather
And the dress she wore the July 4th parade
Lord, I love her and I don't believe
This bottle's gonna get her off my mind
I see here in the paper
Where they say the war is just a waste of time

Mama bake a pie
Daddy kill a chicken
Your son is coming home
11:35, Wednesday night

There's a sacrifice you make
There are people along the way
When there's nowhere to run and there's nowhere to stay
And the wheels still move

But won't slow down
Even when you're spinning in the same soft ground
And there's a tear in her eye
Because she's known you too long
And she can't tell the singer from the whorehouse song

When the well runs dry
There's nothing left to say
Just throw up your hands and wail all day
And everything's fair
And you don't like it that way
Something has to die
When the well runs dry

There's a dancer I used to get
By giving her cigarettes
She told me that I hadn't quite hurt enough yet
So I let her do me wrong
But not for very long
Then I put her in the mirror and I put her in a song

When the well runs dry
There's nothing left to say
Throw up your hands and wail all day
And everything's fair
And you don't like it that way
Something has to die
When the well runs dry

Sitting here at the top your will is getting weak
You let my mind get fattened up
Now I'm quiet and I ain't supposed to speak
I'll speak up when I've had enough

A singer we used to know
He let himself go
Played 15 minutes of a sold out show
And everybody laughed
In the aftermath
And he never came back
No he never came back

When the well runs dry
There's nothing left to say
Throw up your hands and wail all day
And everything's fair
And you don't like it that way
Something has to die
When the well runs dry

[No lyrics]

Grandpa pissed his pants again
He don't give a damn
Brother Billy has both guns drawn
He ain't been right since Vietnam

Sweet home Alabama
Play that dead band's song
Turn those speakers up full blast
Play it all night long

Daddy's doing Sister Sally
Grandma's dying of cancer now
The cattle all have brucellosis
We'll get through somehow

Sweet home Alabama
Play that dead band's song
Turn those speakers up full blast
Play it all night long

I'm going down to the Dew Drop Inn
See if I can drink enough
There ain't much to country living
Sweat, piss, jazz and blood

Sweet home Alabama
Play that dead band's song
Turn those speakers up full blast
Play it all night long

Sweet home Alabama
Play that dead band's song
Turn those speakers up full blast
Play it all night long, yeah

Little pony and great big horse went out in a great big truck
great big horse could trot real fast, little pony he could not.

Great big horse could run so fast for so much of his great big life,
great big world he was runnin' in was getting smaller all the time.

But, little pony still saw the great big world just like it was,
Big and funny, lookin', lookin' through big horse's dust.

When little pony caught great big horse he said "what is this I see?"
Great big horse said "I don't know, slow down you, follow me."

Great big horse said "over there's a hill I used to climb."
He took little pony up to the top and they looked down at the lights.

Great big horse said "I ain't seen these lights in so dang long,
I'm sure glad that they're still here, I'd hate it if they's gone."

Little pony snorted and jumped strait up into the air,
great big horse said "settle down" even though he did not care.

Climbin' all those hills made little pony's legs so strong,
he could get to the top 'fore the great big horse knew what was going on..

Great big horse he blamed his great big brown eyes once or twice.
by the time he blinked and saw again, little pony was out of sight.

Little pony and great big horse went out in a great big truck.
Great big horse laid down to rest little pony he did not.

Once upon a time, you dressed so fine
Threw the bums a dime in your prime, didn't you?
People'd call, say, "Beware doll, you're bound to fall"
You thought they were all kiddin' you

You used to laugh about everybody that was hangin' out
Now you don't talk so loud, now you don't seem so proud
About having to be scrounging around for your next meal

How does it feel, how does it feel
To be on your own with no direction home?
Like a complete unknown, like a rolling stone

You've gone to the finest school all right, Miss Lonely
Don't you know you only used to get juiced in it?
Nobody has ever taught you how to live on the street
Now you find out you're gonna have to get used to it

You said you'd never compromise
With the mystery tramp but now you realize
He's not selling any alibis
As you stare into the vacuum of his eyes
And say,"Do you want to make a deal?"

How does it feel, how does it feel
To be without a home, with no direction home?
Like a complete unknown, like a rolling stone

You never turned around to see the frowns
On the jugglers and the clowns
When they all came down and did tricks for you
You never understood that it ain't no good
You should never let other people get your kicks for you

You used to ride on the chrome horse with your diplomat
Who carried on his shoulder a Siamese cat
Ain't it hard when you discover that
He really wasn't where it's at?
After he's taken everything he could steal

How does it feel, how does it feel
To be without a home, with no direction home?
Like a complete unknown, like a rolling stone

Princess on the steeple and all the pretty people
Drinkin', thinkin' that they got it made
Exchanging all precious gifts and things
But take your diamond ring down and pawn it, babe

You used to be so amused
At Napoleon in rags and the language that he used
Go to him now, he calls you, and you can't refuse
When you ain't got nothing, you got nothing to lose
You're invisible, you got no secrets to conceal

How does it feel, how does it feel
To be without a home, with no direction home?
Like a complete unknown, like a rolling stone