Tom T. Hall

A way out on the mountain near the sky
Hiding from the cold realities of life
Shaking that old road dust off my heels
I give my heart and mind a chance to heal

Then I'll go somewhere and sing my songs again
More than likely ride back to the places that I've been
In fairness to my music and my friends
I'll go somewhere and sing my songs again

A raccoon stole my minnows in the night
Thought I appreciate his need and his appetite
But unlike me he doesn't have to roam
And it's true that man can't live on bread alone

Then I'll go somewhere and sing my songs again
More than likely ride back to the places that I've been
In fairness to my music and my friends
I'll go somewhere and sing my songs again

It feels so good to have a simple wish
Where life and death is me and some old fish
Poor king sits with a cold beer in his hand
And surveys a clear blue kingdom on the sand

Then I'll go somewhere and sing my songs again
More than likely ride back to the places that I've been
In fairness to my music and my friends
I'll go somewhere and sing my songs again
I'll go somewhere and sing my songs again

I remember the year that clayton delaney died
They said for the last two weeks that he suffered and cried
It made a big impression on me, although I was a barefoot kid
They said he got religion at the end and I'm glad that he did

Clayton was the best guitar picker in our town
I thought he was a hero and I used to follow clayton around
I often wondered why clayton, who seemed so good to me
Never took his guitar and made it down in tenn-o-see

Well, daddy said he drank a lot, but I could never understand
I knew he used to pick up in ohio with a five-piece band
Clayton used to tell me, "son you better put that old guitar away,
There ain't no money in it, it'll lead you to an early grave."



I guess if I'd admit it, clayton taught me how to drink booze
I can see him half-stoned a-pickin' out the lovesick blues
When clayton died I made him a promise, I was gonna carry on somehow
I'd give a hundred dollars if he could only see me now

I remember the year that clayton delaney died
Nobody ever knew it but I went out in the woods and I cried
Well, I know there's a lotta big preachers that know a lot more than I do
But it could be that the good lord likes a little pickin' too
Yeah, I remember the year that clayton delaney died

Ramona lived just down the hill from us.
She kept the house ger mother drove the bus. (an old yellow school bus)
Ramona had a handicap the neighborhood knew well.
Ramona couldn't speak or couldn't spell. (and that left Ramona at a

Considerable disadvantage among the more fluent)
Although she couldn't write or couldn't talk,
Ramona really had a pretty walk. (a four letter figure)
Because she couldn't write or speak nobody asked her out.

But "bad-eye" Thompson hung around the house. (he was what you'd call a
Familiar figure in the neighborhood)
Well I guess their handicaps were common ground.
'Cause "bad-eye" Thompson always hung around.

He could squint that eye and spit tobacco thirty feet.
Ramona always grinned and stomped her feat.(because,to Ramona this was one of
The finer things in life)
One day Ramona found herself with child.

She couldn't speak. Her mom was going wild.
Confusion reigned for half a day as one could understand.
The county judge came down to lend a hand. (and I think it should be noted in
The interest of justice that the judge was acting in a strictly unofficial Capacity)

The neighbors gathered 'round Ramona's porch.
The judge said, "Understand, this is not a court".
Ramona squealed as all the breathless neighbors gathered 'round......
Then closed one eye and (puh-tui) spat upon the ground.

(And it's a familiar old phrase that "birds of a feather will flock together".
And justice will be done)

I was working in Miami for a day or two
I decided I'd look up a girl that I once knew
I bought some flowers and went to see a girl I used to know
The lady at her door said she had married long ago
Times will change and towns will change; there I was alone
And suddenly I wondered, "Would Susie be at home?"
So with the flowers in my hand, I walked toward her gate
Someone touched me on the arm and said, "You'll have to wait."

Then I noticed there were people standing in a line
And some of them were holding pretty flowers just like mine
They explained that Susie had been in an awful crash
Doctors said that she had just a little while to last
When I walked into her room, I felt a sense of shame
But I heard Susie whisper, "I'm awfully glad you came."

She had been the girl that I had always gone to see
When someone that I cared for had been untrue to me
I handed her the flowers and she gently kissed my hand
She said, "Don't be embarrassed; you know I understand."

I said, "Goodbye" and as I bent to kiss her fevered brow
I heard her whisper, "Thank you for the second handed flowers."

Yeah, I remember it now, we were kids back then
Livin' down on the farm
We were told that the city
Could only bring us harm

"How far is the city?", somebody said
And, "Oh, that's a great big town"
And Barbara said, "Why, it's a million miles"
And the story got around

It's a million miles to the city
From the hills and valleys we know
It's a million miles to the city
And someday we all wanna go

There was a town nearby but a town is a town
And the city well, that's something else
Our daddy had been to a city
But he never was much help

Why the buildings are taller than Oak trees
Ah, but we knew better than that
Ain't nobody could climb that high
The cities were wide and flat

It's a million miles to the city
From the hills and valleys we know
It's a million miles to the city
And someday we all wanna go

Well, now time has passed and we have grown
And traveled far and wide
The cities have changed the kids we were
We see it in each others eyes

But I'd love to go back to those hills again
To the boy I used to be
Where the leaves and the wind and the whippoorwills
Were part of the land like me

It's a million miles to the city
From the hills and valleys we know
It's a million miles to the city
And someday we all wanna go

It's a million miles to the city
From the hills and valleys we know
It's a million miles to the city
And someday we all wanna go

There were signs beside the road like "Jesus Saves"
And "Relieve yourself the fast and gentle way"
I was lookin' for an old man who lived way back in these hills
Who just might have a story I could tell

Pretty soon the blacktop disappeared
I felt the car change to a lower gear
I took a drink of liquor just to chase away the chill
I was 27 miles from Olive Hill

Ahead I saw the bridge where I turned right
A dirt road led straight up a mountainside
I pulled up to a farmhouse I thought I had seen before
An old man and his dog were at the door

They told me this old-timer knew this land
I told him, "Sir, I just don't understand
Why the kids in this state just grow up and move away
And leave the land where they were born and raised."

He said, "Son, you can't make it on this land
Unless you're happy workin' with your hands
There ain't no kids today that wanna stay and work it out
They wanna see the things they hear about."

He said, "I cleared this whole farm off myself
And I'd work it now but time has got my health."
Then starin' out the window restin' in his easy chair
He told me what I'd really come to hear

"You know, son, people used to tell their kids
'Now, I don't want you to have to work the way I did.'
They don't and some will tell you that it's a shame
But you have to think before you place the blame."

I guess we must have talked for half a day
'Til I told him that I'd best be on my way
He shook my hand and said, "I'm glad I met you, Mr. Hall
But I guess there ain't no song here after all."

I got off the airplane 'long about 7:30 in L.A.
What a drag to realize that everything's so different and so same
All my California friends are searchin' for their minds and it's been right there in their heads all the time

[Chorus]
L.A. Blues, L.A. Blues
You want me to be like you
Well, there ain't no way

California Charlie met me at my room when I got in
We toasted country pickin' and the health of all our good and mutual friends
Before the mornin' came we put a handle on the world and decided that we'd give it to the squirrels

[Chorus]

Soakin' up that sunshine an' eatin' eggs and bacon over light
Sleepin' through the daytime an' contemplatin' sin throughout the night
Please hand me my hat and darlin' give me back my things Ol' T's got a bunch o' songs to sing

[Chorus]

I like California, I wouldn't put it down-- no way
But I heard what you're thinkin' and it ain't exactly what I want to say
Some day California I'll come roarin' back to you if you don't fall in the ocean 'fore I do

[Chorus]