Waylon Jennings Album

About fourteen miles out of Abilene
At a curve in the road and a little stream
I found out what love's about
So long ago wonder what I found out

We all got together at the Buffalo Gap
Granpa Gus ain't got no lap
He went to heaven in a rocking chair
What a surprise if he ain't the only one there

You've got a man over eight feet tall
He can sleep in the kitchen with his feet in the hall
You ain't much more than five feet two
I bet you can do anything you've a mind to

This little song means nothing to you
Wouldn't matter at all if you wanted it to
Just part of my life and part of the show
Ain't that good but I thought you might want to know

Do you remember Cactus Texas nothing but a wide place in the road
Eighteen wheelers never go there main Street's just too narrow for the load
A little town of honest people some we haven't seen for quite awhile
I was young and restless and we both were full of dreams and running wild

We left our old hometown and family barely had a nickel to our name
We were out to win the world not once looking back or losing aim
We hit the big town and the big time not a lot of effort in the deal
But in the bargain we lost touch with one another and old feelings that were real
( dobro )
In a big house up on easy street where too much never seems to be enough
We're not the same two people far away from all the days when the times were rough
Including you and I is separated by a wall
It's not something we can talk about in fact we seldom even talk at all
( dobro )
I don't think we realize how or why we ever came this far
Let's go back to Cactus Texas maybe once we're there we'll find out where we are

I've taken chances on everything in my life
Even against all the odds I've rolled the dice
Count me in on any deal that comes around
Right or wrong never slowed me down

I've always loved you silent but strong
Deep down in your heart you've always known
It's just that I've made more mistakes than any man under the sun
You're the only sensible thing I've ever done
( steel )
Never complaining back when the times were bad
Even when your faith in me was all we had
Loving me wasn't worth the price you paid
Darling I've been wrong this is all I can say

I've always loved you silent but strong...
You're the only sensible thing I've ever done

I am just a poor boy though my story's seldom told
I have squandered my resistance for a pocketful of mumbles such are promises
All lies and jests still a man hears what he wants to hear and disregards the rest

When I left my home and my family
I was no more than a boy in the company of strangers
In the quiet of the railway station running scared
Laying low seeking out the poorer quarters where the ragged people go
Looking for the places only they would know
( steel )
Asking only workman's wages
I come looking for a job but I get no offers
Just a come on from the whores on Seventh Avenue
I do declare there were some times when I was so lonesome
And I took some comfort there
( guitar - steel )
In the clearing stands a boxer and a fighter by his trade
And he carries the reminders of every glove that laid him down
And cut him till he cried out in his anger and his shame
I am leaving I am leaving but the fighter still remains

Well I don't know who or where I am
I don't know who do give a damn
It's a hell of a mess that I've got me in
Hittin' the bottle again

I can't walk so I can't go home
No need to talk cause I'm alone
If I stay here they're gonna lock me in
Hittin' the bottle again

Hittin' the bottle again ever than I've drunker been
Or is it drunker than I've ever been hittin' the bottle again
( guitar )
Well I tried to quit for a wife of mine
I tried to quit but I changed my mind
Every once in awhile and a now and a then
Hittin' the bottle again

Hittin' the bottle again...

[No lyrics]

I've learned to turn the other cheek is not what love's about
I've turned mine so many times that I damned near wore 'em out
I've grown used to your abuse and I thought I'd never quit
But I woke up this morning couldn't find my shiv a git

You've always liked to play your games well I got one for you
Pretend we're playing checkers girl and it's your time to move
You'll find your suitcase on the porch and the taxi in the drive
So get your tongue out of my mouth I'm kissing you goodbye

I see you've finally made it home you been out all night
Your artificial hair's a mess and your clothes don't fit you right
I've given and forgiven till there ain't nothing left
But all you gave was just enough to satisfy yourself

I can smell that whisky in your hair and sen-sen on your breath
If you ever tried to tell the truth you'd choke yourself to death
I don't want your nasty kisses and don't tell me no more lies
Get your tongue out of my mouth I'm kissing you goodbye
Get your tongue out of my mouth I'm kissing you goodbye

I've been quite the traveler ever since I hit the road
And the Sullen county carnival has been my earn in gold
I've been quite alone since I remember when
I turned my ultimatums into chips and cashed them in

I used to run the Ferris wheel but that'd be hard to prove
I can't stand to see a rolling wheel propped up so it can't move
I used to run the carousel hell that's just round and round
Never liked to see them ponies painted up and bolted down

The only thing that keeps me from staying here is leaving
The only thing that saves me from it all is I'll be gone
Just when I could trust in all the things that I believe in
I had to pack it up and move along
And I'll tell you the boys I'm not the only one

I was a straight man at the ring toss but that was just a jaunt
I can't see throwing rings around things you don't really want
I could run the roller coaster but that might break my heart
So much hard travelin' just to wind up where you start

Now I just work the gateway and I'm pretty satisfied
Little booth is red and blue and I just sit inside
I just take your money and give tickets out in trade
Think about my life and all the promises I made

The only thing that keeps me from staying here is leaving...
Who's running from the things they've left undone

I sat at a bar having a beer
Trying to hold down the stool
When a stranger walked in stood there beside me
And plopped down there like a fool.
He started drinking then he started talking
About things that were wrong in his life
The more that I heard the more I believed
The thing that was wrong was his wife.
You talk about beauty when we first met
She was all a man could desire
Talk about love one night with her
Would set your very soul on fire.
But loves little flame is out of control
About three feet high from behind
Ever since we've been married well, I've come to believe
That love's for the dumb and the blind.
'Cause you talk about ugly when she gets mad
She goes from Jekill to Hyde
She grits her teeth and her eyes roll back
And pivot from side to side.
She completely rewrites the whole English language
Descriptive four lettered and loud
Now I can't out think her but I can sure out drink her
And that's what I'm doing here now.
I've spent seven years with the wrong woman
Seven and going on eight
She spent seven years naggin' and eatin'
I'm overwrought and she's overweight.
If I try leavin' she has me arrested
And takes her own sweet time gettin' me out
If she ain't number one she's in the top two
Of things that I could live without.
Men commit murder and all kinds of mayhem
In a few years they're back on the streets
Highway robbery and white collar crime
And they laugh at the system they beat.
Sometimes I'm tempted sometimes I'm ashamed
Of the things that the law will allow
I could have killed her when I first met her
And I'd have been out of jail by now.
I could have killed her when we first met
And I've have been out of jail by now...

I want to be free from the noise of the grind
So I live on the outskirts of the back of my mind
With a strong hand a songman and God on my side
I'm writing that freedom a line at a time

On the highway to nowhere that runs through my mind
A yellow line stretches out into the night
Broken in places it's my guiding light
So I'm writing that freedom a line at a time

I'm walking a fine line between wrong and right
I can live with the problems of this day and time
Consider me lucky cause I'll be all right
In my mind I'm having a beautiful life

I'm lost in the feelings of this heart of mine
In search of the border of infinite time
And I find peace of mind in the songs and their rhymes
So I'm writing my freedom a line at a time

( with Jessi Colder )

Deep in the west where the tall mountains grow I've gone home
Where the heavens above turn red from the fire down below
Are you listening to me when I'm talking to you
Said together we're one divided we're through
Divided we're through

Silver friend at night yellow friend you come with the dawn
Back in my heart I've been drying my eyes see me run
So you hang on to me and I'll hang on to you
Said together we're one divided we're through
Divided we're through
( steel )
Refusing to talk I suppose that it's all for love's sake
And learning to give that's important before you can take from me
Are you listening to me when I'm talking to you
Said together we're one divided we're through

So you hang on to me and I'll hang on to you
Said together we're one divided we're through
Divided we're through

Almost out of adolescence and into a world we didn't know
Not necessaryly love but in trouble with a fire down below
Looking back for a feeling it's just something far away and long ago
I can still recall the name but she's really someone I don't even know

But she was right for the time
She was right for the time but time has a way of moving on

I do recall a gypsy lady and a younger man in over his head
I was her believer taken in by every loving word she said
It was there for the first time the sweet and the bitter taste of love
When you're young and alive too much never seems to be enough

It seems the young and the innocent are drawn like a moth to a flame
To the wild and the reckless believing they are one in the same
She never found a way to separate the good from the bad
And she never understood that love was all we ever really had

She was right for the time but time has a way of moving on
With her eyes on tomorrow one day she turned around and I was gone
I'd have to say in a way she just might be better off alone
She was right for the time but time has a way of moving on

[No lyrics]