Bayou Tortous

Gotta idea, tell you what let's do
Let’s go out to that place on the Turtle Bayou
We'll maybe get lucky, maybe get shot
It couldn't be half of the trouble I got

Turtle Bayou turn around
Turtle Bayou turn around

Just another night with the missus and me
Settin' on the couch watchin’ Court TV
Lemme tell you son, it can sure get real
If you ever get to thinkin’ it's a done deal

Turtle Bayou Turn Around
Get your big feet up off the ground
Turtle Bayou Turn Around
We'll pass a good time out past the lights of town

She comes from the land of the Bois d'Arc tree
Scotts Irish and Cherokee
She comes down here when the Northers blow
'Cause she don't care for the ice and snow

(Full Chorus)

Take my hand Oklahoma Jane
One little dance wouldn't hurt a thing
Now it's noon I'm rolling up the drive
And I ain't even got a decent lie

Doesn't everybody get that way sometimes
I was lookin' at every woman but mine
I was lookin' at the faces, lookin' at the parts
Lookin' through the hole in the bottom of my heart

(Full Chorus)

Just Us Kids

I've had enough of this small town bullshit
I'm not staying in school
I'm makin' good dough
Workin' with my brother
Cleaning out pools

I'm going out to California
And man it won't be long
Soon as I get my license color me gone

Aw knock it off Johnny
Man you're livin' in your head
You ain't even got a car
And those don't chicks don't believe a word you said

But you're doing the talking
So I'll just keep quiet
This'll probably go nowhere
But I can't blame you for trying

Just us kids in the park at night
Hangin' around 'neath the vapor light
Got no drugs and we got no guns
Not even bothering anyone

I don't have to wear a neck tie
I don't have to punch a clock
I started up a dot com company and man it rocks
Won't you come with me down to Mexico
In the winter with some friends
My divorce'll be final long about then

Meanwhile I got a gram and a real good ride
And don't you know I hurt way down inside

Just us kids in the parking lot
Out here giving it all we got
We don't want to get old and die
There ain't nothin' we wouldn't try

You know we could really have it all
My kid's gonna graduate next fall
And I could take retirement in ten years
It's a damn short movie
How'd we ever get here

Just us kids hanging out today
Watching our long hair turnin' grey
Not so skinny maybe not so free
Not so many as we used to be

Hurricane Party

The hurricane party's winding down
And we're all waitin' for the end
And I don't want another drink
I only want that last one again
It gave me such a fine glow, smoky and slow
Now I should probably be homeward bound
But there's no one to talk to
When the lines go down

I guess in the morning, I'll go looking for my grey striped cat
My old house can take the weather, so I'm not too concerned about that
It was built to take the wind back in nineteen and ten
When this was one damn fine town
But now there's no one to talk to
When the lines go down

Candles flickered on the back bar
The building was shakin from the wind
I bought a whiskey for the gypsy
And she turned my leather back into skin
Just a fleeting sense
Of that rare suspense
I once thought made the world go 'round
But now there's no one to talk to
When the lines go down

Open up your back screen door
Let me see your face once more
My hands are cold and my feet so sore
And I can't go on this way

And the thoughts come too fast and too many to keep count
Best just let 'em on through
Now I'm breaking those old glass insulators with my old twenty-two
Off the telephone poles
As a half dollar rolls across the knuckles of a rodeo clown
There's just no one to talk to when the lines go down

My one great love
My God I can feel her still
She ran off to California
Now she's livin' in those Hollywood Hills
With some bullfrog prince
I've not seen her since
Though she calls when he's out of town
And there's no one to talk to
When the lines go down

Open up your back screen door
Let me in your space once more
I was lookin' for an easy score
But it just don't work that way

Some insurance man biker is yelling out for one more beer
But a part time pirate just can't get much respect around here
We got our problems too man
We'll get to you in just a minute
Sit your drunk ass down
Yeah there's no one to talk to
When the lines go down

Now there's water up past the wheel wells of my Ford
And I don't guess it'll run
But I left a pack of Winstons on the dash
Could you fetch 'em for me son
The morning's first cigarette, that's as good as it gets all day
I should know by now
That there's no one to talk to
When the lines go down

You'd a' Thought (Leonard Cohen Must Die)

I'm running round in circles and I'm chasing my tail
Carving my initials with a rusty nail
Betraying my intentions man it happens without fail
You'd a' thought that I'd know better by now

It might be some dark secret I keep bottled up inside
Or just some miniscule transgression
I shouldn't have tried to hide
It's not the size that matters, it's deceit she can't abide
You'd a' thought that I'd know better by now

And of course she knows, ‘cause I can’t fool her
And I know she knows, ‘cause she don’t fool me
And she knows I know she knows and we might discuss it eventually
When the pressure builds ‘til it blows the seals all out from in between
You’d a’ thought that we’d know better by now

You’d have thought that we’d know better
You’d have thought we’d understand
Through all the smoke and mirrors
I guess we do the best we can
Hiding out without a doubt it's getting out of hand
You’d a’ thought that we’d know better by now

And I've seen the phantoms hiding in the shadows in her eyes
It's not that I'm not threatened, it's just that I'm not surprised
"Good for the gander," said the old folks, but they lied
You'd a' thought that we'd know better by now

They circle up the wagons, expressing deep dismay
When we know all the words that they can't bring themselves to say
There’s so much they never tell you, there’s so much they hide away
You’d a’ thought that they’d know better by now

(Chorus)

Fraulein O.

Last time I saw you
it could've been Christmas eve
it could've been someone's birthday
it could've been make believe for all I know
it could've been make believelast time I saw you
you had the room upstairs
I never knew for certain
what went on up thereno I never did know
what went on up there'course you had that boyfriend
with the Chevrolet
he never met Will Rogers
I'd be willing to sayyeah it's safe to say
he never met Will RogersI guess it must have been a thousand years
since I changed my number
does it mean a thing
when the phone don't ring
and I don't call back
can't help but wonder sometimesI never got to know you
like I wanted to
you never seemed to notice
how I looked at you for all I know
you never even noticednow that crowd's all scattered
to here and yon
everybody graduated
or they just moved onfor all I know
they just moved onI guess it must have been a thousand years
since I lost your number
gonna rest my soul
by this fishing hole
gonna watch that pole
'till that float goes underlast time I saw you
it could've been Christmas eve
it could've been someone's birthday
it could've been make believefor all I know
could've been make believe

Ruby and Carlos

Ruby said you're gettin' us in a world of hurt
And down below the Mason Dumb Ass line the food gets worse
I can't go back to Tennessee
That NASCAR country's not for me
Go on if you think you must

Carlos packed his drums up in the dark of night
Ruby standing just outside the front porch light
Chain-smoking Camel straights
The sky off to the East got grey
And he rolled off in a cloud of dust

The grey colt nickered at the gate
She said "you're right it's gettin' late
You and me got work to do
We can't be burning daylight too"
She took down the long lead rope
And stayed off that slippery slope

The aspen trees were turning gold up top
The talk was buzzing round the beauty shop
"Wasn't he barely half her age?"
"Well that's just how they do nowadays
We should all a'been so lucky"

By spring she'd had the run of all the freeborn men
Ruby turned fifty in a sheep camp tent
Her body still could rock all night
But her heart was closed and locked up tight
Potato fields all muddy and brown
The gossip long since quieted down

After one more Coggins test
Pouring coffee for the county vet

Pictures on the ice box door
of Carlos in the first Gulf War
Black eyed, brown and youthful face
Smiling back from a Saudi base

Then Carlos on the big bay mare
Heavier now and longer haired
Looking past the saddle shed
From way on back inside his head

The old vet said one day Rube
That colt will break an egg in you
Now and then one comes along
You just can't ride then he went on home

The storm door didn't catch
It blew back hard
As she struck a match
But she cupped it just in time
Then she sent that ash tray flying

Holding back the flood
Just don't do no good
You can't unclench your teeth
To howl the way you should
So you curl your lips around
The taste of tears and a hollow sound
That no one owns but you
No one owns but you

Carlos took the road gig and he saw it through
He rode the tour bus while the singer flew
Managed out of Music Row
Carlos never saw the studio
Session guys had that all sewn up

He looks out the window as it starts to sleet
Layin’ on a friend's couch on Nevada Street
Lately he's been staying high
Sick all winter and they don't know why
They don't know why or they just won't say
They don't talk much down at the VA

Ruby's in his thoughts sometimes
What thoughts can get out past the wine
He feels her fingers on his brow
And right then he misses how
She looked in that grey morning light
She never shaved like they all do now
He sees it all behind his eyes
His hands go searching but they come up dry

Halfway in that waking dream
Carlos lets the land line ring

He'd never have guessed it was Ruby calling
A pin in her hip from the grey colt falling
Figure eights in a lazy lope
Stumbled on that slippery slope

(Chorus)

Freeway View

I got a room with a freeway view
I’m only home at night
I ain’t ever coming back to you
Or then again I might
Or then again I might get lonely
Or then again I might not know my mind

I got a job on a survey crew
Pays enough for me
I ain’t ever comin’ back to you
Or then again
Or then again we’ll see
This time it might just take
This time I just might make it free

Can't I keep my hands off you
Can't I keep my hands off you
Can't I keep my hands off you

I got a room with a freeway view
I'm hardly ever home
I ain't ever coming back to you
I'm better off alone
I'd rather keep my frozen heart
I love you but I've chosen darkness

(Chorus)

Restless

She gets a little restless in the spring
She might follow the lines you sing
Bullshit though they are
‘Cause sometimes that’s just the thing
If delivered with panache and a certain graceFingertips on satin lace
Cutting cards and quoting Proust
Whatever turns her wild mare loose

She gets a little restless now and then
She feels the changes in the wind
Way down deep where I can’t see
She can get clean away from me
With a side step and subtle shift
And the turning of a key
Locks me out and lets me drift
She’ll come back if I let her be
She’ll come back if I let her be

And I’m just a little down tonight
I’m just a little down
A little messed up is all I’m saying
Just a little down tonightI’m just a little down
But I believe I’ll make it
Believe I’ll make it

She gets a little restless I can tell
When she goes back up inside her shell
And the conversation slows
To a stop and I might as well
Be out alone on the highway
Way off in the Utah sage
Waving to the railroad crew
That’s when I get restless too

She gets a little restless in the spring
She might follow the lines you sing
Bullshit though they are
Sometimes that’s just the thing