Texas Exodus-
With an Exodus from Texas, roots no longer here
The dust kicked up has settled and now a path has become clear
Daddy was a lawman sentenced to the booze
Do his job or do what's right
He always had to choose
When he left
all he left stuck in his son's mind
How those scales they were unbalanced
But her sword it cut just fine
(Justice isn't blind)
Mama was a madame taught him wrong from right
In the world's oldest profession
she housed ladies of the night
Once Pa left
it was up to her
to make ends meet
So she sent her little boy out
to steer strangers from the street.
(For a taste of something sweet)
The boy he was golden
Full of wit and charm
When it came to fleecing wayward sheep
He never saw the harm
When he led them to the slaughter
They didn't hesitate
Those poor fools and their money,
He was quick to separate
(And he never played it straight)
Round Rock's just a whistle stop
No roots to hold him down
Pa’s out in the wind
Mama's in the ground
Shoulder the Weight-
I'm trying hard to build but I found
Can't raise a structure with a base so unsound
It is more than just paying dues
The ones who are down, continue to lose
It is the nature of the beast
Some folks starve while others continue to feast
I can’t shoulder the weight
Sometimes it's too much to take
Someone’s got to show me the way from
Here
The failure in life is lifting from me
Stand up and face the cadence of humanity
Clearing the dirt from my face
Either planting the pole or burning at the stake
It is is the nature of the beast
Some folks stop while others continue to feast
I can’t shoulder the weight
Sometimes it's too much to take
I've got to make an escape from
Here
I can’t shoulder the weight
Sometimes it's too much to take
I've got to plan an escape from
Here
Salt of the Earth-
In the legacy of dirt farmers
Just living off the land
He was latest in the line
Of strong backs and calloused hands
Embracing honest work and racing with
the sun.
He toiled with the soil
Before the day’d begun
Dirt beneath his nails
His labor never done
Working with his hands and racing with the sun
You know what he’s worth
The salt of the earth
Well it’s his time to rest
Lord knows he didn’t when he was here
The furrow of his brow
Now matched the furrows of the fields
No matter how hard he worked the earth
could not improve his yields
Was it the aging of the man
Or a changing of the times?
Alone with the farmland
Wife and his kin
That’s where his whole life
Both ends and begins
He’s now beneath the soil
That he once toiled on
Dawn breaks the morning
too broken to face the sun
You know what he’s worth
Now he’s the salt in the earth
Well it’s his time to rest
Lord knows he didn’t when he was here
Baby Don’t Follow Me
Don’t follow me
Baby Don’t Follow Me
It’s 500 Miles to Denver
Baby Don’t Follow Me
The texas wind it blew me here
The heat got hotter e’ery year
Don’t Follow Me
Baby Don’t Follow Me
my feet were made to ramble away
Your feet are meant to stand and stay
Your feet were made to ramble away
hay seeds, how they must be sewn
The yellowed rose, it ain’t my home
Don’t Follow Me
Baby Don’t Follow Me
The rubes they file off the train
Come and follow me
With whiskey and women on the brain
Come and follow me
Don’t follow me
Baby Don’t Follow Me
500 steps in Denver
Baby Don’t Follow Me
Your feet were made to ramble away
Your feet are meant to stand and stay x2
Baby Don’t Follow Me
CHOICE CITY QUEEN
The news has whispered throughout the wheat
That small time farmers can’t compete
Anymore, we gotta go
Back when tickets got punched on time
The pristine promise of wealth to find
On down the line, and in them mines
There is wealth to find,.... on down the line
This old engine of steam and dreams
From worn out porters to men of means,
they’re all the same
Fat cats with their silver spoons,
Those rowdy rounders in saloons
There is money to spare
Dirty money everywhere
Hold your head up ten feet high
Before it hits the ground
Slowly churnin’ I’m on my own
But I’m Choice City Bound
The Choice City Queen’s been a chuggin’
Long before you were around
Head full of steam
Careening down it seems
The engine will pull as the car still follows
If you ride fast enough you’ll escape tomorrow
Whistle don’t blow while carrying the cargo
The only thing left is time to borrow
There’ll be no stopping me
And the whistle goes…
From a boomin city to a one horse town
That grew up too quick to stick around
I lived it all
Worn tracks of steel, worn tracks are straight
This passenger don’t have to wait, too long
The promise of Choice City
It can be found
GYPSY
She's a gypsy girl
Magic in her veins
she'll slow spoon your soul
Till none of it remains
Hung in suspended animation
Kaleidoscope of lies
Gave a man a mid-life crisis
Before he knew he was alive
Trapped and tangled
By the secrets that she tells
So sleek she slowly speaks
Seductive little spells
Her skin hued with neon glows
Hair like a murder of crows
Haunting revelations
Tossed with tales of belief
Crushing the hearts of men
Till their shattered by their grief
She stalks all soap and steel
A ballerina with knives
Spinning just outside your jab
Disappearing before your eyes
Haunted Stagecoach
There was a story that Soapy used to spin
In the wild west a long time ago
A wicked web to trap people in
It all starts with a stagecoach
Stagecoach, stagecoach
Bandits waiting in the woods
A heavy stagecoach filled with gold
Horse got spooked and ran
And the tracks vanished from the road
Gunshots raining in the air
The driver turned into a ghost
The legend of the stagecoach….
The next mornin’ bandits lay on the ground
And the stagecoach was nowhere to be found
The legend goes the golds still around
In the forest on the outskirts of town
Soap’ll take you there for a meager price
but beware
It might cost you your life
Lured to the forest at night
The golden promise outweighed the people's fright
Until they figured out the story was a lie
And realized it was their turn to die
Gunshots rang out once again
And made another ghost
A victim of the stagecoach hoax
Haunted stagecoach hoax
From Almost Something...
Been waiting for this day
First time I got my pay
Finally found the means to make an end
Hard work came and went
Didn’t realize what I spent
Next month I’ll do it all again
I’ve held a lot of ladies
but I’ve never found my heart
When the cards are down
there’s no need for bluffing
The stakes are getting higher
The margin’s getting tighter
From almost nothing to almost something
Just a chance encounter
Mere minutes in the hour
Electric aches afraid to blink and end
Can't tear my thoughts away from the things we’d never say
Left me wondering what might have been
From almost something to almost nothing
Life's been shuffled dealt and cut
I’ve always gone with my gut
But damn my luck I was never meant to win
Wish I learned from my past
But it never seems to last
Takes me back, to where I’ve been
From almost nothing to almost something.
From almost nothing to almost...
Down at the Gallows
Down at the Gallows
He's still hanging around
Cause you can't outrun the law
when your feet don't touch the ground
His eyes were once for her
but now they feed the crows
and there is no more melodies
he can only
decompose
She
has the face of an angel
but she
doesn’t own a halo (Oh no)
The fire in her eyes
comes from somewhere
down below
Bitter lies leak from her mouth
And they melt
Into the snow
He
Sits at the head of the table
And he
Wants nothing less than what's been paid for
(if you know what I mean)
His eyes they are bloodshot red
his blood it runs cold
He lives off the people’s tears
And his power makes him bold
Down at the Gallows
He's still hanging around
Cause you can't outrun the law
when your feet don't touch the ground
His eyes were once for her
but now they feed the crows
and there's no more melodies
he can only
decompose
She
Is in charge of the show
But that doesn’t matter
She
has to work flat on her back
To arrive at the top of the ladder.
The fire in her eyes
comes from somewhere
down below
Bitter lies spill from her mouth
To melt
Into the snow
His
Voice sweet as a nightingale
It’s
Strong as a gale in the night
He’s
Willing to do what it takes
Mesmerized by her seductive delights
Star glow married with the darkness
still echoes in his head
A King's ransom paid in pleasure
is bound to make him dead
Flesh it can be tempted
flesh it can be sold
a pound of flesh it weighs
the same as a pound of gold
Flesh it can be tempted
flesh it can be sold
a pound of flesh it weighs
the same as a pound of gold
Slim and the Stranger
Slim rolled into Blackhawk
Straight to a pawn shop
To hock the rest of his things
Running from collectors
That he had neglected
Somewhere down near the Springs
The weight of regret
hadn’t left him just yet
From the last bet that he’d laid down
With not much to lose
And nothing new
Slim chooses to head into town
We can’t hide what we are, same old song
Time is skinny and our shadows they are long
No one knows where chips might fall and it's getting late
Calling blind. And I find.
Aces backed with eights
Those aces backed with eights
At a game of draw
Slim looked and saw
A mix of drifters, grifters, and cheats
A stranger well weathered
a face made of leather
Big stacks in front of his seat
Through flurries of cards
And a haze of cigars
The table started to wane
The best of the mess
Had been laid to rest
And only two did remain
It was Slim’s last
Chips in the center were vast
It wasn’t hard to understand
Slim was all in
He needed to win
A pair of aces he had in hand
Slim gazed at his take
As if it were a mistake
Two snowmen dressed in black
The stranger didn’t rush
He was bluffing a flush
He told the dealer that he would stay
Aces backed with eights
Tis the dead man's hand
Whatever you win in sin
You’ll end up giving back again
Black suits lead to black suits
When they lower you down
You can't take it with you
When you're six feet (in the) underground
Slim was in luck
With the gold, he had struck
He took two, and started to pray
At the stranger's redress
Slim’s pairs were best
Over cowboys and rodeo queens
The Stranger pulled his piece
Slim’s winning was brief
Seems the stranger, was calling his bluff
With the luck that he’d been given
While he was still living
Expired with him on the floor
Aces backed with eights
Tis the dead man's hand
Whatever you win in sin
You’ll end up giving back again
Black suits lead to black suits
When they lower you down
You can't take it with you
When you're six feet (in the) underground
