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1. |
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He arrived in town on this morning’s train
Nevermind his business, nevermind his name
Came seekin shelter from a pourin rain
And to quench a thirst he’d probably had too long
He stepped into a cheap hotel
Dipped the feather quill in the old ink well
Signed his name as William tell
The owner asked, “Will you be staying long?”
Just passin through, just passin through
Didn’t come for no appointment, nor no rendezvous
Passin through, I’m just passin through
To stay for just a night, or maybe two—either way I’m only passin thru
He had no luggage of which to speak
Just a long dark scar runnin down his cheek
Eyes that would’ve made a strong woman week
That seemed to know the truth and seek it out
Hotel owner’s daughter, miss Eleanor
Caught sight of th stranger comin in the door
Saw that he lodged in room number four
And then she went and asked her father who he was
He’s just passin through, just passin through
I’d leave him be, and so should you
He’s passin through, just passin through
He didn’t come to fall in love with you—leave him be, he’s only passin thru
But her father’s warning she did not heed
She stole into his room in her stocking feet
Knocked and entered and turned the key
And by morningtime, she still had not emerged
“O, Mr. Tell, won’t you tell me please
Is it your intention now to marry me?
Or do you still mean to up and leave?
Like you told my father that you would?”
I’m just passin through, just passing through
Didn’t come to settle, just to see the view
Passin through, I’m just passin through
Would’ve told you but I really thought you knew—darlin, I was only passin thru
Says Ms. Eleanor—“Well in that case,
Never again may I show my face
I will tell my father I have been disgraced,
And he will probably try to shoot you down,”
And before ms. Eleanor’s speech was done,
In comes her father with a big shotgun
Says to Mr. Tell, “Won’t you tell me son,
Just what it is you think that you are doin?”
I’m just passin through, just passin through
Now that I’ve stayed I best be getting to
Passin through, just passin through
Didn’t come to quarrel with the likes of you—you know I was only passin thru
“Well not so fast,” the hotel owner said
“Either you’ll marry sweet ellie here, or else you’ll be dead!”
And he aimed that gun at poor william’s head
Said, “Tell me, tell, what’s it gonna be?”
To William’s defense, Eleanor leapt to
The father panicked, shot poor willy through
and as the daughter cried, “what did you do?”
William tell, he spoke these final words:
Passin through, just passin through
Life sure ain’t long and there ain’t much to do
The pains are many and the pleasure’s few
I’ll die now, but someday so will you—all of us, we’re only passin through
Passin through, just passin through
With time enough to say hello, adieu
Passin through, just passin through
Just like every single breath you drew—All of us—we’re only passin through
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2. |
'Til the Cows Come Home
08:30
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Yesterday the well dried up and the drought has just begun
We never prayed for more than just a little more than none
Fella from the bank dropped by with a mortgage and a deed
Said I could either sign them or he’d sign them both for me
Said he knew my troubles, knew my work, my pain, my need
Couldn’t tell if he was talking out of duty or just greed
Ma and pa were farmers and they died relatively young
Thank god they didn’t live to see what their children would become
Cassius makes his livin givin hungry folks the heave
Gets the D.A. to arrest the ones he cannot get to leave
Now he carries round his rifle drinking whiskey from a sleeve
And he’s still as poor as they are, and well, as for me
I’m just gonna wait here on this land I used to own
Til the houses fall to ruin and the pastures have regrown
Til the countryside is silenced as the gears of progress moan
Til over my dead body the winds of change have blown
til I’m nothing but a worn out washed up stack of farmer’s bones
I’m just gonna wait here til my cows come home
Guess I’m just too sad to laugh, and still too proud to cry
Too old to learn, too poor to move, too young to die
Ma always said I always was as stubborn as the mule
Just like my paw who had the reputation for the fool
Who always said you won’t find education in a school
Nor kindness in a good deed, nor the just life in the rule
All the weeds have gone to seed, and the barns in disrepair
Nothing left to sell at market and no livestock for the fair
Sold the silo and the greenhouse, the tractor and the plow
Sold the chickens and the henhouse, the horses and the cows
Sold it all believing we would get it back somehow
And the newsreporter wants to know just what will we do now?
Chorus
They say history repeats itself, there’s a time for everything
A time to reap to sew to live to die to mourn to sing
They’ll tell you to be quiet as though your breathin were a waste
They’ll tell you to look here now, as though the music could be faced
They’ll tell you that it’s over, as though your dreams could be erased
Make sure your dreams are big enough you don’t lose them in the chase
Mattie says she’s got a family waiting way out in the west
And not too much to carry she can hitch a ride I guess
Jack and Jill went up the hill to fetch a flour-sack
They been gone three weeks now, and probably won’t come back
Last I saw of john-boy he was headed for the tracks
With nothing but a canteen and the clothes upon his back
Maybe someday I will follow, if I can ever get the knack
Til then
Chorus
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3. |
The Bargain
06:01
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One day, long ago at the oaks of Mamre God upon Abraham called
To splain the haviors of his fellow man and tell him why man is worth saving:
“Hey man, Abraham, where have you been? Through all creation I been searchin for ya
To tell you I’m gwin in one day’s time to destroy Sodom and Gamorrah”
Abe said, “Hey there God, you sure got me thinking a lot and I think I got a proposition for ya
Say there’s sixty-two men in those cities of sin
With no idea of the bad shape they’re in
And no one to tell them how it’s all gonna end
And no chance to change if there’s no change to send
If I should show you sixty-two righteous men
Then would you save us in Sodom and Gamorrah?”
Well God put his finger up to his chin, he said, “Abe, you ain’t trine to bargain are ya?
I am The Lord, almighty and vain, and I made thee and I can destroy ya,”
Abe said, “Not so hot, now you got me on the spot, and if you’ll let me I’ve got an answer for ya
An injustice it seems that for a percentage share
You would presume to know every single person there
From the language in his teeth to the color of his hair
From his midnight grin to his twilight stare
Say, if this is how you judge then what do you even care
Who lives or dies in Sodom and Gamorrah?”
God said, “Alright, I am not gonna fight—go, you gotcher self till tumarrya
To find sixty-two men of the righteousest of ken, to spare you in Sodom and Gamorrah.”
Well, then Abraham thought, “Well, sixty-two sure seems a lot
For forty would the bargain still stand for ya?”
God willingly agreed he said, “If forty’s all you need,
Then it’s forty, and I’ll see you tumarrya.”
As God turned to go, Abe shouted from below, “Wait a minute, you’re not finished talkin are ya?
If forty’s understood then wouldn’t twenty be just as good
And would twenty satisfy any better than twelve would?
And would you take even a dozen of the best men if you could?
And even if you could, you should ask whether you should
When what makes a righteous man is but barely understood
On penalty of contract, autographed in blood
Imposed upon a people you once washed out with a flood
Is it really any wonder we don’t behave as we should
But go ahead and tell me, and please, be honest if you would,
cause I got pity for Sodom and Gamorrah.”
God said, “Abe, I’m amazed in this game you wanna play,
Is it really all that important for ya?
Very well, let’s be plain, find me even one good name,
And I’ll spare your precious Sodom and Gamorrah.”
Well the evening came and went, soon Abe’s time was nearly spent
To Mamre went Abraham on the morrow
And God laughed when he saw the lonesome tired Abraham
And he said, “Poor Abe, you’re not really surprised now, are ya?”
Abe said, “You earn your love through fear
I earn mine through love
Tho you may be omniscient, omnipresent and all that,
You don’t know what it’s like to live down here.”
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4. |
Scatterbrain
07:02
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I’ve been trying to remember the way this story starts
That increases in confusion, goes off the rails in parts,
That catalogues the romance of an idiot savant
Who never can quite manage to decide what it is he wants…
And goes on to lend the details of secret that was kept
So well that all the pieces fail to meaningfully connect…
Who placed her on a pedestal which he named his Stumblingblock
And was the only souvenir he had when he became the laughingstock…
There’s a sign-post lost in ivy at the old fork in the road
One arrow points to nowhere, the other towards the motherload
But the traveler’s in a snowdrift, and he hasn’t yet found out
That the footprints he’s been following are his own, without a doubt
And the carriage-driver’s mumbling, he’s been known for nodding off
I heard he killed a man once who accused him of being lost
but the circle’s ever-widening, every revolution grows
the time it takes for one to realize what everyone already knows…
And still I feel the strange sensation that I’ve had this dream before
because I’m not participating, I’m just the one who’s keeping score
the cups were filled with coffee by the waitress with the pin
who poisons her own lipstick and leaves it showing on the brim
The hallway chatterboxes are all waiting to descend
Upon a service elevator that cannot rise as high as them
The fire on the mountain has gotten kind out of hand
There’s no method to distinguish between the innocent and damned—
The clock’s a double-crosser—else how’d the hour get so late?
And what happened to the lobster that was just resting on my plate?
I didn’t mean to interrupt you—we were somewhere in the meal
Either I was asking you, or you were wondering how I feel—
The bartender looks impatient for the commercials to resume
In the backyard a slumped hound-dog's being howled at by a moon
beneath the porter’s window the station’s leaving from the train
I guess I’m a little empty, kinda lost and scatterbrained…
I’ve been to see the barber at the dark end of the cave
You can tell when he’s been drinking by the closeness of his shave
There’s a headstone in the parlor, it’s been leaning gainst the stairs
I’m afraid I’ll turn it over and find my own name written there
I climbed up on my ladder for to call on you again
But the candle’s always burning in the room you’re never in
Have you ever been so lonely that you shattered into song
And felt you’d found a place at last where you could just belong?
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5. |
A Spanish Tune
05:22
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Well everybody’s got a thing to say about the girl there dancing across the way
How her hair flows and her hips, they sway—all night long
Where she comes from and who she is, how she got into a place like this,
These are all things that these watchers wish they knew for sure
Some say that she’s a queen from a country somewhere that no one’s seen
Where everything that you hope and dream, it just comes true
Where they go: Sha la la la la la la Sha la la la la la la
Sha la la la la la la la la la la la la
Some say that she’s a married girl who’s traveled half way around the world
Searching for her precious pearl, a man she loves
Some say that she’s a widowed wife, that she’s been dancing here all her life
Mourning morning noon and night a man she loves
Nobody seems to know her name, or speak her language or play her game
But every evening, moon stars or rain, she dances here
She wears what I wouldn’t quite call a smile, opens her eyes every once in a while
She’s dangerous and versatile, she seems to say
With her there its hard to concentrate, everything else feels second rate
Mostly folks they just speculate as they stand in awe
They wonder does she even know that she’s the reason for the crowded show
That she’s the reason that the music’s slow and the hour’s late
To have danced with her none can boast, won’t let nobody get too close
Some people say that she’s just a ghost, that she ain’t there
She don’t like licorice, only caramel; don’t like dresses but she wears them well
You’ve never met her but she rings a bell inside of you
She keeps her balance with an expert skill, looks like she’s dancing when she’s standin still
You can’t tell if it’s love until she tries to go
And every evening when the music’s done and the bar is closing for the morning sun
There’s no one left, she’s the only one who’s dancing still
She has this way where she leaves a room smelling strongly of her sweet perfume
Humming softly a spanish tune as her footsteps fade
And all the boys come and gather round and try to recognize the sound
Declare the dance floor to be hallowed ground as she slips away
Chorus
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6. |
The Gambler
06:50
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a gambler’s a man / who knows that a plan’s / just a story that’s spun out of dreams
it can act as a prop / to get you to stop / but temporary is all that it means
sooner than not / you’ll get what you’ve bought / whether you lose or you win
I’ve lost my share / but look, I’m still here / so, dealer, won’t you deal me again?
I seen all kinds / from the ones who read minds / to them who can’t spot a tell from a bluff
To the burn-outs, retired / hard-lucks, hardwired / who can’t say when they’ve had enough
I’ve heard the advice / of them who say to think twice / what do they know about where I been?
If you had these blues / I’ll wager you, too / ‘d be sayin: Dealer, deal me again
I had me a girl / she was out of this world / she was a once-in-a-lifetime affair
I asked her to stay / she told me o.k. / then she high-tailed it right out of there
I heard through the mill / she’s been up to it still / making fools out of dangerous men
Still causin a stir / Ain’t that good for her? / Dealer, won’t you deal me again?
Some play for the thrill / for the hunt or the kill / for the chance to be something they’re not
Some play cause they know / just how it will go / so long as they never get caught
Me, I’m the sort / who lives for the sport / I play for sheer love of the game
Don’t matter what / poker straight, draw or stud / Dealer, just deal me again
When it was you / I did what I could do / to let you know I was your friend
I held you aside / to defend you, I lied / and if I had to, I’d do it again
But now it’s reversed / and I come to you first / you act like you don’t know who I am—
If I’m still in the game / and the rules haven’t changed / well dealer, won’t you deal me again?
You tried to live straight / as something you hate / and you know that it won’t ever fit
It’s a gamble as soon / as you’re torn from the womb / til you finally cash in your chips
To live is to bet / in a game against Death / and you know the house wins in the end
But if it’s all gone to hell / spose I might as well… / Dealer, won’t you deal me again?
I’m friends with the bar / doorman’s got a car / there’d be more than enough to go round
a few guns, for show / and a place to lay low / where we could wait for the heat to die down
maybe it’s how you feel / or it’s there in the deal / or it’s some kind of wheel you just spin
you won’t know til it lands / or you’ve played out your hand / Dealer, won’t you deal me again?
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7. |
Poolhall Saga
07:10
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I went down to the poolhall / late on a Tuesday
nothing but a dollar to my name
I was only looking / to pass some hours
While I waited for my leven o’clock train
Well I took a seat at / an empty table
It couldn’t have been no later than quarter past
There were a few games going / not a whole lot happenin
I wondered how long my dollar was gonna last
Among the poolsharks / and grizzly fellas
I saw two hustlers taking money left and right
They were shooting doubles / telling stories
Of how this must’ve been their lucky night
Well I got distracted / by a well-known waitress
Named Rita, wearing stockings and a fishnet blouse
She said, “You thirsty?” / I said, “I got no money,”
She said, “It won’t help you—this ones on the house.”
Well she brought me something / it was all a bubblin
I sniffed it, then I took a thirsty pull
When I brought the cup down / everyone was starin
Somebody whispered, “That man done lost his soul.”
Well I started feeling / a little funny
And then I blacked out and fell right to the floor
When I came to / the place had cleared out
Cept for one of those two hustlers from before
He put his hand out / said “Pleased to know you,”
I can see you’re new here, so allow me to explain:
Said, “You’re dead now / but this ain’t heaven
That there’s Rita—and Satan is my name.”
He said, “I see your startled / that’s only natural
good news is that I’m a gambling man
if you play me / in a game of billiards
I’ll let you have your soul back, if you win.”
Well I accepted his conditions
In my position, hell, what else could I do?
He racked the balls up, rearranged em
and then broke em while I eyed and chalked my cue
Well the break was perfect / he made six balls in
every pocket on the table took a hit
Three were striped ones / and three were solid
Satan said, “I guess I get my pick.”
He chose solids / and eyed the two-ball
Said, “Corner pocket,” and gave an awful grin
It looked unlikely / downright impossible
Sent the cue-ball round the table and Number 2 went in
Then he said “Watch this,” / said, “You see that pair there?”
He pointed at the 1 up against the 3
He hit the cue ball / smack in between em
And each went in different holes, simultaneously
Well I’s in trouble / and boy, I knew it
But I held my piece and didn’t let nothing show
He had a clean shot / on the number 7
And, of course, he made it, with just the 8 ball left to go
When all of a sudden, he became curious
Said, “I hate to win so easy with the stakes so high”
He fired gently, grazed the eight-ball
Said, “If you think you can win, let’s see you try!”
Well just then something made me look at Rita
she looked so lonesome, so lovely and so sad
I said to Satan, “Before I shoot here,
What do you say we revise the agreement that we had?”
I said, “If I’m defeated, you get my spirit
It’ll be all yours to do with what you feel—
But if I win, you free Rita—”
Satan laughed and said, “That’s all? You gotta deal.”
I said, “For a hustler, you know you’re pretty cocky
I’m surprised to know the devil even gives a damn—
I didn’t want to / haveta hurt your feelings—
but you must have no idea who I am”
And saying that much / I took my first shot
Hit the nine into the ten into the twelve
Sunk em easy / and went on shooting
Til I cleared that entire table by myself
When it was over / I put my hand out
Said, “I’ll be taking back our souls, now, I trust
He said “That wasn’t our agreement—”
I said “Actually, as a matter of fact, it was—”
I explained that long time before this
Rita’s and my soul were intertwined,
“Techically speaking, I belong to her—
I’m as much a part of hers as she is of mine.”
Sometimes folks ask me how I met Rita
How we ever came to be husband and wife
I always tell em it’s a boring story:
One time she tried to kill me, and saved my life.
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8. |
You've Changed
06:41
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There was a time when what was yours was mine—and vice versa
If I’m not on cue, I’d be more’n glad to reimburse ya
I spose it’s a flaw to believe in the law of inertia
That says what is will be—I say let’s wait and see:
We been through our share of trial and error and judgment
Enduring the eyes of society wives and their husbands
We’ve paid all their dues and even a few of their “doesn’t”s
it’s come down to this—still, somethings amiss
I know it ain’t my place
to tell you where and when you seem a little off-base
But in this case I’d embrace
my own share of the blame—
For your own good, for your own health
I wish you’d hold up a mirror and look at yourself
When it’s so obvious to everyone else
That you ain’t the same—
That you’re different now, there’s something new, something I can’t name
I can’t quite put my finger on it, I can’t quite explain
you’ve changed
The thieves in the yard check to see that the guard is still dozing
the hostess distressed, accuses her guests of imposing
The butterfly sleeps while its body keeps metamorphosing
The caterpillar cocooned—I’m damned or I’m doomed
reviewing a list of items you wished to be handed
I saw at a glance that romance had been taken for granted
I’d’ve pointed it out except doubt had me thoroughly stranded
Nowhere to go—except on with the show
I feel so at a loss
Like a freewheeling boulder trying to gather its moss
Just tell me what it will cost
And what I stand to gain—
And in the meantime, I’ll concede
That in what I’ve undertaken I will never succeed
nor surrender, nor give in, nor need
long as you’re in the frame—
I’m not going to mince words, I’ll stand by my claim
There’s just something about you, doesn’t go with the grain—
you’ve changed
Down in the vault the cult meeting’s called into order
A man with no voice makes a choice by flipping a quarter
Someone disagrees and is made to eat cheese in the corner
Reciting the laws—neath the sound of applause
Prometheus spits even though he’s been gifted with forethought
He lays down his check and places his bet on the longshot
He thinks of his life, of his kids and his wife and the onslaught
Of debts he can’t drown—maybe it’ll all turn around
Look out there, on the tide
Ain’t the grass always greener on the sea’s other side?
But to get there don’t you gotta ride
Through a horizon of flames—
And as your dreams slowly break apart
And every time you look back you find you’re still at the start
you don’t see it, but you know, somehow, down in your heart
that you ain’t quite the same—
something’s different now, something new you can’t quite explain—
in spite of yourself, of your goals, and your aims
you’ve changed
Honey I’ve tried all these rules to abide, but I’m failing
I was hoping to skip getting stuck on this ship but it’s sailing
If it springs a leak I’ll be tempted to leap—oer the railing
swim for the shore—til I can’t swim anymore—
Coyotes dance while the wind in the branch is still blowing
Out in the fields the summertime yields unto snowing
Don’t know what I’ll find but I’ve made up my mind and I’m going
On up ahead—just like I said
don’t feed me that old blue line
If I have a say in the matter there won’t be a next time
I know maybe you don’t mind—
But I won’t stand for the pain
You didn’t see me see you blush
But you gotta lay down your cards when they’re callin your bluff
And God help you if you don’t have the stuff
to go on or maintain
you gotta play by the dealer’s rules or get out of the game
if you don’t know it by now, you will when you set foot on that train—
you’ve changed
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9. |
A Gust of Wind
06:31
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As I was riding down the road / of a country strange, homeward bound
A gust of wind rose from the east / and knocked me sprawling to the ground
My horse, tho startled, didn’t fall / he only reared and neighed and fled
I called his name but he’d gone too far / I was stranded, helpless, left for dead
In the muddied ditch I lay awhile / from consciousness I came and went
Until I startled at the sound / of a drunken carriageman’s lament
He’d only stopped to rest his horse / and permit an overdue relief
I scared him nearly half to death / when I begged for him to “Help me—please!”
He hoisted me into his ride / two passengers already were aboard
a prospector heading for his mine, and a Lady going to meet her Lord
they took me in and nursed my wounds / from a scarf the Lady fashioned me a sling
they asked to know from whence I came / but I couldn’t remember anything
we drove all night until the dawn / by sun-up we had made the town
the driver stopped at the Blue Hotel / told the concierge to bring the doctor down
the doctor was a shiftless man / he smelled of whiskey something fierce
his arms were bare but for tattoos / his ears and lips and nose were pierced
he carried me up to his room and gave me something for the pain
I passed out almost immediately / when I awoke, we were on the move again
This time it was a different scene / I’s in a box-car bound and gagged
The conductor, through his surgeon’s mask, / gave me a morsel and said it was all he had
At the station we were shuffled off / some people had already died
Another carriage found me there / I’s ordered to “Hurry! Get inside!”
I was taken to a large estate / where I served a man of much esteem
Eventually I earned his trust / and learned to interpret all his dreams
He found my skills so excellent, he decided I should meet the king
And when the king looked on my face, he burst into tears, remembering
He said I was his long-lost son, finally at last come home again
He said, My horse arrived years before—they figured I’d been robbed and slain!
He stripped my siblings of their rites, their inheritance to me conferred
Introduced me to my fiancé; that same night I married her
At dawn I rose to walk the grounds and see what memories I could wake
I found the gardener in his grove, he said I’d made a grave mistake
He said my wife’d forsaken me, and had become his lover since
he told me that she loved him still, but of that I remained unconvinced
he challenged me unto a duel and offered me a loaded gun
we took ten paces from ourselves, turned and fired—he lost, I won
the gunshot roused a sleeping guard / who arrived in time to see the death
the gardener laid the blame on me / with his dying final breath—
I fled to my old and ragged horse, a beast unfit to bear a prince—
a gust of wind rose from the east, which I’ve been chasing ever since…
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10. |
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I come from a place somewheres in the East
But I had to get away and hide
I set out for the West, and every place I think to rest
I just get back on my horse and ride, ride, ride
I just get back on my horse and ride
I always hoped to live with good, upstanding folks
But their customs I could not abide
Before I’d push a broom, I’d be ready just as soon
To get back on my horse and ride, ride, ride
Get back on my horse and ride
When I asked for advice on how to live a moral life
They told me: let my conscience be my guide
Whenever trouble comes, I’m either reaching for my gun
Else I get back on my horse to ride, ride, ride
Get back on my horse to ride
I came into a town where a crowd had gathered round
A wanted poster that said “Dead or Alive!”
Well anybody there could see the fella looked a lot like me
So I got back on my horse to ride, ride, ride
I got back on my horse to ride
I rode into a town that was crawling with police
They’s in every place I looked inside
Rather than try my luck, riskin getting stuck,
I just got back on my horse to ride, ride, ride
I just got back on my horse to ride
I rode into a place just as a church was letting out
To the priest I went in to confide
“My son you cannot win,” he said, “Turn your poor self in!”
So I got back on my horse to ride, ride, ride
I got back on my horse to ride
I’ve tried out all the sins that can damn a man to hell
And the worst of all the sins is pride
If I’m bound for hell, I suppose I might as well
Just get back on my horse and ride, ride, ride
I just get back on my horse and ride
I came upon a man who was hanging on a cross
A sharpened spear had pierced his side
There was no one else around, so I cut that fellow down
Then I got back on my horse to ride, ride, ride
Got back on my horse to ride
I come into a bar where some men was playing cards
“You in?” they asked, “I’m in,” I replied
Fore they knew what I’s about, I cleaned them fellas out
Then I got back on my horse to ride, ride, ride
I got back on my horse to ride
I once knew a man who lived on others’ trust
Borrowed from far and wide
“What you gonna do when your first payment is due?”
Gonna get back on my horse and ride, ride, ride
Gonna get back on my horse and ride
They say that only love can break your heart
And know it’s true, cause I tried
But when you feel it’s through, the only thing to do
Is to get back on that horse and ride, ride, ride
Is get back on that horse and ride
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Sam Steffen Boise, Idaho
Sam Steffen is a Pennsylvania-bred, Boise-based singer-songwriter whose songs are the torch-wood for a new generation of folk music that has learned from the best stuff in the tradition and aims in spite of everything to keep the human spirit alive and kicking. A versatile musician and skilled finger-picker, Sam is at heart a story-teller, and a prolific one. ... more
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