Johnny Cash Album

(Johnny Cash)

Hello I'm Johnny Cash
One night I had a backstage pass to the Willie Nelson Show

There were wackoes and weirdoes and dingbats and dodoes
And athletes and movie stars and David Allan Coe
There was leather and lace and every minority race
With a backstage pass to the Willie Nelson Show

Kristofferson got an offer for a movie promoters closed another deal or two
Waylon got a call from his son Shooter and he went home the minute he was
through
I moved with the mob at intermission
To the green room where you see who you can see
There were has-been's and would-be's and never-were's
Paupers punks and millionaires and me
And there were wackoes...
[ guitar ]
Hells Angels blocked the traffic to the building
In order for the beer truck to come through
And waitin' in the wings to sing with Willie were hopeful stars of flickering
magnitude
There was a singer Willie knew back in the fifties
Who once paid him fifty dollars for a song
There were women who once did and some who still would
I heard one ask did Connie come along
And there were wackoes...

(Harry Chapin - Sandy Chapin)

My child arrived just the other day he came to the world in the usual way
But there were planes to catch and bills to pay he learned to walk while I was
away
And he was talkin' fore I knew it and as he grew
He'd say I'm gonna be like you dad you know I'm gonna be like you
And the cat's in the cradle and the silver spoon
Little boy blue and the man in the moon
When you comin' home dad I don't know when
But we'll get together then you know we'll have a good time then

My son turned ten just the other day
He said thanks for the ball dad come on let's play
Can you teach me to throw I said not today I got a lot to do he said that's okay
And he he walked away but his smile never dimmed
Said I'm gonna be like him yeah you know I'm gonna be like him
And the cat's in the cradle...

He came from college just the other day so much like a man I just had to say
Son I'm proud of you can you sit for awhile he shook his head and he said with a
smile
What I'd really like dad is to borrow the car keys
See you later can I have them please
And the cat's in the cradle...
[ guitar ]
Now I've lretired my son's moved away I called him up just the other day
I said I'd like to see you if you don't mind
He said I'd love to dad if I can find the time
You see my new job's a hassle and the kids have the flu
But it's sure nice talkin' to you dad it's been sure nice talkin' to you
And as I hung up the phone it occured to me
He'd grown up just like me my boy was just like me

(Johnny Cash)

Well the farmer prayed for a better year
And the crops were good like the Lord did hear
But this barn burned down with winter near
The answer came in white and black in the farmer's almanac
It says if a man could have half his wishes he could double his trouble
A sweet old lady was eighty-four when her kinfolks came for a month or more
Now from overwork she's on the other shore
Much too late was y'all come back and it says in the farmer's almanac
It says visitors and fish smell after three days
Our leader was a silver tongued man he deceived the people of the land
And when he got caught he couldn't stand
It's a little off-beat and a little off-track but it says in the farmer's
almanac
It says in rivers and bad government the lightest things flow to the top

Rod said I don't believe in God Rod died and lies beneath the sod
For God did not believe in Rod
Life is a troubled and a weary track but it says in the farmer's almanac
It says feed your faith and your doubts will starve to death
The little boy followed the honeybee and it flew straight to the honey-tree
He got stung but got the honey free
Consolation for the things you lack is in the farmer's almanac
It says God gives us the darkness so we can see the stars
He came home three hours late from work said I had a flat and fell in the dirt
She said and got lipstick on your shirt
Well it turned out like Jill and Jack and it says in the farmer's almanac
It says lies have to be covered up truth can run around naked

He said honey you know I'm true I just look at other women that's all I do
Then she caught him with her best friend Peggy Sue
Sometimes some women will look back and it says in the farmer's almanac
It says there's a lot of difference in window-shoppin' and shop-liftin'
I sat down at a shoeshine stand I had a real slow shoeshine man
I said you don't pop that rag like some of 'em can
He looked at me and then he sat right back it says in the farmer's almanac
It says the trouble with the world today is

(Johnny Cash)

From the fountains in the mountains comes the water running cool and clear and
blue
And it comes down from the hills and it goes down to the towns and passes
through
When it gets down to the cities then the water turns into a dirty grey
It's poisoned and poluted by the people as it goes along its way
Don't go near the water children see the fish all dead upon the shore
Don't go near the water cause the water isn't water anymore

I took my boy fishin' to my old favorite fishin' hole
I had caught many a fish out of that deep clear water
From the time I was a boy like him
After we'd fished a few minutes he said did you get a bite yet daddy
I said I think I got a nibble son
Me too he said
Then he said daddy if we catch a fish can we eat him
I said well there was a time son
This water's bad now and I might not be safe to eat the fish but there was a
time

There was a time the air was clean and you could see forever cross the plains
The wind was sweet as honey and no one had ever heard of acid rain
We're torturin' the earth and pourin' every kind of evil in the sea
We violated nature and our children have to pay the penalty

(Paul Buskirk - Claude Gray - Walt Breeland)

There's a family Bible on the table each page is torn and hard to read
But the family Bible on the table will ever be my key to memory
At the end of day when work was over and when the evening meal was done
Dad would read to us from the family Bible
And we'd count our many blessings one by one
I can see us sittin' round the table when from the family Bible dad would read
And I can hear my mother softly singing rock of ages rock of ages cleft for me
[ piano ]
This old world of ours is filled with trouble but this old world would also
better be
If we'd find more family Bibles on the tables
And mothers singing rock of ages cleft for me
And I can see us sittin'...

(Chick Rains - Michael M. Murphey)

Harley didn't have no education he could hardly read and write
He was locked into a dead-end occupation his future didn't look too bright
He worked eighteen years on the assembly line
Just gettin' by with a little bit of overtime
And that could be the end of this story of mine but it's just the beginning
Late one night when he was workin' graveyard Harley got himself this big idea
All he's have to do is change one little screw a save millions of dollars a year
So he worked and he saved till he could open his own shop
Money started rollin' in like it wasn't gonna stop
So Harley bought a mountain built a mansion on top
So the losers could see whom was winnin'
Only in America with nothin' but a dream only in America where every man's king

First Harley's daughter Janet found a guru she gave him everything she owned
Then Harley junior joined some kind of rockband
And walked around all day about half stoned
His wife watched TV all the time cause she got bored
Then one day she found a TV preacher she adored
And she gave all of Harley's hard earned money to the Lord
Harley started drinkin' wound up in Betty Ford to see if he could by a happy
ending
Then some kid who worked in Harley's factory he got himself this big idea
Figured out how to do it with compures drove Harley out of business in a year
Now Harley's back working the assembly line
Just gettin' by with a little bit of overtime
But don't count Harley out cause he ain't the quittin' kind
He stares at that computer with one thing on his mind
How to make them things more user-friendly
Only in America...

(Johnny Cash)

I love you love you I love you just in case you know I do
I've done everything I know to do to catch your eye and get a rise from you
I've said everything I know to say till I'm afraid that I'll scare you away
I've tried everything I know to try and if you don't love me I'm gonna die
I'll be anything I need to be to make you want to bring your love to me
Cause I love you love you I love you can't help it that I feel the way I do
I love you love you I love you just in case you know I do
[ guitar ]
I'll quit anything I need to quit or I'll change anything to make it fit
I'll start anything I need to start if that would mean you're givin' me your
heart
I love you love you I love you...

(Elvis Costello)

I'm sorry to say that you don't know me I'm set in way you never understood
Each time I tried to tell the ugly truth
You always let it pass you by you said I'd never tell you a lie just because I
could
Did you really think I was a bad man
You always said that that should be my middle name
But you don't know the half of it you don't know how that name fits
You don't know my hidden shame
Hidden shame shame shame that I can't get free
From the blame and the torture and the misery
Must it be my secret for eternity
Till you know my hidden shame you really don't know me

Well there's a diffrent kind of prison and it don't have to look much like a
cell
It's already on your mind boy we can see it in your eyes
So here's the bars and walls that dwelt
Well you know I'm never comin' home babe
You said you'd stand by me until I cleared my name
Sure it's easy to be strong when you know the charge is wrong
But the days and weeks get long when you've got a hidden shame
Hidden shame shame shame...
[ guitar ]
I've had a friend when I was just a boy we were like brothers we would run and
hide
And we went walking on a high hillside
And I really don't know how it happened
He turned to me and had this strange look in his eyes
And not a single word was spoken I must have pushed him but I don't remember why
And all at once he lay there broken
And I walked out without him and I buried it deep inside
Hidden shame shame shame...

They say you always hurt the one you love and I'm not sayin' if I did or if I
didn't
But like my shame that kind of love is always hidden
They locked me up here for the ideas in my head
They never got me for the thing I really did
Hidden shame shame shame...

(Richard McGibony)

There's a stretch of Highway on Interstate 24 between Nashville and Chattanooga
That's claimed many trucker's life
And your life is in your hands when you start down that long steep grade
On Monteagle Mountain

I just rolled out of Nashville in my big rig headin' south
My eyes are on fire feels like cotton in my mouth
My whole body's achin' but I got to make them big wheels roll
I got to be in Florida by tomorrow morning with a full heavy load
I got to get passed Atlanta as soon as I can tonight
I got to try to dodge the scales and stay out of Smoky's sight
But there's one big thing standin' like a nightmare in my way
I got to top Monteagle Mountain a little bit later today
Goin' down Monteagle Mountain on I-24
It's hell for a trucker when the decil's at your door
He'll tempt you and tell you come on let her roll
Cause the mountain wants your rig and trucker I want your soul

When I started down Monteagle the brakes just wouldn't hold
I knew I was in trouble and bout to lose control
The runaway ramp was waitin' I saw the warnin' sign
I said Lord help me make it have mercy on this soul of mine
Well I ploughed into that runaway ramp and I could feel that bigh truck groan
My life flashed right before my eyes and for a minute I thought I was gone
But when the smoke cleared I thanked God that I was still alive
Cause when there's a runaway on Monteagle some truckers don't survive
Goin' down Monteagle Mountain...
Yeah many a good man had lost his life on Monteagle Mountain it's a long steep
grade

(Mark D. Sanders - Jim Elliott)

There was a showdown at high noon reputations on the line
It was the good guys and the bad guys I was eight and he was nine
And I forgot to keep my back to the wall in Dodge that day
And from somewhere behind me I heard him say
That's one you owe me I let you slide
I can't backshoot a buddy it goes against my pride
So like two desperados we'll ride off in the sun but just remember you owe me
one

It was highschool and football on two different teams
I was good but he was better than I would ever be
And when I finally crossed the goal line ahead of him that day
As the crowd was goin' wild I heard him say
That's one you owe me...

She was long and lean and pretty and soon to be his bride
When she strayed into my arms one day with lovin' on her mind
Well I was almost tempted by her soft touch and her sigh
But the next time I saw him I could look him in the eye
That's one you owe me...

(Tom Russell)

Well I used to hang out down at the VFW hall
And stare at the photographs up on the wall
Of the neighborhood boys that died in the wars we've been through
And the hand lettered sign that said remember Jimmy McGrew
Well Jimmy went to Nam back in 1965
But there's a lot of men here that think Jimmy McGrew's still alive
Though they carved his name on a stone in Washington DC
His brother said that stone don't prove a thing to me
It's veteran's day and the skies are gray
Leave the uniforms home cause there ain't gonna be a parade
But we'll fill up a glass for the ones that didn't make it through
And leave a light in the window tonight for Jimmy McGrew
[ guitar ]
There's a hot rain fallin' on the back streets of Saigon
There's an old soldier stumblin' down the alley with his mama-san
Lord his eyes are cloudy and his arms are black and blue
He's just hangin' by a thread and he looks like Jimmy McGrew
It's veteran's day...
And keep it burnin' bright there may still be a lot of Jimmy McGrews overthere