Life and death dancin’ round in the Mud

The light comes down through the limbs and the leaves
And dapples the water between the reeds
The air tastes green the bank gets soft
Right about then your shoes come off

You got to get it between your toes the mud

Chorus
Mud pie mud in your eye
Mud on a snake bite you don’t die
Take a litte rain take a little dirt
Make a little mud get it on your shirt

When I die please bury me
Down by this old muddy creek
Let the crawfish have their way
It’s mud to mud and that’s okay

We all just crawled out of the mud

Chorus twice

(Tag)
We’re all just sloggin’ through the mud

’Twas in the town of Nashvile in the year of ‘75
This Arizona star just fell out of the sky
Shinin’ like a diamond she had tombstones in her eyes
She liked drinkin’ she like smokin’ she like dancin’ in the aisle

She was a pre Madaonna primadonna part time southern belle
She shoulda been an actress she played the part so well
She might’ve been a singer you really couldn’t tell
She was the Arizona star and she was born to give ‘em hell

Chorus
When you’re cool the sun shines all the time
So she always kept her shades on to keep from goin’ blind
She was cool she was out there so far
Nothin’ less and nothin’ more than the Arizona star

She had a girlfriend named George and George carries a sword>
And wore purple tights and hung out every night
I’m talkin’ ‘bout a circus I’m talkin’ ‘bout three rings
Four or five clowns in a washing machine

She never met a stranger as far as I could tell
She was the Arizona star Jim McGuire he knew her well
She made a real an oxymoron she made mirrors she made smoke
She had a curve ball that wouldn’t quit a girlfriend for a joke

Chorus

I’d rather sleep in a box like a bum on the street
Than a fine feather bed without your little ol’ cold feet
I’d rather be deaf, dumb, and stone blind
Than to know that your mornings will never be mine

I’d rather die young than to live without you
I’d rather go hungry than eat lonesome stew
It’s once in a lifetime and it won’t come again
It’s here and it’s gone on a magnolia wind

I’d rather not walk through the garden again
If I can’t catch your scent on a magnolia wind

If it ever comes time that it comes time to go
Sis just pack up your fiddle Sis pack up your bow
If I can’t dance with you then I won’t dance at all
I’ll just sit this one out with my back to the wall
I’d rather not hear pretty music again
If I can’t hear your fiddle on a magnolia wind

If I can’t catch your scent on a magnolia wind

First I thought a snake had got me it happened dreadful quick T’was a bullet bit my leg, right off I got sick
I came to in a wagon load of ten more wounded men
Five was dead by the time we reached that bloody tent

Gimme some of that Soldier’s Joy, you know what I mean
I don’t want to hurt no more my leg is turnin’ green

The doctor came and looked at me and this is what he said
Your dancin’ days are done, son, it’s a wonder you ain’t dead
Then he went to work with a carvin’ knife sweat fell from his brow
’Bout killed me tryin’ to save my life when he cut that lead ball out

Give me some of that Soldier’s Joy, ain’t you got no more
Hand me down my walkin’ cane I ain’t cut out for war

Red blood run right through my veins run all over the floor
Run right down his apron strings like a river out the door
He handed me a bottle and said, son drink deep as you can
He turned away then he turned right back with a hacksaw in his hand

Gimme some of that Soldier’s Joy you know what I like
Bear down on that fiddle boys just like Saturday night

Gimme some of that Soldier’s Joy you know what I crave
I’ll be hittin’ that Soldier’s Joy til I’m in my grave

Some of her dancin’ days are over
Some of her dancin’ days are gone
But she’s still got a couple of two steps
She ain’t shown no one

Time will tell if she needs you
Time will tell if she don’t
What’ll you do if she believes you
What’ll you do if she don’t

Chorus
You can’t fence her in with wire
You can’t fence her in with words
Bet your life she’s on fire
She’s got a pistol in her purse

Don’t sell her short if she leaves you
Don’t sell her short if she stays
She’s got cards up her sleeve still
That she never got to play

It ain’t like she’s tryin’ to lose you
She’s just thinkin’ for herself
She said come on if it moves you
Don’t just stay here by yourself

Chorus twice

Tag

Cardboard sign old and bent, says "Friend for Life 25 cents"
When did this start makin’ sense man it’s really gettin’ cold
Sometimes I forget things I get confused
I could still be working but they refuse
Now I’m livin’ with the bums, the whores and the abused
Man I hate gettin’ old

Chorus
Homesless. . . get away from here
Don’t give ‘em no money they’ll just spend it on beer
Homeless. . . will work for food
You’ll do anything you gotta do when you’re homeless

Betty sings a song that no one hears
As the wind begins to freeze her tears
She says God it’s been so many years
She’s way past complainin’
She sings a heartfelt melody
One that begs for harmony
No it’s not what she’d thought it’d be
But hey it could be rainin’

Chorus

Life ain’t easy it takes work
It takes healin’ cause you’re gonna get hurt
You can lose your faith you can lose your shirt
Lose your way some time
You never really have control
Sometimes you just gotta let it go
When the final line unfolds
It don’t always rhyme

Chorus

Cardboard sign old and bent says "Friend for Life 25 cents"

He’s down a dead end road and he don’t know where
The right front tire is gonna need some air
Up around the bend just a two pump place
So he pulls in to get his bearings straight

He thumbs back, back through his life
The page cut just like a knife
One by one he tears them out
How he got so lost he don’t know how

Chorus
In a nowhere town with a nowhere name
He’s nowhere closer to where he came from
Dead sure no one is to blame
He’s just off the map again

It starts to rain, he’s gonna wait it out
Gonna rest his eyes, gonna face his doubts
He pours a drink in a paper cup
He goes to sleep and he don’t wake up

Chorus twice

He said his hip talks to him when it’s ready to rain
He’s had a little nip and he’s feelin’ no pain
When he gets like this he feels like talkin’
He said he took some shrapnel at the Bay of Pigs
He lost two fingers on a gulf oil rig
You gotta watch him or he’ll take off walkin’
Some folks say he’s lost his mind, but he’s just runnin’ out of time

Chorus
He said this ol’ Bag of Bones ain’t really me
There’s a lot more standin’ here than what you see
He said my back is bendin’ low but my spirit’s ridin’ free
This ol’ Bag of Bones ain’t really me

He said I live each day like it’s my last
Time won’t keep it goes so fast
You better do the best that you can do
He said life’s a tune you whistle in the dark
When you get it right you get a little spark
And the sun comes up and it all dawns on you

Chorus

He said my back is bendin’ low but my spirit’s flyin’ free
This ol’ Bag of Bones ain’t really me

This ol’ Bag of Bones ain’t really me

Two shots of Wild Turkey puts the wind in her hair
Bound and determined in the cold mornin’ air
If you don’t like to ride horses I’d suggest you stay home
She don’t ride double, get a horse of your own

Chorus
She lives to ride horses, she doesn’t care
How long it’ll take her or if she ever gets there
She ain’t got no reason, she don’t need no rhyme
She just loves to ride horses in three-quarter time

You can’t tell her nothing, she don’t want to know
You can’t take her nowhere she don’t want to go
She might not show up, she might not call
She loves to ride horses and that’s about all

Chorus twice

Some S.O.B. shot my dog
I found her under a tree
If I hadn’t loved that dog so much
It wouldn’t mean nothin’ to me

You son of a bitch I’ll tell you what
I will not be deterred
I’ll find you out and track you down
On that you have my word

Chorus
Queenies getting buried
It’s time to dig the hole
New Year’s Day in Santa Fe
Broke mean and it broke cold

I don’t predict the world will end
I don’t presume it won’t
I don’t pretend to give a damn
It it do or if it don’t

Bet you got a gun for Christmas
That don’t make it right
What in the hell were you thinkin’
With little Queenie in your sights

Chorus

Brother Death and Father Time
Are almost loaded up
Headed for the border line
In a stolen pick-up truck

For old aquaintance not forgot
For old dogs left behind
I won’t forgive and I can’t forget
The year of ‘99

Screamin’ Auld Lang Syne

In the dark you can sometimes
Hear your own heart beat
Or the heart of the one next to you
The house settles down
After holding itself up all day
Shoulders slump, gives a big sigh
You hear no one’s foot fall in the hall
That drip in the kitchen sink markin’ time
June bug on the window screen
Can’t get in but he keeps on tryin’
One way or another we’re all in the dark

Fireflies, sparks, lightning, stars
Campfires, the moon, headlights on cars
The Northern Lights and the Milky Way
You can’t see that stuff in the day

When the earth turns its back on the sun
The stars come out and the planets
Start to run around
They call that day is done
But really it’s just getting started
Some folks take comfort in that

How dark is it
It’s too dark for goblins
How dark is it
It’s so dark you can smell the moon
How dark is it
It’s so dark the wind gets lost
How dark is it
It’s so dark the sky’s on fire
How dark is it
It’s so dark you can see Fort Worth from here