TESTIFY

It was in the spring on a sunny day

saw a good boy turn and go the wrong way

he was too busy looking hard as stone

to ever realize he was all alone

chorus

wanna testify ’bout the things I’ve seen

wash my hands but they never come clean

testify some win some lose

everybody’s gonna have to stand accused

Saw a little girl in a redneck bar

ain’t so sure she wants to go that far

can’t drink liquor ‘less she holds her nose

she’s about to find out that everything goes

chorus

It was in the spring on a sunny day

saw a good boy turn and go the wrong way

he was too busy being hard as stone

to ever realize he was all alone

 

SANCTIFIED WOMAN

I went lookin for a sanctified woman

she was just the kind of woman I was hopin’ to find

I left home in the middle of December

she’s the only kind of woman could keep me in line

I found a girl just across the line in Georgia

she was livin’ by the highway in a pink doublewide

we left town in a 79 camaro

had a bag full of nothin’ and a bottle of wine

chorus

Can’t you see me go up in flames

Can’t you hear me screamin’ your name

I need some redemption today

from that sanctified woman

I went back to my home in Alabama

saw my Daddy in the driveway with a tear in his eye

he said “son, what you doin’ with that woman?”

said I gotta keep on runnin’ ‘fore I run outta time

chorus

I don’t even know I don’t even know

what we’re gonna do where we’re gonna go

I don’t wanna know I don’t wanna know

well we gotta go somewhere cause we sure ain’t got no home

 

ANOTHER CHANCE

 

Livin’ with my back against the wall

nowhere but forward to fall

I close my eyes somebody catch my breath

oh my Lord let’s get on board

the ride’s gonna scare me to death

chorus

Don’t wanna leave before my time is done

don’t wanna stick around when my race is run

don’t wanna go before they call my dance

don’t wanna die askin’ for another chance

Come help me poor Richard

won’t you help me raise a glass

here’s to me and here’s to you

may your dreams all come to pass

cruel trick of time is played in the wink of an eye

heaven’s above don’t need no shove

the years go sailin by

chorus

Another game of chance

a lifetime come and gone

I guess it’s up to me

don’t wanna sing another man’s song

I wanna say what Grandma said

lying on her dying bed

Yea I’ve been cheated, mistreated

I don’t have to say that yet

 

NOTHIN FOR YOU

 

Well excuse me baby

what in the world is goin’ on?

got an earful of trouble

when I called you on the telephone

Well you’re screamin’ and a cryin’

bitchin’ how bad you been used

well I ain’t got nothin for you

now I’m strappin’ on my travelin’ shoes

chorus

I ain’t got nothin’ for you

I ain’t got nothin’ for you

don’t stand there with your hand out honey

I ain’t got nothin’ for you

I ran into your mama

at the bar last Saturday night

the last thing I’d ever want to do

is not to treat you right

she’s been tellin’ every body in town

I’m the one you need

well my tracks out of the driveway’ll

be the last thing you see of me

chorus

I can’t shut you up

I can’t shut you down

I can’t shut you off

you’re still around

 

NORMALTOWN

 

Down in Normaltown

everywhere around

everything is square or is round

Andalusian dogs

never made the grade

movie houses patrons are so plain

chorus

While the rest of the world

keeps spinnin’ around and round

life goes on in Normaltown

1989 everyone was fine

contented while they stood around in line

they were so impressed

standing in the grass

home and then for beddy-bye they dressed

chorus

while the rest of the world

keeps spinnin’ around and round

life goes on in Normaltown

You can never go home

but that don’t bring me down

life goes on in Normaltown

Mayor John Doe Normal

sat back and watched all his servants

working day to day

big shot Mayor Normal

never saw it coming when they

took his little crown away

In Normaltown they say

a man can make his life

find a Normal girl to make his wife

Normaltown is home

I guess it’s just as well

now you know why this is a living hell

 

TRAIN ROLLIN’

 

I don’t wanna hear it

I don’t wanne hear it

I been raisin’ hell again

I know we’ve been through it

I put myself into it

feel like I might crawl out my skin

I’m so sick and tired

of being sick and tired

same old cliche in the end

baby when you kiss me

you know I’m drinkin’ whiskey

“go to hell, me” all over again

chorus

I’m a train train rollin’

rollin over you

a train train rollin’

ain’t nothin you can do

I don’t even know ya

what makes you think I owe ya

I got problems of my own

baby in a carriage

low rent psycho marriage

feelin I might go all night

or maybe more

Baby’s sick and tired

of bein’ sick and tired

same old cliche in the end

baby when you kiss me

you know I’m drinkin whiskey

“go to hell, me” all over again

 

ANGELINE

She left home with my last name

left her mark tattooed on the back of my brain

she was a friend of mine

same old story you heard a thousand times

i had nickels that girl wanted dimes

she was my valentine

If you see that girl out walkin’ your way

throw your hand up and tell her i said “hey.”

come on home

chorus

Oh Angeline

where have you gone?

She had enough money to get herself outta town

next thing I know she’s New Orleans bound

she’s my own

I stay home and try to make ends meet

she’s turnin tricks down on Royal Street

she’s long gone

If you see that girl out walkin’ the wrong way

turn her around and send her back my way

come on back home

chorus

she ain’t got nothin’ but the clothes on her back i know

she ain’t got nobody to tell her where she needs to go

she ain’t got no friends no family nowhere, nohow

she ain’t got nothin

 

SURE WAS GOOD

 

Havin’ bad luck ain’t no crime

Lord knows I’ve rolled boxcars in my time

but it sure was good

it was good as it could be

sure was good

it was good enough for me

sure was good

I’ve been in places I don’t belong

sometimes felt like I was too far gone

but it sure was good

it was good as it could be

sure was good

nearly knocked me off my feet

sure was good

sometimes easy sometimes not

hope I did the best with what I’ve got

sure was good

 

SCARE THE DEVIL

 

I got this self tied noose around my neck

standin’ on the tracks just waitin’ for my own trainwreck

keep yourself on your side and I’ll keep me on mine

keep yourself to yourself and we’ll get along just fine

chorus

You say the Devil made you do it, with a smile

raisin’ hell and howlin’ at the moon

I’m gonna put yo ass back in line

I’m gonna scare the Devil outta you

You can take your good advice and shove it up your ass

in the race of life I’m always gonna come out last

I can walk the line and I can toe the mark

but I ain’t got no time for a broken heart

chorus

I got this self tied noose around my neck

standin’ on the tracks just waitin for my own trainwreck

keep yourself on your side and I’ll keep me on mine

keep yourself to yourself and we’ll get along just fine

 

MUSCADINE

 

Way down there in South Carolina

everybody told me there ain’t no woman finer

never gonna listen to what all my friends say

never gonna leave her for one whole day

chorus

Muscadine

my girl’s sweeter than a muscadine

Way down there below the Mason Dixon

everybody knows she’s a red haired vixen

never gonna listen to what my mama say

never gonna see her after today

Muscadine

sweetest berry hangin’ on the vine

 

FREEBORN MAN

I was born in the Southland

twenty some odd years ago

I left home for the first time

when I was four years old

chorus

I’m a freeborn man

my home is on my back

I know every inch of highway

every foot of backroad

every mile of railroad track

I got a gal in Cincinnati

a little woman in San Antone

I always loved the gal next door

and any old place is home

chorus

I got this worn out guitar

carry it in an old tote sack

hocked it about a hundred times

but I always get it back

chorus

You may not like my appearance

and you may not like my song

you may not like the way i talk

but you’ll like the way I’m gone