Steve Earle Album

When I was a little guy
My daddy told me "Mister,
Don't ever try to climb too high
'Cause it's the fall that gets ya
And some dreams can never come true
They'll never come true"

Well, I heard every word he said
But I don't guess I listened
But every time I banged my head
Against the wall or system
Yeah, some dreams don't ever come true
Don't ever come true
But some dreams do
If you just hang on
And your heart is true
And your hope is strong

Well, just because you've been around
And had your poor heart broken
That's no excuse for lyin' there
Before the last word's spoken
'Cause some dreams don't ever come true
Don't ever come true
Aw, but some dreams do

When you're feelin' low
And you think you're through
That's when you will know

Yeah, when you wish upon a star
Buddy, don't you miss it
Catch it 'fore it falls too far
Keep it with your secrets
'Cause some dreams don't ever come true
Don't ever come true
Don't ever come true
But some dreams do

Just open your window
On a night like tonight
No matter which way the wind blows
Let your heart out to ride
High above all the care and woe
In the world down below
Just open your window
Then you'll know where to go

On a big city sidewalk
All alone in a crowd
No one listenin' when he talks
To himself right out loud
He was somebody's darlin' boy
She held him close when he cried
Just open your window
And let him inside

You may think that you're dreaming
You may think you've gone blind
If your eyes fail to see 'em
Listen hard and you'll find
There's a song that the angels know
Ringin' true every time
If you open your window
Let the music inside

The eagle looked down on the river below
And he wrapped his wings round him
and he felt like a stone
And the big salmon fought but the talons held true
And he shuttered as the world turned
from silver to blue
I stood there in awe though I'd seen it before
I was born in these mountains
and i'll die here for sure

I've traveled around I've seen city lights
But nothin' that shined like a big sky at night

Chorus:
Some mornings will find me up above the timberline
Lonesome don't seem like much once you're this high
When it's all said and done I usually find
Me and the eagle are of the same mind


Now when I was young I took me a wife
But she never took to the high country life
So now I'm alone I don't really mind
But her name echoes down form the canyon sometimes

Repeat Chorus

In my dreams there's a horse,
he stands eighteen hands high
He's as whit eas the snow and there's fire in his eyes
And he'll bare only me though other have tried
And together we'll travel up across the divide

Repeat Chorus

Walkin' down the road with a pistol in your waist
Johnny Too Bad, woh oh oh
Walkin' down the road with a ratchet in your waist
Johnny Too Bad, woh oh oh
You're just robbin' and stabbin' and lootin' and shootin'
Johnny Too Bad
You're just robbin' and stabbin' and lootin' and shootin'
Johnny Too Bad
One of these days when you hear the voice say 'come'
Where you gonna run to, woh oh oh
One of these days when you hear the voice say 'come'
Where you gonna run to, woh oh oh
You're just runnin' to the rock for refuge
But there will be no rock
You're just runnin' to the rock for rescue
And there will be no rock

[No lyrics]

I don't care
I don't care
I don't care
I don't care
I don't care
Care if I'm old

I don't mind
I don't mind
I don't mind
I don't mind
Mind
Don't have a mind

Get away
Get away
Get away
Get away
Get away
Away from your home

I'm afraid
I'm afraid
I'm afraid
I'm afraid
Fraid, of a ghost

Even if you have
Even if you need
I don't mean to stare
We don't have to breed
We can plant a house
We can build a tree
I don't even care
We could have all three

She said
She said
She said

(Joseph Chambers, Willie Chambers)

Time has come today
Young hearts can go that way
Can't put it off another day
I don't care what others say
They say we don't listen anyway
Time has come today
The rules have changed today
I have no place to stay
Thinking about the subway
The love has flown away
My tears have come and gone
Oh my lord, I have to roam
I have no home
I have no home

Now the time has come
No place to run
I might get burned up by the sun
But I had my fun

I've been loved and put aside
I've been crushed by tumbling tide
And my soul has been psychedelicized

Now the time has come
There are things to realize
Time has come today
Time has come today
Time

I was fresh out of the service
It was back in '82
I raised some Cain when I come back to town
I left to be all I could be
Come home without a clue
Now, I married Dawn and had to settle down

So I hired on at the prison
Guess I always knew I would
Just like my dad and both my uncles done
And I worked on every cell block now
'N things were goin' good
But then they transferred me to Ellis Unit One

Swing low
Swing low
Swing low and carry me home

Well, my daddy used to talk about them long nights at the walls
And how they used to strap 'em in the chair
The kids down from the college and they'd bring their beer 'n all
'N when the lights went out, a cheer rose in the air

Well, folks just got too civilized
Sparky's gatherin' dust
'Cause no one wants to touch a smokin' gun
And since they got the injection
They don't mind as much, I guess
They just put 'em down at Ellis Unit One

Swing low
Swing low
Swing low and carry me home

Well, I've seen 'em fight like lions, boys
I've seen 'em go like lambs
And I've helped to drag 'em when they could not stand
And I've heard their mamas cryin' when they heard that big door slam
And I've seen the victim's family holdin' hands

Last night I dreamed that I woke up with straps across my chest
And something cold and black pullin' through my lungs
'N even Jesus couldn't save me though I know he did his best
But he don't live on Ellis Unit One

Swing low
Swing low
Swing low and carry me home
Swing low
Don't let go
Swing low and carry me home

An elaborate tale
So convincingly real
Things can seem so amazing
'Til you get up close
And see they're no big deal
Like the stars in the sky
Or the one on the stage
Just a big ball of gas
And a regular guy
Fresh out of minimum wage

In a jackalope space
On a jackalope high
I'm staring you down
Creepy jackalope eye

Many things in this life
Are not what they appear
Yeah I look like a hare
But if you stop and you stare
I'm related to a deer

I got a jackalope face
I'm a jackalope guy
And I'm staring you down
Creepy jackalope eye

Is it so hard to imagine
Is it so hard to believe
Something so outrageous
Something so far fetched
Well how 'bout Adam and Eve?

I know you gotta have faith
I know the need to hope
But the truth is always in place
It's right in front of my face
The mighty jackalope
(Yeah)

In a jackalope space
On a jackalope high
I'm staring you down
Creepy jackalope
And I'm staring down
Creepy jackalope
And I'm staring you down
Creepy jackalope eye
Freaky jackalope eye
Creepy jackalope eye
Creepy jackalope eye

(Lowell T. George)

I been warped by the rain, driven by the snow
I'm drunk and dirty, don't ya know,
And I'm still willin'
Out on the road late last night,
Seen my pretty Alice in every head light
Alice, Dallas Alice

I've been from Tucson to Tucumcari
Tehachapi to Tonapah
Driven every kind of rig that's ever been made
I've driven the back roads so I wouldn't get weighed
If you give me: weed, whites, and wine
And you show me a sign
I'll be willin' to be movin'

I've been kicked by the wind, robbed by the sleet
Had my head stoved in, but I'm still on my feet
And I'm still... willin'
Now I smuggled some smokes and folks from Mexico
Baked by the sun, every time I go to Mexico
And I been from Tuscon to Tucumcari
Tehachapi to Tonapah
I've driven every kind of rig that's ever been made
I've driven the back roads so I wouldn't get weighed
And if you give me: weed, whites, and wine
And you show me a sign I'll be willin' to be movin'

[No lyrics]

A letter came today from my draft board
With trembling hands I read the questionnaire
It asked me lots of things about my mamma and poppa
Now that ain't what I call exactly fair

So I'm headed for the nearest foreign border
Vancouver may be my kind of town
Cause they don't need the kind of law and order
That tends to keep a good man underground

A sad old soldier once told me a story
About a battlefield that he was on
He said a man should never fight for glory
He must know what is right and what is wrong

So I'm headed for the nearest foreign border
Vancouver may be my kind of town
Cause they don't need the kind of law and order
That tends to keep a good man underground

Now I don't know how much I owe my uncle
But I suspect it's more than I can pay
He's asking me to sign a three year contract
I guess I'll catch the first bus out today

So I'm headed for the nearest foreign border
Vancouver may be my kind of town
Cause they don't need the kind of law and order
That tends to keep a good man underground

Crimson flames tied through my ears
Rollin' high and mighty traps
Pounced with fire on flaming roads
Using ideas as my maps
"We'll meet on edges, soon," said I
Proud 'neath heated brow
Ah, but I was so much older then
I'm younger than that now

Half-wracked prejudice leaped forth
"Rip down all hate," I screamed
Lies that life is black and white
Spoke from my skull. I dreamed
Romantic facts of musketeers
Foundationed deep, somehow
Ah, but I was so much older then
I'm younger than that now.

Girls' faces formed the forward path
From phony jealousy
To memorizing politics
Of ancient history
Flung down by corpse evangelists
Unthought of, though, somehow
Ah, but I was so much older then
I'm younger than that now

A self-ordained professor's tongue
Too serious to fool
Spouted out that liberty
Is just equality in school
"Equality," I spoke the word
As if a wedding vow
Ah, but I was so much older then
I'm younger than that now

In a soldier's stance, I aimed my hand
At the mongrel dogs who teach
Fearing not that I'd become my enemy
In the instant that I preach
My pathway led by confusion boats
Mutiny from stern to bow
Ah, but I was so much older then
I'm younger than that now

Yes, my guard stood hard when abstract threats
Too noble to neglect
Deceived me into thinking
I had something to protect
Good and bad, I define these terms
Quite clear, no doubt, somehow
Ah, but I was so much older then
I'm younger than that now