Charlie Robison

My little brother was just ten years old
When we hit bad weather and hid in the hole
We could see Texas was only a mile
And oh, little brother, I remember your smile
At Indianola

My dad built a sawmill of Cypreses and stone
It was here on Madena that we made our home
The year 1850 and I sent for my girl
Oh Fraulein, come meet me in this brand new world
At Indianola

The war they call civil had barely begun
Me and my cousins decided we'd run
Up through Louisianan to meet up with Grant
But one hundred damn rebels shot us there in the sand
At Indianola

They said up in New York, the stock market fell
And the life they was livin' was shot all to hell
But we ain't seen nothin' no different than dust
Sept the wheels on the wagon all covered with rust
At Indianola

And that scrape with old Hitler was over and done
And I wondered if I could kill kin with my gun
But we sat there in Paris in a little caf??짤
And as they toasted Truman, I drifted away
To Indianola

But it's fifty years later and nobody cares
About some old city that ain't even there
Well, my sons moved to Houston
And they work in the Gulf
With seven days on and seven days off

Well I work for the doctor that bought our old ranch
From first quality federal the foreclosures branch
And he calls me hillbilly and he laughs at my hair
But the cancer will get him if anything's fair

And I'll take his ashes and throw from my boat
As they crossed that ocean I'm going to float
To find me another Indianola
Indianola
Indianola

[Chorus]
Well they call me the life of the party
They call her the belle of the ball
Well we start before anybody
And I promise we'll outlast them all

Well it started when I was in high school
My mom and my dad taught me well
A bottle of wine at Thanksgiving
And a valum when Grandma raised hell
Sso I had some champaigne at a wedding
I belive that they called it Cold Duck
And they girl I'd been eyeing all evening
She took me round back and we sucked down the rest of that bottle
And things really started to click
Well we kissed on the boxes of liquor
And she reached down and grabbed her some dickle and added some cola
Far be it for me should I pass
For I thought that if I drank another
I'd certainly need me some Aspirin on the next morning
I'd tried not to make me a sound
'cause the girl who was sleeping beside me had gained herself two-hundred
Pounding on my bedroom window
My Dad yelled to jump out of bed
But she woke up from all the commotion
Insisting she'd give me some headlines she'd read in the paper
She said it had been yesterday
They said if you use moderation
My mornings could all be this way

[Chorus]

Well, I hear that old John Deere tractor
At the low water bridge
Pulling the young drinkers across
He's dragging so many on this Saturday night
I can smell that old tractor's exhaust

But the rain on the roof sounds so pretty
And the cowboys are fearful the most
But Deena done broke from his ragged old pen
It's making a run for the coast

Well, there's a place down on Main Street
Right across from the bank
Somebody drew one on the line
About twenty foot up on that Frontier Hotel
Where crested back in twenty-nine

Well, this city took most of this little old town
'Cause we live on what they call the flame
Well, I read all about it in the cafe downtown
Where they got that old newspaper frame

But the rain on the roof sounds so pretty
The cowboys are fearful the most
But Deena done broke from his ragged old pen
It's making a run for the coast

My grandmother called about ten minutes ago
Like she does almost every night
She said they come home way early from the old rodeo
When a big boat had knocked off the lights

Well, she said a cowboy got buckin'
Just before it went dark
On a boat that they called 'Chequered Tree'
And ain't nobody's saw if he finished his ride
So I guess I'll forget about sleep

But the rain on the roof sounds so pretty
And the cowboys are fearful the most
But Deena done broke from his ragged old pen
It's making a run for the coast

But Deena done broke from his ragged old pen
It's making a run for the coast

My name is John O'Reilly
And my father worked the fields
In the hills of old Kilarny
Where I helped him turn the wheels
My arms grew hard as iron for a boy of 17
And I used my fists for gambling in those wet Kilarny streets

Well the ship left for America and I brought my pack aboard
Said goodbye to my dear Ireland said a prayer to my dear Lord
I fought those sorry guineas in the kitchen they called hell
I fought them for their dollar and those guineas paid me well

[Chorus]
Fair thee well fair Dover
Fair thee well your seasons turn
For my pockets will be jingling on the day of my return
The day of my return

I fought in New York City and I fought the Jersey shore
My gut stayed full of whiskey and my bed stayed full of whores
They called my right a cannonball and my left they called the same
I left em' all lyin' half in blood and half in shame

I met a man on '32 and he stuck out his hand
And he offered me a thousand if I'd fall before his man
I said it could be done but only for another two
He smiled at me and nodded as I stuck it in my shoe

[Chorus]

They rang the bell two times before I let him have my nose
And I let him work my left until my eye was swollen closed
Then I let loose a right that they still talk about today
For that guinea didn't know that I had bet the other way

They covered every dock and every port there on the coast
Looking for that double crosser who had turned into a ghost
But I was on a train my friend that rode the other way
And i'll sail from California back to Dublin one fine day

Jackie went to high school
In a little Texas town
He finished up and spent the most of next year bummin' around
He couldn't find a job to hold
So on a Friday night
He figured he could see the world and buy a 4-wheel drive
If he'd join the army
Cause these are desperate times

Well he came back four years later
A little higher off the ground
Things there hadn't changed
And that just really got him down
So he went off to San Antone
An hour to the east
And got a job workin' for the San Antone police
Well he had a pistol now
Cause these are desperate times

Well ol Jackie he got married
But his ends they wouldn't meet
His wife worked at the Texas Commerce Bank just up the street
Jackie got an idea
To get him outta debt
And they could live the good life
And drive a new Corvette
If he'd rob the bank he said
Cause these are desperate times

Well he had planned the whole thing
And while his baby worked
He came in after hours
In a black ski mask and shirt
She told him where the money was
And thats just where he went
The minute that he saw it he already had it spent
Well it wasn't easy
But these are desperate times

Well he drove off to Bandera
Cause that was his hometown
He had it in his mind just where he'd lay that money down
He went out to his mom's house
And Jack went up the hill
To bury that old suitcase full of hundred dollar bills
Well he'd let it sit a while
Cause these are desperate times

Well the bank they called the g-men
Cause they were insured by the Fed
And Jill she rolled on Jack
Cause she was in above her head
The g-men gave Jack wind of this
When they made his arrest
And he asked her why she turned on the one that she loved best
Well it wasn't easy Jack
But these are desperate times

Yeah ain't that what you always said
These are desperate times

I will see you in the morning
When the moonlight leaves the trees
But I will always feel the embers
Of the flames in Tennessee

I was sleeping when they came knocking
They said boy you better leave
Said South Nashville is rocking
And they can't get no relief

So I run and put my pants on
And I run to get my car
But the flames they was a rising
And I didn't get to far

There was a black man on the corner
He said boy just turn away
I got a gun here in my pocket
And I will take your life away

So I showed the man your picture
And I said we had a son
And I was just up here from Texas
I wasn't hurting anyone

So I run out to the highway
And I finally caught a ride
With some white trash outta towner
With his wife and kids inside

So I sit here on the roadside
And I talk to your machine
I can see the flames a rising
Over Nashville Tennessee

Well, don't go out looking on your TV
They gonna keep this all discreet
They will never tell the secrets
Of the flames in Tennessee

You know I hope she don't discover
That this all was all just a lie
But If I don't get home to see her
Then my heart will surely die

I will see you in the morning
When the moonlight leaves the trees
But I will always feel the embers
Of The flames in Tennessee
The night they burned down Nashville Tennessee

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Lyrics Powered by LyricFind
Written By ROBISON, CHARLIE
<i>Lyrics &copy; Warner/Chappell Music, Inc.</i>

Well, I loved a girl
She lived out in Pecos, and pretty as she could be
And I worked the rigs on out in Odessa
To give her whatever she needs

But that girl, she run with an oil company bum
'Cause the diamond was not on her hand
And he left her soon 'neath the big loving moon
To go out and X-ray the land

Now I sit in my car at the New Rainbow Bar downtown
And the frost on the windshield shines toward the sky
Like a thousand tiny diamonds in the lights of loving county

Well, l walked in that bar and I drank myself crazy
Thinking about her and that man
When in walked a woman, looking richer than sin
And ten years worth of work on her hand

Well, I followed her home and when she was alone
Well, I put my gun to her head
And I don't recall what happened next at all
But now that rich woman, she is dead

Now I drive down the highway
Ten miles from my sweet baby's arms
And the moon is so bright it don't look like night
And the diamond how it sparkles in the lights of loving county

But she opened that door and I knelt on the floor
And I put that ring in her hand
Then she said, "I do" and she'd leave with me soon
To the rigs out in South Alabama

Well, I told her to hide that ring there inside
And wait 'til the timing was good
And I drove back home and I was alone
'Cause I thought that she understood

The next night an old friend just called me to wish us both well
He said, he'd seen her downtown, sashaying around
And her diamond how it sparkled in the lights of loving county

Well that sheriff, he found me out wandering
All around El Paso the very next day
You see, I'd lost my mind on that broken white line
Before I even reached Balmorhea

Well, now she's in Fort Worth and she's just giving birth
To the son of that oil company man
And they buried that poor old sheriff's dead wife
With the ring that I stole on her hand

And sometimes they let me look up at that East Texas sky
And the rain on the pines, oh Lord, how it shines
Like my darling's little diamond in the lights of loving county

I love the sweet little thing, she was just sixteen
Pretty as the stars above
But her mom snuck up to my pick-up truck
I was snatched from the arms of love

I had a class full of sass disguised as math
The only reason I showed up
But the man with the chalk sent me for a walk
I was snatched from your arms of love

Snatched from the arms of love
Never gonna get me enough
Of the sweet little thing that your baby brings
When you're snatched from the arms of love

Well, I've been working real hard on a Valentine's card
Sent it with my bills and stuff
But the postman snapshot a hole in his shack
I was snatched from the arms of love

Snatched from the arms of love
Never gonna get me enough
Of the sweet little thing that your baby brings
When you're snatched from the arms of love

I knew a dancer named Star, and she love guitar
Her dresses fit her like a glove
But my best friend Phil got a record deal
I was snatched from the arms of love

Snatched from the arms of love
Never gonna get me enough
Of the sweet little thing that your baby brings
When you're snatched from the arms of love

Snatched from the arms of love
Never gonna get me enough
Of the sweet little thing that your baby brings
When you're snatched from the arms of love
Of the sweet little thing that your baby brings
When you're snatched from the arms of love