"Pick Up The Tempo"



Some people are saying that time
Will take care of people like me
That I'm living too fast
And they say I can't last much longer.

But little they see
That their thoughts of me is my saviour
And little they know
I might live forever.

So pick up the tempo just a little
And take it on home
The singer ain't singin'
And the drummer's been draggin' too long.

Time'll take care of itself
So just leave time alone
And pick up the tempo just a little
And take it on home.

I'm wild and I'm mean
I'm creatin' a scene I'm goin' crazy
I'm good and I'm bad
And I'm happy and sad and I'm lazy.

I'm quiet and I'm loud
and I'm gatherin' a crowd and I like gravy
About half off the wall
but I learned it all in the Navy.

So pick up the tempo just a little
And take it on home
The singer ain't singin'
And the drummer's been draggin' too long.

Time'll take care of itself
So just leave time alone
And pick up the tempo just a little
And take it on home.

Yeah, pick up the tempo just a little
And take it on home...

"Pick Up The Tempo"
(duet with Willie Nelson)



Some people are saying that time
Will take care of people like me
That I'm living too fast
And they say I can't last much longer.

But little they see
That their thoughts of me is my saviour
And little they know
I might live forever.

So pick up the tempo just a little
And take it on home
The singer ain't singin'
And the drummer's been draggin' too long.

Time'll take care of itself
So just leave time alone
And pick up the tempo just a little
And take it on home.

I'm wild and I'm mean
I'm creatin' a scene I'm goin' crazy
I'm good and I'm bad
And I'm happy and sad and I'm lazy.

I'm quiet and I'm loud
and I'm gatherin' a crowd and I like gravy
About half off the wall
but I learned it all in the Navy.

So pick up the tempo just a little
And take it on home
The singer ain't singin'
And the drummer's been draggin' too long.

Time'll take care of itself
So just leave time alone
And pick up the tempo just a little
And take it on home.

Yeah, pick up the tempo just a little
And take it on home...

"Pickin' White Gold"


Down in the place where I call home
I've been workin' my fingers to the bone
Pickin' white gold, pickin' white gold.

All day long in Louisiana sun
Pickin' and a pullin' white cotton by the tons
Pickin' white gold, pickin' white gold.

I fill my sack and I put it on my shoulder
And then I take one again
OId man cotton won't let me make a nickel
Till I get it to a cotton gin.

So I bent my back till I think it's gonna break
Try to keep a thinkin' how much I'm gonna make
Pickin' white gold, pickin' white gold.

[Instrumental]

There's a little girl I call Bellie all day
She works alongside of me
Pickin' white gold, pickin' white gold.

Her lips are soft as a cotton in a hand
And side by side we're makin' our plans
Pickin' white gold, pickin' white gold.

There's a little house with a little solid ground
That would make a mighty pretty home
All we need is little money down
And we could call it our home.

I can't rest till I get through
I need the money for what it can do
Pickin' white gold, pickin' white gold
Pickin' white gold, pickin' white gold...

"Precious Memories"



As I wander on life's pathway
Know not what the future holds
As I ponder hope grows fonder
Precious sacred seems unfold.

Precious mem'ries how they linger
How they ever flood my soul
In the stillness of the midnight
Precious sacred scenes unfold.

Precious mem'ries how they linger
How they ever flood my soul
In the stillness of the midnight
Precious sacred scenes unfold.

Precious mem'ries how they linger
How they ever flood my soul
In the stillness of the midnight
Precious sacred scenes unfold...

"Pretend I Never Happened"
(originally by Willie Nelson)



Pretend I never happened
Erase me from your mind
You will not want to remember
Any love as cold as mine.

I'll be leavin' in the mornin'
For a place I hope I find
All the place must be better
Than the ones I leave behind.

I don't suppose you'll be unhappy
You'll find ways to spend your time
But if you ever think about me
If I ever cross your mind.

Just pretend I never happened
Erase me from your mind, girl
You will not want to remember
Any love as cold as mine.

I don't suppose you'll be unhappy
You'll find ways to spend your time
But if you ever think about me
If I ever cross your mind.

Just pretend I never happened
Erase me from your mind, girl
You will not want to remember
Any love as cold as mine...

"Put Me On A Train Back To Texas"



I've been on the road most all of my life
Traveled from coast to coast
In search of some pleasures and treasures and things
Whatever pleased me the most.

Like bandanas and blue jeans and old cowboy clothes
That bring back an old country song
About rough rides and red eyes and old broken bones
And railroad tracks running back home.

Put me on a train back to Texas
I've been where the highwaymen roam
Put me on a train back to Texas
Wake me up when we reach San Antone.
Wake me up when we reach San Antone.

Mamma says home's where the heart is
Like Bob Wills said in a poem
My heart is there in the middle of Texas
Beside the old Alamo.

Like my broken in saddle and old leather boots
I'm worn but I'm still going strong
Cowboys can tell when the season is changing
And I think it's time to move on.

Put me on a train back to Texas
I've been where the highwaymen roam
Put me on a train back to Texas
Wake me up when we reach San Antone.
Wake me up when we reach San Antone...

"Ragged But Right"


Well, I've come here to tell you boys
I'm ragged but I'm right
I'm a tramp and a rounder
I stay out late at night.

I pour a high steak
Three times a day for my board
That's more than any loafer
In this old town can afford.

A big electric fan
Keep me cool while I sleep
A little baby boy
Play's around daddy's feet.

I'm a rounder, I'm a gambler
Lord, I lead every fight
I tell you boys
I'm ragged but I'm right.

[Instrumental]

When I got married
I knew I'd settled down
I built a little lovenest
Right near in my hometown.

Now, I've got a family
One that I'm proud of
I know that they'll be happy
'Cause I'm the one they love.

A big electric fan
Keep me cool while I sleep
A little baby boy
Play's around daddy's feet.

I'm a rounder, I'm a gambler
Lord, I lead every fight
I tell you boys
I'm ragged but I'm right...

"Rainy Day Woman"


Oh rainy day woman
I've never seem to see you for the good times or the sunshine
You have been a friend of mine,rainy day woman

That woman of mine she ain't happy
Unless she finds something wrong and has someone to blame
If it ain't one thing it's another one on the way

Oh rainy day woman
I've never seem to see you for the good times or the sunshine
You have been a friend of mine,rainy day woman

I woke up this morning to the sunshine
It sure as hell looks just like rain
I know where to go on a cloudy day

[Chorus x2]

"Reno And Me"



Reno and me hit the freeway, south out of town on the run
Reno was driving he asked me to roll him one
I turned on the radio, I found us some sweet Emmylou
I sang the harmony, low down and out of key
Reno just howled at the moon

Somewhere outside Kansas City, on a highway that leads to Cheyenne
The radio put a song by a mexican band
Well I guess we were lost in thoughts of brown skin girls, took a couple
Wrong turns in a row
Reno and me just laughed and agreed
It don't matter which way you go

It don't matter which way you go, when you're calling the highway your home
Every old town is your past burning down, it don't matter which way you go

All of our old friends got married, doing all of their business in town
Climbing a ladder that leads to a hole in the ground
Reno and Me talked it all out, one thing that we'll never know
What's the point of a race where you stay in one place
Believing there's somewhere to go

It don't matter which way you go, when you're calling the highway your home
Every old town is your past burning down, it don't matter which way you go

It don't matter which way you go, when you're calling the highway your home
Every old town is your past burning down, it don't matter which way you go

"Revelation"



Somewhere in Vietnam a 19-year-old soldier
Walked out of a barroom
And he said, I must be seeing things
That bourbon hit me like a baseball bat
In Bellfast Ireland a little lady
Dropped her shovel in her garden
She raced across the yard
And ask her neighbor Mrs Clancy, what was that.

In Memphis Tennessee a teacher
Raised the window, closest the river
And the children in her classroom swore
They'd heard a choir singing down the street
In Washington DC
A private secretary's lips began to quiver
And the President just put aside his papers
And rose quickly to his feet.

I lay in a cheap motel in the arms
Of someone else's woman
When a loud explosion rocked the room
And turned the morning into night
I jumped out of bed and ran into the street
With hardly any clothes on
As the sky lit up my heart stood still
And I could feel my face was turnin' white.

All at once the clouds rolled back
And there stood Jesus Christ in all his glory
And I realized the saddest eyes
I'd ever seen were lookin' straight at me
I guess I was awakened by
The penetrating sounds of my own screamin'
And it didn't take me long to stumble
Out of bed and fall down on my knees.

As tears rolled down my face I cried
Dear God, I'm thankful I was only dreamin'
And if I never go to hell, Lord
It'll be because you scared it out of me...

"Rhiannon"



Rhiannon rings like a bell throu the night
And wouldn't you love to love her
Takes to the sky like a bird in flight
And who will be her lover

All your life you've never seen a woman
Taken by the wind
Would you stay if she promised you heaven
Will you ever win

She is like a cat in the dark
And then she is the darkness
She rules her life like a fine skylark
And when the sky is starless

All your life you've never seen a woman
Taken by the wind
Would you stay if she promised you heaven
Will you ever win
Will you ever win

Rhiannon
Rhiannon
Rhiannon
Rhiannon

She rings like a bell throu the night
And wouldn't you love to love her
She rules her life like a bird in flight
And who will be her lover

All your life you've never seen a woman
Taken by the wind
Would you stay if she promised you heaven
Will you ever win
Will you ever win

Rhiannon
Rhiannon
Rhiannon

Oooooh

Taken by
Taken by the sky
Taken by
Taken by the sky
Taken by
Taken by the sky

Dreams unwind
Loves a state of mind
Dreams unwind
Loves a state of mind

"Ride Me Down Easy"



This highway she's harder than nine kinds of hell
Light there it scares as the rain
When you're down to your last shop with nothing to sell
And too far away from the train.

It's been a good month of Sundays and a guitar to go
Had a tall drink of yesterday's wine
Left a lot of good friends some sheeps in the wind
And satisfied women behind.

Ride me down easy Lord, ride me on down
Leave word in the dust where I lay
Say I'm easy, come easy go
And easy to love when I stay.

Put snow on the mountain, raise hell on the hill
Lock horns with the devil himself
Then the rodeo bum, a son of a gun
And a hobo with stars in his crown.

Ride me down easy Lord, ride me on down
Leave word in the dust where I lay
Say I'm easy, come easy go
And easy to love when I stay.

Ride me down easy Lord, ride me on down
Leave word in the dust where I lay
Say I'm easy, come easy go
And easy to love when I stay...

"Right Before My Eyes"


You do the things that hurt me
So right before my eyes
Just because I love you so
I overlook your lies.

Let you make a fool of me
Yes, that's what I'll always be
'Cause I pretend not to see
What's right before my eyes.

Everyone keeps telling me
What's right before my eyes
Love is blind and I can't see
What's right before my eyes.

[Instrumental]

I can't make myself believe
What's right before my eyes
I thought your love belonged to me
But now I realize.

You couldn't care and act this way
There's nothing I can do or say
Just watch my dream will fade away
Right before my eyes.

Everyone keeps telling me
What's right before my eyes
Love is blind and I can't see
What's right before my eyes...

"Right For The Time"



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

"Rings Of Gold"



I remember when you said
With this ring I Thee wed
Now you've gone betrayed my trust
Rings of gold have turned to rust.

Tears can't wash away the sin
Love that's dead can't live again
Knowing there's no hope for us
Turns these rings of gold to rust.

Love before was clean and pure
Never more can I be sure
You will not betray my trust
Rings of gold have turned to rust.

Plans we made just yesterday
Sands of time have chipped away
Now they've crumbled into dust
Rings of gold have turned to rust.

Rings of gold have turned to rust...

"River Boy"


I was born and raised on the river
It's the only life that I know
People 'round here have put a name on me
And I hear it wherever I go
They call me river boy, river boy
Good for nothin' river boy
This old world don't hold a whole lot of joy
When you're nothin' but a river boy
I do a lot of fishin' on the river
To make my livin' you see
When I take my catch to the market place
The people call out to me
And they say, river boy, hey river boy
You got any fish today there, river boy
I sell my ware, but nobody cares
About the feelin's of the river boy
There's a pretty girl works at the market place
I see her there everyday
But when I try to talk to her
I can hear her papa say
Come away from that River boy, he's a river boy
Nothin' but riff-raff, them river boys
No girl of mine is gonna waste her time
On a good for nothin' river boy
So I head my boat back up the river
Back to my old fishin' place
I'm afraid this ol' river's gonna overflow
From the tears a-fallin' down my face
I'm nothin' but a river boy, river boy
A good for nothin' river boy
This old world don't hold a whole lot of joy
When you're nothin' but a river boy
River boy, river boy
A good for nothin' river boy
River boy [fade]

"Rock, Salt And Nails"



By the banks of the river where the willows grow cold
Wild birds warble the strange soundin' song
By the banks of the river where the waters run cold
Well that's where I first listened the lies that she told.

He lays there each night all alone and he weeps
Nothing ain't worse than a night without sleep
The letters she wrote him they were written in vain
But I know that her conscience still echoes my name.

If the ladies were blackbirds and the ladies were fishes
I'd lay there for hours in the cold rainy matches
If the ladies were squirrels yeah with a big bushy tail
I'd fill up my shotgun with a rock salt and nails.

We'd fill up our shotgun with a rock salt and nails...

"Rocks From Rolling Stones"



There's a road runs clear to the sky
Calls to my spirit calls to my heart
She's been a harbor a port in a storm
She's got one more sundown and one more dawn

Fiddles don't make violins
Motel rooms don't make homes
You can't turn water into wine
You can't make a rock from a rolling stone

You'd be a liar if you said you'd changed
There's a river of freedom running through your veins
But she'll be there in your heart and your mind
Till the last song fades and the music dies

Fiddles don't make violins...
You can't make a rock from a rolling stone

"Rose In Paradise"



She was a flower for the takin',
Her beauty cut just like a knife...
He was a banker from Macon,
Swore he'd love her all his life...

Bought her a mansion on a mountain
With a formal garden and a lot a land...

But paradise became her prison,
That Georgia banker was a jealous man!

Every time he'd talk about her,
You could see the fire in his eyes...
He'd say,
"I would walk through Hell on Sunday,
To keep my Rose in Paradise..."

He hired a man to tend the garden,
Keep an eye on her while he was gone..
Some say they ran away together...
Some say that gardner left alone...

Now the banker is an old man...
That mansion's cum-ble-ing down...
He sits all day and stares at the garden...
Not a trace of her was ever found...

Every time he talks about her,
You can see the fire in his eyes...
He'd say, "I would walk through Hell on Sunday,
To keep my Rose in Paradise.."

Now there's a rose out in the garden...
Its beauty cuts just like a knife...
They say that it even grows in the winter time...
And blooms in the dead of the night...

"Rough And Rowdy Days"


You keep barrelin' on and you don't look back
your mind is gone
and you're losing track of who you want to be
and you think you're free [x2 fading out at end]

when you still want more and you've done it all
you're kickin' doors and climbin' walls
you've gone far enough
you need to straighten up [x3 fading out at end]

[Chorus:]
Girl you came along and just in time
to show me the way
while I was wadin' through
my rough and rowdy days [x1 rough and rowdy days]

How can you know what life's about
when upside down is inside out
you know you need some help
you can't help yourself [x2 fading out at end]

[Chorus x2]