Sweetwater

well that Sweetwater runs through my veins
and i'm trying as hard as i can
to forget what i saw and pretend i don't care
and drink beer from a brown paper bag.
and that soft touch don't cure it no more
the shiverin scars of my spine
and i couldn’t get work no matter how hard you lied
to them folks at the old gypsum mine.

and there’s a cross on the side of the road
where her radio played its last song
and we managed to salvage the clothes in the trunk
but the cash in the glove box was gone
and i swore i'd never return
and go back to cutting wood for my dad
i's takin' pills in his house
he gave me money for gas
he said leave son while you still can.

The World

when i held your hand well i swear it was the world
so i promise i’ll stop drinking when i run
out of family to blame
all i ever wanted was to hear you say
please don’t leave me no please don’t go away

Oooo ooo ooo ooo ooo
Oooo ooo ooo ooo ooo

i hope someday you find the emptiness that you made me feel
it broke my heart to break your heart
but there were no more years to steal
and how i wish i had something more profound to say
about last summer down in Big Spring when i pretended to be sane
but i’ve always been pretty good at walkin' away

Oooo ooo ooo ooo ooo
Oooo ooo ooo ooo ooo

and there’s a madness in my head
yeah there’s a madness in my head
there’s a madness in my head
yeah there’s a madness

can i make peace with the fact that there might be no peace for me
i wanna make something that tries to take responsibility
for the sadness that I feel inside
i’m just an amateur man with average ideas
but i’ve always been pretty good at telling lies

and there’s a madness in my head
yeah there’s a madness in my head
there’s a madness in my head
yeah there’s a madness

Oooo ooo ooo ooo ooo
Oooo ooo ooo ooo ooo

you know i always wished that i was Maggie’s boy
you know i always wished that i was Maggie’s boy
oh how i wished that i was Maggie's boy
you know i always wished that i was Maggie's boy
 

Growin Up

i’m sorry you’re sad story
it didn’t make me cry
but i’ve heard a lot of things about her mediocre life
and i used to live inside that house
but it burned down when we burned down
and i’m sorry i overheard your private conversations with the world

and you cried cause i’s embarrassed
and you say you want the truth
but all you really want to think is to confuse me
and all this fighting make me feel alive
screaming’s just like breathing
as i pound my fists to the face of your existence
and i’s born just like a storm
outta nowhere soon detroying
leavin' a path we call the past no lookin' back

oh my love no lookin' back
oh my love no lookin' back

but if this were the zombie apocalypse
you’d be a shelter full of food
and guns and comic books my love forever
next to a water fall with fruit trees
next to a waterfall with fruit trees

but all this growin' up is perplexin' me
and all this letting go is perplexin me
and all this growin' up is perplexin' me
and all this letting go is perplexin' me

and if you got kidnapped in asia
i’d dress up like a ninja
storm the palace throwing Chinese stars till i got to you
i’d throw a smoke bomb and we’d disappear forever
i’d throw a smoke bomb and we’d disappear forever

i’d throw a smoke bomb and we’d disappear forever
i’d throw a smoke bomb and we’d disappear forever

but all this growin' up is perplexin' me
and all this letting go is perplexin' me
and all this growin' up is perplexin' me
and all this letting go is perplexin me

El Paso

when i met you your mamma was dying
and i had no idea how you held on to your job
we’d destroy my house and i’d wish i was your boyfriend
and on the night she passed we’d been drinkin all day long

for 22 years the woman was your best friend
but your step daddy stole her ashes from your home
then he disappeared somewhere across the ocean
now you got nowhere to kneel when you feel alone

and you’d say close the window
it’s given me weird dreams just like
the world outside is fighting for my head
and what am i gonna do when i can’t smell her anymore
well if it comes to that
i might as well be dead

and it took you a while to figure out that loving
shitty men wouldn't bring her back
and you finally packed your bags and we hit the road.
we had a mountain of debt some two faced friends and
no place to call home
but El Paso died along with her bless their souls

and you’d say close the window
it’s given me weird dreams just like
the world outside is fightin for my head
and what am i gonna do when i can’t smell her anymore
well if it comes to that
i might as well be dead

and if it comes to that i might as well be dead
and if it comes to that
i might as well be dead

Me On Fire

I was being all those reasons why your momma locked the door
you went runnin' down the street bare feet
said you were born to praise the lord
you said i ain’t read the bible so we can’t be friends
well i don’t know how it started
but i got a notion as to how it ends
with me on fire in the early morn'
and you lookin' pretty on a golden shore
my head’ll be melting with the thought of regret
not for what I done but for the fact that we met and you were raptured away
while my hand was on your leg

your daddy weren’t no preacher you got saved all on your own
but what’s the point of forever
if it’s an eternity of being alone
and maybe in heaven you can use the phone
and call me down in hell so i can hear you moan
the devil will be laughin' at my tortured soul
but that’s the way i like it and you’ll never know
because he can sense pain
and that’s your goddamn maiden name
 

Iraan

i sent him a letter from Roatan, Texas
with a picture of me sighing drawn on the outside
it said being with you is being married to a fire
burnin through the best years of my life.
my family’s in town for the rattlesnakes and they all wanna know
where the hell is mamma’s ring
i pawned it in Snyder but i didn’t tell 'em
cause that’s what you asked of me
and we been survivin'
but I’m ready to be livin'
cause i grown tired of cryin' away
all the time that i been given

well i guess a real man would stay his ass home but i ain’t real good
at bein a real good man
and the worst thing i done was tell you i’s in love when what i meant to say
was i’s scared to be alone
well you’re a good lookin woman you deserve to be happy
so don’t pine for me no more
and you say we’re survivin'
but girl I call this dyin'
a year and you’ll be smilin'
'bout the chance that you been given

and the particles of the universe that make me who i am
they been evil forever and will always be while the world i know expands
and if they ever return to make a life in this mesquite thorn ridden land

meet me in Iraan
meet me in Iraan
meet me in Iraan
meet me in Iraan
meet me in Iraan
meet me in Iraan

Hold

well it’s been hard my love, beatin out of my head
but i can’t do these things and keep our family fed
now if you close your eyes
i'm gonna blow it open wide
and we’ll find out what I’m capable of my dear
when i give up all that pride

now I ain’t found me a bottle
that ain’t agreed with me yet
you know the cheaper the better
long as it keeps me wet
cause it’s the only way
i can look this town in the eye
without falling to the ground
holding my head
and screamin my god to the sky

la la la la la la la la la la la la

well i been dreaming 'bout settling down to a Christian start
i might can hold it together long enough to pay for the car
but then my hands get to shaking cause the hole inside my heart
well it grows deeper cause i know i don’t need these things
but i been workin' so goddamn hard

to take care of you
to take care of you
to take care of you
lord to take care of you
to take care of you
to take care of you
to take care of you
lord to take care of you

La la la la la la la la la la la la

well it’s been hard my love beatin it out of my head
but i can’t do these things and keep our family fed
now if you hold on tight
i’m gonna blow it open wide
and we’ll find out what i’m capable of my dear
when i give up all that pride
 

Stranded at the Bus Station

you know it’s always been my dream to rob a bank
and when we met you was in love with hopping trains
and we would split about a fifth of Jim Beam a day
to keep from getting the shakes
your ex-old man he thinks I’m a goddamn disgrace
but he ain't got the balls to say that to my face
it’s why you left him all alone in trailer space
where all the bills was paid

but I don’t trust no one who’s never road a greyhound bus
or never had to try their hand at selling drugs
'cause they ain’t never had to get nowhere bad enough
that they’d destroy the escape

i’m at the bottom but my good friends came along
we like to drink all night and talk about writing songs
i know you’ll love me until all my weed is gone
but that won’t happen today
i’m hopin that won’t happen today

i know you think that i’m the man but i’m just a man
and i ain’t never been no good at making plans
and i once hit someone so hard i broke my hand
but I been known to pray

and I don’t trust no one who’s never rode a greyhound bus
or never lost a fight and had to lay in they own blood
'cause they don’t know what it’s like when you can’t get up
because you been betrayed

i’m at the bottom but my bad habits came along
we like to fight all night then act like nothin’s wrong
but even jesus had a time when he wasn’t strong
and felt kind of afraid
so why can’t I do the same

i’m at the bottom but my good friends came along
we like to drink all night and talk about writing songs
i know you’ll love me until all my weed is gone
i’m hoping that won’t happen today
but that won’t happen today

Wrong I Done

how’m i gonna pay for the wrong i done when all i ever do is fuck everyone
out of money on account of i don’t think i was born with enough
well it circled round high and it flew right in
and it found us holdin hands at the foot of the bed
and stopped fightin' when you asked me to tell you bout the things i loved
when i was young

and how’m i gonna pay for the wrong i done
how’m i gonna pay for the wrong i done
yeah how’m i gonna pay for the wrong i done i done
to everyone

yeah we found it on the road and we painted it black
and my mamma didn’t mind so we filled a pack
and drank convenience store wine in the bed of a truck
got a cheap motel up on north Mesa
and worked all night like we ain’t never had none

but now we gotta pay for the wrong i done
yeah now we gotta pay for the wrong i done
now we gotta pay for the wrong i done i done
to everyone

and when can i say she weren’t the one
and it don’t bother me cause I had enough
of drinking myself sick and living them old re-runs
and waitin' for kingdom come

and how’m i gonna pay for the wrong i done
how’m i gonna pay for the wrong i done
yeah how’m i gonna pay for the wrong i done i done
and how’m i gonna pay for the wrong i done
how’m i gonna pay for the wrong i done
yeah how’m i gonna pay for the wrong i done i done

Flying Car

he was 17 when she taught him how to love on her just right
he'd steal his parent's van they'd drive off, she once stabbed him with a knife
he lies awake at night and says out loud i guess it's not so bad
three babies later and a factory job it's all he's ever had
and it's not so bad
and i guess it's not so bad
he’d get to drinkin' she’d say we’re all grown up and there’s no time left for fun
he’d say your always bitchin' I’m always home i’m barely 21
she said leave but leave the car
i’ll go get your paycheck from the state
she’d scream that bluff a million times before
this time he walked away
aaaaaaay aayyyyy
he walked away
aaaaaaay aayyyy
this time he walked away
when I grow up I'm gonna be all better
gonna have a big house and some sustainable relationships
gonna travel all the time in my futuristic flying car and my
addictions will all be gone
she’s much older now and in retrospect she should’ve just shut her mouth
she’s got a sweet deal she lives with a drug dealer inside her parent's house
no kids come to visit now, they’re always blamed for the condition of her life
years lost to a smoke filled room
bruises and guns till the next time she gets high
aayyy aayyy
she gets by
aayyy aayyy
the next time she gets high
he never left the same small town where his kids grew up and he sees them time to time
lives down at the local bar, he never found it like he had with his first wife
Iiii iiiife
his whole life
Iii iiiiife his first wife
and he thought it was all his fault
he ruined them all
and he knew it was all his fault
when i grow up i'm gonna be all better
gonna have a big house and some sustainable relationships
gonna travel all the time in my futuristic flying car and my
addictions will all be gone
they’ll all be gone