James Mcmurtry

I guess we knew the cards were stacked
started out the best of friends
and we beat that highway 'till it quit beating back
it didn't mean much in the end some you win, some you lose
some you throw away
we headed South across those Colorado plains
just as empty as the daywe looked around at all we saw
remembered all we'd hoped to see
looking out through the bugs on the windshield
somebody said to me

(chorus)
no more buffalo
blue skies or open road
no more rodeo
no more noise
take this Cadillac
park it out in back
mama's calling
put away the toys

don't chase that carrot
'till it makes you sick
what do you think you're gonna prove
just let it dangle
'till it falls off that stick
that's when you make your move

don't go chasing after shooting stars
trying to make yourself a name
you could joust at the windmills
with that old Fender guitar
you'd probably do about the same

(chorus)

I never thought they'd ever doubt my words
I guess they were just too tired to care
I'd point to the horizon
to the dust of the herds
still hovering in the air
somebody said it aint any such
man you wish so hard you're scaring me
and those are combines kicking up that dust
but I guess you can see what you want to see
you can keep on chasing what used to be there
top that rise and face the pain

but man they were here
they were here I swear
not just these bleaching bones
stretching across the plain

(chorus)
hey broke into your car last night,
took the stereo
No seen Elvis in a year or two

They broke into your car last night,
took the stereo
Now you say you don't know why
you even live there anymore
The garage man didn't see a thing,
so you guess it was an inside job
You made a reservation, a table for three
They said you'd have to wait,
somebody must have bribed the maitre'd
Boss got mad and he blamed it all on you
Food was bad and the deal fell through
(chorus)
Well out here in the middle
you can park it on the street
Step up to the counter;
you nearly always get a seat
Nobody steals. Nobody cheats
Wish you were here my love
Wish you here my love

We got tractor pulls and Red Man chew Corporate relo refugees that need love too
we ain't seen Elvis in a year or two
we got justification for wealth and greed~
Amber waves of grain and bathtub speed
We even got Starbucks
what else you need?

(chorus)
Out here in the middle
Where the center's on the right
And the ghost of William Jennings Bryan preaches every night
To save the lonely souls
in the dashboard lights
Wish you were here my love
Wish you were here my love

(chorus)
Out here in the middle
Where the buffalo roam
We're putting up towers for your cell phones
And we screen all applicants
With a fine tooth comb
Wish you were here my love
Wish you were here my love

Strap them kids in
Give 'em a little bit of vodka in a cherry coke
We're going to Oklahoma to the family reunion for the first time in years
It's up at uncle Slayton's cause he's getting on in years
You know he no longer travels but he's still pretty spry
He's not much on talking and he's just too mean to die
And they'll be comin' down from Kansas
And from west Arkansas
It'll be one great big old party like you never saw
Uncle Slayton's got his Texan pride
Back in the thickets with his Asian bride
He's got a Airstream trailer and a Holstein cow
He still makes whiskey 'cause he still knows how
He plats that Choctaw bingo every Friday night
You know he had to leave Texas but he won't say why
He owns a quarter section up by Lake Eufala
Caught a great big ol' blue cat on a driftin' jug line
Sells his hardwood timber to the shipping mill
Cooks that crystal meth because the shine don't sell
He cooks that crystal meth because the shine don't sell
You know he likes his money he don't mind the smel
LMy cousin Roscoe Slayton's oldest boy from his second marriage up in Illinois
He was raised in East St. Louis by his momma's people
Where they do things different
Thought he'd just come on down
He was going to Dallas Texas in a semi truck called from that big McDonald's
You know the one they built up on that great big ol' bridge
Across the Will Rogers Turnpike
Took the Big Cabin exit stopped and bought a couple of cartons of cigarettes
At that Indian Smoke Shop with the big neon smoke rings
In the Cherokee Nation hit Muskogee late that night
Somebody ran a stoplight at the Shawnee Bypass
Roscoe tried to miss 'em but he didn't quiteBob and Mae come up from little town
Way down by lake Texoma where he coaches football
They were two A champions now for two years running
But he says they won't be this year no they won't be this year
And he stopped off in Tushka at that "Pop's Knife and Gun" place
Bought a SKS rifle and a couple a full cases of that steel core ammo
With the berdan primers from some East bloc nation that no longer needs 'em
And a Desert Eagle that's one great big ol' pistol
I mean .50 caliber made by badass Hebrews
And some surplus tracers for that old BAR of Slayton's
Soon as it gets dark we're gonna have us a time
We're gonna have us a timeRuth Ann and Lynn come down from Baxter Springs
That's one hell raisin' town way up in Southeastern Kansas
Got a biker bar next to the lingerie store
That's got them Rolling Stones lips up there where everyone can see 'em
And they burn all night you know they burn all night you know they burn all night
Ruth Ann and Lynn they wear them cut off britches and those skinny little halters
And they're second cousins to me
Man I don't care I want to get between 'em
With a great big ol' hard on like a old bois d' arc fence post
You could hang a pipe rail gait from
Do some twisted sisters 'til the cows come home
And we'd be havin' us a time
Uncle Slayton's got his Texan pride
Back in the thickets with his Asian bride
He's cut that corner pasture into acre lots'
He sells 'em owner financed
Strictly to them that's got no kind of credit 'Cause he knows they're slackers
When they miss that payment
Then he takes it back
He plays that Choctaw Bingo every Friday night
Drinks that Johnny Walker at that Club 69
We're gonna strap them kids in give 'em a little bit o' Benadryl
And a cherry coke we're goin' to Oklahoma Gonna have us a time

Young Johnny, he really had a way
He did his homework on the school bus
And he always got an A
And the girls liked Johnny
More than anyone 'cept maybe Elton John
Later on in high school
He couldn't keep his red suspenders on
(chorus)
Oh where's Johnny has he gone away
Oh where's Johnny will he be back someday

He had a room full of trophies
From the track meets and the tennis games he'd win
He was a full-blown whiz kid
Bound to be a Renaissance man
Then he went on off to college
Got his head stuck in a different state of mind
When they asked him was it alcohol?
He told them it was nothing of the kind
Just life ??just life, mom

(chorus)

But Johnny's alright he just turned out his lights
They'd have paid it no mind had he not been so bright
He opened up his eyes and he snapped out of the groove
He saw both sides of everything and found he could not
move

Johnny moved home
Now he reads a lot of poetry and plays
He'll sit out in the backyard
And not say a word to anyone for days
And his folks gave up
They no longer even bother getting through
He's thirty-odd years old
They must have figured there's just so much you can do

His mother keeps his pictures
In the scrapbook in the drawer with her pearls
She polishes the trophies
That he won back when they thought he'd save the world
Back when the girls liked Johnny
More than anyone 'cept maybe Elton John
She wonders where's her little boy
With the braces and the red suspenders gone
Just life ??br>

This place you say you're looking for
That's a place I used to know
Don't know the number of the road
But I can tell you how to go

Head on down 'till the pavement ends
Used to go back there now and then
I Used to know it like the back of my hand
When I was just a boy

This place you say you're looking for
It's a good ways off the track
It'd take a quarter tank of Firechief
Just getting there and back

And of course there wasn't no pavement then
Once you got yourself around that bend
There wasn't nothing but the whistling wind
When I was just a boy

(chorus)
And the light shines long ago
On the cold December snow
And the river runs on through the (golden) past
I can see it in the bottom of the (whiskey) glass

Ain't seen you around here before
You kin to someone I know
What was your mama's name
Before she moved away

Did she tell you about that place up there
Did she show you how to curl that hair
A grown man would have never dared
When I was just a boy

(chorus)

Just like yesterday

This place you say you're looking for
Might have washed out with the rain
It Might not be there anymore
It Might not be the same

But if you find it won't you let me know
If I weren't so poorly I'd surely go
Don't you know I used to love it so
When I was just a boy

(chorus)

Slowly crawling 'cross the floor
Comes a shadow through the window
From the house next door
And the dust specks dancing
In the last of the light
One more evening passing

She walked on tiptoes
On a gravel bar
Wet skin pale as the evening star
The North Platte winding like a silver eel
Hands like rain on August fields

(chorus)
Hands like rain
Falling soft
To ease the drought inside
As memory fades
Not much remains
But hands like rain

Now I stand on stiff legs
And I clutch the cane
And I search the sky for a sign of rain
As if it matters
As if it makes a damn
Just an old man's habit

Down the street
The schoolboys play
Dime novel heroes from another day
Who now are nothing more than faceless names
And a nameless face with hands like rain

(chorus)

We'd run by night
And we'd hide by day
So the papers used to say
On stolen horses and borrowed time
Dancing girls and brandy wine

I can hear them calling
They're calling me
I can here them calling
But I still can't see

(chorus)

Life and legend are an awkward pair
And there ain't much magic anywhere
Except in moments we can't often steal
Hands like rain on August fields

(chorus)

Ugly pictures on the wall
Traffic outbound slowing to a crawl
Evening papers on the manicured lawns
It never ceases it just goes on and on
The people next door don't mind at all
They've got 'em a spiked fence ten feet tall

(chorus)
In the candyland
In the candyland

Gray squirrel running down the telephone wire
Kids around the poolside screaming like cats on fire
Cats on fire chasing after the ice cream van
But that circus music's got to be hell on the ice
cream man
He clips his roach and he hauls his load
Taking his half out of the middle of the road

(chorus x2)

The heels grow tall and the skirts hang low
There could be something here but they just won't let
it show

(chorus)

Same old neighborhood with a colder feel
Just the curbs and drains left over from the new deal
Smooth young faces on the TV news
And They can read copy they don't have to be real
Thinking back on the finer days
Remembering the pendulum swings both ways

Chorus (repeat to fade)

Is that smile for me?
Did You come by it honestly?
Can I show you around?
Can I help you tear your fences down?
'Cause I know you foster few illusions, suffer no fools
You don't leave much to chance
But you're out past the breakers, driftin fast
I can see it at a glance

You've been a long time locked inside
Long time all alone at night
Prisoner of wisdom, prisoner of pride
Don't just waste away
Don't just waste away

Is that smile for me?
Have you kept it hidden consciously?
Just like an old time movie queen
Always noticed, rarely seen
And I got no answers, no magic cures
And I got no plans
But I know the darkness that haunts your eyes
And I know those tremblin hands

You've been a long time locked inside
Long time all alone at night
Prisoner of wisdom, prisoner of pride
Don't just waste away
Don't just waste away

You've been a long time locked inside
Long time all alone at night
Prisoner of wisdom, passion, and pride
Don't just waste away
Don't just waste away

Got two cars and a chainlink fence
Got insurance for accidents
Nevermind what I don't know
I dream of places I won't ever go
But I lead a good life
Yeah, I lead a good life

'N every Sunday we're out at the lake
Teachin the kids how to jump the wake
We drag em on two skis they kick one loose
They don't know it, they hadn't got a clue

That they lead a good life
Yeah, they lead a good life
Don't complain to me
We're alright far as I can see
Keep it to yourself
Take that garbage somewhere else

Yeah, we lead a good life
You know, we lead a good life
Don't complain to me
We're alright far as I can see
Keep it to yourself

Grandpa died back in '85, now they won't let Grandma drive
Bankers took everything he made
He lost his fingers to a Bush Hog blade
But he led a good life (he told me so)
Yeah, he led a good life

I've had about enough of you
Tryin to tell us what to do
We're gonna do just what we please
Sell it all to the Japanese
So we can lead a good life
So we can lead a good life...

You couldn't get what you were after
After all was said and done
Amid the echoes of the screams and the laughter
Cracking the blinds to the noonday sun
Running out of room, tugging at the tether
Old desires on the closet shelf
You read between the lines until the lines ran
together
Somehow had to save yourself

chorus
'Cause it don't come back once it's gone
Now you wonder why you had to wait so long
Wasn't no sense being where you don't belong
Got to save yourself

Now your bad boy runs you ragged
But the nice guy bores you flat to tears
He sends you flowers and birthday cards
He tries so hard and he's out of here
'Cause it's all you can handle just to stay okay
You don't need nobody's pain
You've got no room for baggage
Passengers must now de-plane

chorus
'Cause it don't come back once it's gone
Now you wonder why you had to wait so long
Wasn't no sense being where you don't belong
Got to save yourself

Your new job keeps you busy
The old car runs alright
The hot wind off the concrete
Sometimes keeps you up at night
The lights go off in the building
And you're sitting there alone
'Cause the girls and boys you run with
Have all up and gone home
So you're sifting through the ashes
Getting way down dark and deep
You've got your life all figured out
But you still don't get much sleep

chorus
'Cause it don't come back once it's gone
Now you wonder why you had to wait so long
Wasn't no sense being where you don't belong
Got to save yourself

chorus
No shoes, no shirt, no service
Reads the sign on the front screen door
Your friends 011 moke me nervous
You best keep 'em out of my store

I don't moke no bones about it
I don't need your barefoot blues
I con damn sure do without it
I keep a good shine on my shoes

You've used up all your credit
My patience all ran out
And it'll lake two months of pay days
To settle your account

So get them fools up off my front step
And get 'em out of here
I don't need that kind of business
Do I moke myself clear
Don't think I don't know it
You been stealin' me blind
You thought I wouldn't notice
Or you thought I wouldn't mind

But you've run out of excuses
Son you're wastin' my lime
Get your face on out the front door
Toke it down the line

chorus

Answer me when I call to you
What became of the life I knew
Tell me why I can't be free
Tell me what you expect of me
I'm so down about it
I can't sleep at night
I sit watching the bugs as they bounce off the light

Answer me when I'm calling out
Tell me what's all the noise about
Explain to me the rules of love
Tell me just what I'm guilty of
I somehow I must've missed it
I never knew I was blind
Repeat it real slow so I get it this time

(chorus)
I'm off and running to take what's mine
I'm off and running again

I 'm off and running
To take what's mine
I'm off and running
And I won't get caught this time
With my soul on empty and my face to the wind
I'm off and running
I'm off and running again

Answer me when I call your name
What'd you do with my ball and chain?
I'm out here in the open air
And I can't find it anywhere
And I'm so lost without it
It was such a part of me
I guess I'll get along
How hard can it be?

When I was maybe three or four
The Fuller Brush man would knock at the door
He'd always tell me, "Boy, you're gonna miss the fun!
Time you're old enough the honky-tonks'll all be gone."

Momma had no sense with cars
She drove a Sunbeam and she drove it hard
Left her stranded time and again
Didn't matter, you could do that then

And they danced on the rooftops
Let their hearts run wild
Such a sight to the eyes of a child

We were used to all the best
The man from U.N.C.L.E. and the Wild, Wild West
We ruled the skies from a backyard swing
Nothing that flies could've stopped that thing

While they danced on the rooftops
Let their hearts run wild
Such a sight to the eyes of a child

Blood-stained blacktops twist up between the wheels
Before we knew it it was all too real
The voice of reason confined to the past
And all that mattered was to get there fast
So we could dance on the rooftops
Let our hearts run wild (hearts run wild)

Should it all come down to your last thin dime
You can dial that number one more time
But the phone won't ring 'cause the line's gone dead
It's lost in history
Like I said, it's gone

So now we give it all we got
Pick em up at daycare in a state of shock
Frayed at the edges and torn at the seams
It rarely happens in our wildest dreams
That we dance on the rooftops, let our hearts run wild
And it ain't for the sake of the child

You don't too often see a sunbeam anymore
You never see a Fuller Brush man or a dinosaur
The voice of reason rules with an iron fist
Please forgive me if I'm not prepared to handle this

Must be a cold front coming
Cause I saw the eastbound C&O
And the coal cars were dusted with a half inch of snow
And that boy'll drive me crazy
Don't know what I'll do with him
School will be out tomorrow if that cold front moves in
Calling out
To the dying daylight
The shadows of the mountains
Bringing on the night

The old folks like to whisper
He favors your side in his face
When he gets a little older
He's going to lead a merry chase

(chorus)
When I'm all alone it's all right
It Isn't going to wound my pride
If anyone can claim they're all right
So can I

I wrecked the El Camino
Would have been DWI
So I just walked off and left it
Laying on its side
The troopers found it in the morning
And they said it's purely luck I wasn't killed
I probably ought to quit my drinking
But I don't believe I will

(chorus)

He used to ask about you
About a million times a day
I got so tired of trying to answer
I just turned my head away
Now he don't pay me much attention
He's not asking anymore
I guess he'd probably know you
If you walked back in the door

Calling out to the empty night
Watching as the snowflakes
Come dancing round the light
Dancing up against the window
It's like they're peeking through the glass
And they hover for a moment
And then they fall on past
Calling out

Flatter than a tabletop
Makes you wonder why they stopped here
Wagon must have lost a wheel or they lacked ambition one
On the great migration west
Separated from the rest
Though they might have tried their best
They never caught the sun
So they sunk some roots down in the dirt
To keep from blowin' off the earth
Built a town around here
And when the dust had all but cleared
They called it Levelland, the pride of man
In Levelland

Granddad grew the dryland wheat
Stood on his own two feet
His mind got incomplete and they put in the home
Daddy's cotton grows so high
Sucks the water table dry
Rolling sprinklers circle round
Bleedin' it to the bone
And I won't be here when it comes a day
It all dries up and blows away
I'd hang around just to see
But they never had much use for me in Levelland
They don't understand me out in Levelland

And I watch those jet trails carving up that big blue sky
Coast to coasters watch 'em go
And I never would blame 'em one damn bit
If they never looked down on this
Not much here they'd wanna know
Just Levelland
Far as you can point your hand
Nothin' but Levelland

Mama used to roll her hair
Back before the central air
We'd sit outside and watch the stars at night
She'd tell me to make a wish
I'd wish we both could fly
Don't think she's seen the sky
Since we got the satellite dish and
I can hear the marching band
Doin' the best they can
They're playing "Smoke on the Water", "Joy to the World"
I've paid off all my debts
Got some change left over yet and I'm
Gettin' on a whisper jet
I'm gonna fly as far as I can get from
Levelland, doin' the best I can
Out in Levelland - imagine that

You come back now, looking for a clue
Expecting everybody to fall all over you
If you missed it so, this one-light town
Why'd you go and leave with the snow coming down?

(chorus)
I was chasing after what was mine
No explaining, there was no more time
One more winter would've been my last
I could feel it slipping from my grasp

You come back now, and you don't look bad
You must've made the best of the time you had
Since you cut and run, like they said you would
And we got along without you just as best we could

(chorus)
Well I don't expect you'll ever see
But you're not my maker and you don't judge me
One more winter would've been my last
And I don't go dwelling on my past

I could not sit here listening to the wind against these walls
I still hear it whistling in the whispers of them all

And I come back now, but I won't stay long
There hasn't much changed since I been gone
No I won't stay long, you need not fear
I just came back to see if I had ever been here.

(chorus)
I could not be like one of them
Faces shrunken from the bitter wind
Their righteous rage, their jealous fear
One more winter won't find me here

-------------
Lyrics Powered by LyricFind
Written By JAMES MCMURTRY
<i>Lyrics &copy; BUG MUSIC</i>

The streets are emptied out and silent
Standing here all stupified and stunned
You Say you need a rayolight
Had enough of my blinding insight
Well I guess I can't blame you none
Whatever it is won't go down easy
Keeps on rearing its ugly head again
But I could use a rayolight
Had enough of this mindless fight
Right now we're both too tired to win

(chorus)
I propose we shed these clothes
And rest this thing
Find us a place where the creeks run clear
And the phone don't ring

These old rough edges we keep finding
Sooner or later they'll wear down smooth and shiny

(chorus)

There's traffic on the street
It's getting pale in the east
We'll be all right for now at least

There's a rayolight stabbing through
Could be we learned a trick or two
As the streetlights fade we can pull the shades
And rest this thing
Find us a place where the creeks runs clear
and the phone don't ring
These old rough edges we keep finding
Just got to work 'em a while till they wear down
smooth and shiny

Rayolight (Repeat to fade)

-------------
Lyrics Powered by LyricFind
Written By JAMES MCMURTRY
<i>Lyrics &copy; BUG MUSIC</i>

Don't expect no favors, nothing in return
Tell all your cross-eyed neighbors that it's none of their concern
Open the shades Melinda, let in the outside air
I'm deep in doubt and I can't get out, and it must be dark in there
I wanna walk with you in the morning mist
Though I should be home by now
And there must be some way outta this
I was thinking you'd know how
And my judgement may be shaky
And my shoes are soaking through
'Cause the weeds are wet and I haven't yet made any sense of you

All the midnight angels
Fold their wings by dawn
The same old wild-eyed strangers sit and watch em till they're gone
I let the night unravel, forget my vain pursuits
"Cept to feel that gray rock gravel
On your road beneath my boots

I wanna walk with you in the changing light
When the shadows twist and play
And the ghosts that kept me out all night
We can chase em all away
And the talk of those that wonder
And the talk of those that curse
Let em have their thrill, they'll need it
We'll be no more for the worse

Shine your eyes upon me, whisper long and low
Mindful of the longing that we ever more may know

Up the ridge on past you, looking down below
You can see the stacks of Danville when the clouds don't hang so low
Should you take a mind to, won't you join me there
Open the shades Melinda, let in the outside air...

You look across the table with those guilty eyes
So many mornings now I shouldn't be surprised
When you lash out at me and you scream out in the night
What could you have done to get in such an awful fright
Is it all that bad that you think I shouldn't see
Well who you gonna talk to if you can't tell me

(chorus)
Where'd you hide the body
Where'd you stash the loot
Just keep your hands where I can see them
So I don't have to shoot
There's a smoking pistol at your side
But you swear it's not the one
Where'd you hide the body
Where'd you get the gun
Where'd you hide the body
Where'd you get the gun

When cornered you complain about the state of your career
And you look intently straight ahead pretending I'm not here
And you look me in the eye and tell me it's not about us
Then you tell me I'm so silly to be making such a fuss
So everything's OK but your nervous as a cat
What's that say about me that you think I'd fall for that

(chorus)

Where'd you hide the body
Where'd you ditch the gun
Keep your hands where I can see 'em
Make no attempt to run

You used to always throw me off the trail
I guess those days are through
Where'd you hide the body
What's consuming you
Where'd you hide the body
What's consuming you

If somebody's calling,
it don't mean a thing
If I don't feel like talking,
I'll just let it ring
I Move along slowly and
I watch my back
And you tell me I'm crazy,
but I don't believe that

No, I'm right here now,
just a shade off plum
I get that way,
though it worries you some
Right here now and I know my mind
It won't be long a wandering

I remember a ball game I
watched as a kid
Neglecting my homework
as I often did
Joe Namath scored on a seven-yard run
His knees barely held him,
but they got the job done
And there'd be no last call if they elected me king
And if you were here with me, I'd tell you these things

But I'm right here now...
Just a shade off plum
I get that way though it worries you some
Right here now and I know my mind
And it won't be long a wandering

Outside it's raining soaking the ground
It started last evening and it's still coming down
I move along slowly and I watch my back
And you tell me I'm crazy, but I don't believe that
No, I'm right here now...
Right here now

There's an old magic eight ball next to my plate
And I ask it a question regarding my fate
It says, "reply hazy, please try again,"
It won't say where I'm going, it don't know where I've been

But I'm right here now, just a shade off plum
I get that way, it worries me none
Right here now and I know my mind
It won't be long a wandering

The gates of the schoolyard
are padlocked and chained
to keep all the children in out of the rain
the art teacher's preaching
the virtues of pastel shades
you pay no attention but it won't hurt your grades

'cause you're painting by numbers
connecting the dots
they don't have to tell you
you don't call the shots

you jump when they say jump
and you don't ask how high
'cause painting by numbers they know you'll get by
painting by numbers they know you'll get by

you take a position
in the old man's firm
he signs all the papers
you agree to the terms
they ley you run errands
and you don't get days off
you take off the garbage and hope it pays off

'cause you're painting by numbers
connecting the dots
you work from neck down

you might be in grad school
up ut M.I.T.
you might be down in the canal zone
being all that you can be
you might get to thinking you're ahead of the game
but when you break it all down
it all comes out the same

'cause you're painting by numbers
connecting the dots
you work from neck down

I'm not from here
I just live here
Grew up somewhere far away
Came here thinking I'd never stay long
I'd be going back soon someday

It's been a few years since I got here
Seen 'em come and I've seen 'em go
Crowds assemble, they hang out awhile
Then they melt away like an early snow

Onto some bright future somewhere
Down the road to points unknown
Sending post cards when they get there
Wherever it is they think they're goin'

I'm not from here
I just live here
Can't say that it matters much
I read the papers and I watch the nightly news
Who's to say I'm out of touch?

Nobody's from here
Most of us just live here
locals long since moved away
sold their played-out farms for parking lots
went off looking for a better way

Onto some bright future somewhere
Better times on down the road
Wonder if they ever got there
Wherever it is they thought they'd go

Hit my home town a couple years back
Hard to say just how it felt
But it looked like so many towns I might've been through on my way to somewhere else

I'm not from here
But people tell me it's not like it used to be
They say I should've been here back about ten years
Before it got ruined by folks like me

We can't help it
We just keep moving
It's been that way since long ago
Since the Stone Age, chasing the great herds
We mostly go where we have to go

Onto some bright future somewhere
Down the road to points unknown
Sending post cards when we get there
Wherever it is they think we'll go

Hear the trucks on the highway, And the tickin' of the clocks
There's a ghost of a moon in the afternoon, Bullet holes in the mailbox
Bullet holes in the mailbox, Keyholes in my mind
Too long in the wasteland
Too long in the wasteland
I've fallin' behind

She said won't you come see me, When the sun goes down
It'll be just like the old days, When I used to let you hang around
Well I don't know, I might not speak the language any more
Too long in the wasteland
Too long in the wasteland
I've closed some doors

People in the village, Watch the children play
At the sight of a stranger, They call the kids away
Just leave that man alone, I hear the mothers say
Too long in the wasteland
Too long in the wasteland
What's made him that way

I hadn't intended, To bend the rules
Whiskey don't make liars, It just makes fools
So I didn't mean to say it, But I meant what I said
Too long in the wasteland
Too long in the wasteland
Must have gone to my head

Jet trails in the sunset, a long way away
cuttin' cross the horizon, At the edge of the day
And it calls out to me, Come fly away, I've been
Too long in the wasteland
Too long in the wasteland
I believe I'll have to stay

Too long in the wasteland
Too long in the wasteland
I'll have to stay

There's a ghost of a moon in the afternoon
Bullet holes in the mailbox
Bullet holes in the mailbox