Steve Earle Album

Hey pretty baby are you ready for me?
It's your good rockin' daddy down from Tennessee
I'm just out of Austin bound for San Antone
With the radio blastin' and the bird dog on

There's a speed trap up ahead in Selma Town
But no local yokel gonna shut me down
'Cause me and my boys got this rig unwound
And we've come a thousand miles from a Guitar Town

Nothin' ever happened 'round my hometown
And I ain't the kind to just hang around
But I heard someone callin' my name one day
And I followed that voice down the lost highway

Everybody told me you can't get far
On thirty-seven dollars and a jap guitar
Now I'm smokin' into Texas with the hammer down
And a rockin' little combo from the Guitar Town

Hey pretty baby don't you know it ain't my fault
I love to hear the steel belts hummin' on the asphalt
Wake up in the middle of the night in a truck stop
Stumble in the restaurant, wonderin' why I don't stop

Gotta keep rockin' why I still can
I gotta two pack habit and a motel tan
But when my boots hit the boards I'm a brand new man
With my back to the riser I make my stand

And hey pretty baby won't you hold me tight
We're loadin' up and rollin' out of here tonight
One of these days I'm gonna settle down
And take you back with me to the Guitar Town

My grandaddy was a miner, but he finally saw the light
He didn't have much, just a beat-up truck and a dream about a better life
Grandmama cried when she waved goodbye, never heard such a lonesome sound
Pretty soon the dirt road turned into blacktop, Detroit City bound
Down that hillbilly highway
That hillbilly highway
Hillbilly highway
Goes on and on

He worked and saved his money so that one day he might send
My old man off to college, to use his brains and not his hands
Grandmama cried when she waved goodbye, never heard such a lonesome sound
But daddy had himself a good job in Houston, one more rollin' down

Down that hillbilly highway
That hillbilly highway
Hillbilly highway
Goes on and on

Grandaddy rolled over in his grave the day that I quit school
I just sat around the house playin' my guitar, Daddy said I was a fool
My mama cried when I said goodbye, I never heard such a lonesome sound
Now I'm standin' on this highway and if you're going my way
You know where I'm bound

[No lyrics]

I could tell it when I woke up this mornin'
'cause I can smell it when a heartache's comin'
Not that I'm in such a hurry to lose you
I'd call you up but there's nothin' that I can do
Talkin' won't do any good anyway
'cause goodbye's all we've got left to say

I don't think that it'll get any better
So maybe you could just write me a letter
And I could open it up when I'm stronger
Another ten or twelve years, maybe longer
Guess I just don't feel much like bad news today
Goodbye's all we've got left to say

Don't try to call me 'cause I'm takin' my phone out
'cause if it rings, I'll know what it's about
And don't you worry 'bout me 'cause I'm alright
Maybe you'll run into me somewhere, some night
And if you do just keep goin' your way
Goodbye's all we've got left to say

I pulled out of Pittsburgh rolling down the Eastern seaboard
I've got my diesel wound up and she's running like never before
There's a speed zone ahead on right and I ain't see a cop all night
Six days on the road and now I'm gonna make it home tonight

I got a ten forward gears and a Georgia overdrive
I take little white pills and my eyes are open wide
I just passed a "Gimmy" and a "White"
I've been smokin' everything in sight
Six days on the road and now I'm gonna make it home tonight

Well it seems like a month since I kissed my baby goodbye
And I can have a lot of women but I'm not like some other guys
I can find one to hold me tight
But I could never make believe it's alright
Six days on the road and now I'm gonna make it home tonight

Now the ICC's been a-checkin' on down the line
I'm a little overweight and my log book's way behind
Nothing bothers me tonight
I can dodge all them scales all right
Six days on the road and now I'm gonna make it home tonight

Well my rig's a little low, but that don't mean she's slow
got the stacks blowin' fire and the smoke's blowing black as coal
My hometown's coming in sight
If you think I'm happy, you're right
Six days on the road and now I'm gonna make it home tonight

There ain't a lot that you can do in this town
You drive down to the lake and then you turn back around
You go to school and you learn to read and write
So you can walk into the county bank and sign away your life
I work at the fillin' station on the interstate
Pumpin' gasoline and countin' out of state plates
They ask me how far into Memphis son, and where's the nearest beer
And they don't even know that there's a town around here

Someday I'm finally gonna let go
'Cause I know there's a better way
And I wanna know what's over that rainbow
I'm gonna get out of here someday

Now my brother went to college cause he played football
I'm still hangin' round cause I'm a little bit small
I got me a 67 Chevy, she's low and sleek and black
Someday I'll put her on that interstate and never look back

I got a job but it ain't nearly enough
A twenty thousand dollar pickup truck
Belongs to me and the bank and some funny talkin' man from Iran
I left the service and got a G.I. loan
I got married bought myself a home
Now I hang around this one horse town and do the best than I can
Gettin' tough
Just my luck
I was born in the land of plenty now there ain't enough
Gettin' cold
I've been told
Nowadays it just don't pay to be a good ol' boy

Been goin' nowhere down a one-way track
I'd kill to leave it but ain't no turnin' back
Got the wife and the kids and what would everybody say
My brother's standin' on a welfare line
And any minute now I might get mine
Meanwhile it's the I.R.S. and the devil to pay

I hit the beer joints every Friday night
Spend a little money lookin' for a fight
It don't matter if I lose or win
'Cause Monday I'm back on the losin' end again

Well my name's John Lee Pettimore

Same as my daddy and his daddy before

You hardly ever saw Grandaddy down here

He only come to town about twice a year

He'd buy a hundred pounds of yeast and some copper line

Everybody knew that he made moonshine

Now the revenue man wanted Grandaddy bad

He headed up the holler with everything he had

It's before my time but I've been told

He never come back from Copperhead Road



Now Daddy ran the whiskey in a big black Dodge

Bought it at an auction at the Mason's Lodge

Johnson County Sheriff painted on the side

Just shot a coat of primer then he looked inside

Well him and my uncle tore the engine down

I still remember that rumblin' sound

Well the sheriff came around in the middle of the night

Heard mama cryin', knew something wasn't right

He was headed down to Knoxville with the weekly load

You could smell the whiskey burnin' down Copperhead Road



I volunteered for the Army on my birthday

They draft the white trash , first round here anyway

I done two tours of duty in Vietnam

And I came home with a brand new plan

I take the seed from Columbia and Mexico

I just plant it up the holler down Copperhead Road

Now the D.E.A.'s got a chopper in the air

I wake up screaming like I'm back over there

I learned a thing or two from ol' Charlie don't you know

You better stay away from Copperhead Road

Copperhead Road

Copperhead Road

The old man loaded up everything that he owned
On a wagon and headed out west
The old woman fearlessly faced the unknown
'cause she figured he knew what was best
And they settled down hard on a government grant
With six mouths to feed and forty acres to plant

And the rain came down
Like an angel come down from above
And the rain came down
It'll wash you away and there ain't never enough

Fall turned to winter another year gone
Over and over again
Some took their lives from their land and moved on
And some stayed on to plow it back in
And the good lord he giveth and he taketh away
And the restless shall go and the faithful shall stay

Now my grandaddy died in the room he was born in
Twenty-three summers ago
But I could have sworn he was beside me this morning
When the sheriff showed up at my door
So don't you come around here with your auctioneer man
'cause you can have the machines but you ain't taking my land

I was born by the railroad tracks
Well the train whistle wailed and I wailed right back
Well papa left mama when I was quite young
He said now "One of these days you're gonna follow me son"
Woh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh
I ain't ever satisfied
Woh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh
I ain't ever satisfied

Now I had me a woman she was my world
But I ran off with my back street girl
Now my back street woman could not be true
She left me standin' on the boulevard thinkin' bout you

I got an empty feeling deep inside
I'm going over to the other side

Last night I dreamed I made it to the promise land
I was standin' at the gate and I had the key in my hand
Saint Peter said "Come on in boy, you're finally home"
I said "No thanks Pete, I'll just be moving along"

There's a road, in Oklahoma
Straighter than a preacher
Longer than a memory
And it goes, forever onward
Been a good teacher
For a lot of country boys like me
I push that load from here to someday
I'll push as long as I'm alive, but I don't know how long I'll last
'Cause it's just a road, it ain't no highway
I'm blowin' by the double five
I know I'm going way too fast

I been down this road just searching' for the end
It don't go nowhere, it just brings you back again
Leaves you lonely and cold, standin' on the shoulder
But you've come too far to go back home
So you're walkin' on a nowhere road

Some folks say, if you keep rollin'
And keep it on the yellow line
It'll take you on the big highway
But there's a toll to pay, if you're going
The keeper of the gate is blind
So you better be prepared to pay

I got out of work and I headed for the neighborhood beer joint
I sat around and had a beer with the boys like I always do
Well I didn't have nothin' to say anyway there ain't no point
There's just something 'bout a Monday that always makes me blue

Well it was well after dark so I knew my wife and kids were waitin'
And I guess I took a left where I generally take a right
Well I filled her up with gas, checked the oil at the Texaco station
I threw the car seat in the dumpster and headed off into the night

Woo-ohh-ooh-ooh-ooh
There's somethin' 'bout a Monday that always makes me blue

Well I headed south on 35 hell bent for vinyl
I hadn't never had her up past 55 before
Well somethin' 'bout that little red line always looked so final
Buddy you'd be surprised how fast a Chevrolet truck can go

* Now, down in Mexico they've got a little place called Boystown
Where a man's still a man if you know what I'm talkin' about
Well, I walked into the Cadillac bar and I laid my cash down
I said "there's plenty more where that came from" and the lights went out

* (this verse is not included on the official lyrics sheet, but is included on the recording)

Well I woke up in a county jail 'cross the line in Laredo
With a headache and a deputy staring at me through the door
Well he said "Now how you got across that river alive, I don't know
But your wife just made your bail so now you're really dead for sure"

Now my wife, she called my boss and cried so I got my job back
And the boys down at the plant, they whisper and stare at me
Yea well my wife can find a lot of little jobs to keep me on the right track
Well, but that's a small price to pay for a week of living dangerously

Yeah-ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh-wee
That's a small price to pay for a week of living dangerously

Well, sittin' in the depot long before the break of day
I just bought my ticket, Lord I hope the bus ain't late
I'll have a cup of coffee and a sandwich from the microwave

Now I'm gonna see my baby if it's the last thing I ever do
Got this sittin' in the station sick and tired of waitin'
Continental Trailways blues

Well rollin' out for Houston, man we're finally rollin' now
Try to get some sleep and listen to that highway sound
I guess we must have stopped in every single little town
Now I've bought myself a copy of the Natchez Mississippi News
With the just pulled out of Lake Charles rollin' into Sulphur
Continental Trailways blues

Now, we're rollin' into Houston, don't them city lights look fine
Headed for the pay phone, hangin' onto my last dime
Well, she says she's got a new man, Son, it's been a long, long time

Now I was standin' by the highway with the rain runnin' through my shoes
With the sittin' by the road side wishin' I was inside Continental Trailways blues
I got the wishin' I was downtown waitin' on a Greyhound
Continental Trailways blues