Time To Go Home I remember you smiling in Austin As I watch the Tennessee sky The stars light up the night like the cars On I-40 and down 35 AM an old country station Crossing the Arkansas line Willie is singing 'bout flying too close to the ground The fiddler was playing Jole Blon But all the dancers were gone You put your hand on my shoulder Whispered it's time to go home The hum of the tires on the highway Like a song that I heard long ago The words aren't all there but the melody's clear Something 'bout life on the road The moon sure looks funny hung sideways But he ain't got nothing on me Smiling like someone who's dying to get back to you The morning is chasing behind me I'm gonna see you today The stars come undone as the light from the sun Gently wipes them away I think of you smiling this evening The way that you settle me down There's a lonelier sound than the winding of wheels on the road

Mollie Mollie was a barefoot dancer Gliding through them second glances All the boys would wait their chance Just to hold her hand She could make the rain start smiling With just a wink of her eye She'd put the sun back in the sky Whenever she's around Local boys say... Oh my, Miss Mollie, I'd like to be your man tonight Won't you dance me 'round there for a while She'd grin and take their hands Spin 'em like the prairie wind Yes sir, a waltz with her sure could get you high The women talked there in the corner The men would watch over their shoulder She'd two-step like she was older Than just seventeen Like the sunlight on the water Cotton dress wrapped round about her She made 'em think of times they never Thought they'd see again They'd say... Green eyes and brown hair braided In my mind still unfaded Every song that I played She'd seem to dance for me

Dead Man's Waltz You was too young and handsome to live in that town And play at the tables, pass the bottle around The men called you "Kid" but you called them your boys When the women came down, you'd get your first choice But your pistol was always too close to your hand Making you feel like you're more than a man The women and whiskey kept you warm every night The gun by your side made you ready to fight Your blood started burning when the cold blew away The men tried to keep your mind on the game But you would not listen, you was too young One day he walked in with his hand on his gun Ashes are ash when the dust settles down The moon'll look lonely tonight You can't hear the wind without remembering the sound You sit every night at your door But nobody comes knocking no more He sat with the woman who slept in your bed You pointed that out with your gun at his head Not sure if the liquor caused the glaze in your eyes He stepped from the table in total surprise With a knife in his hand as he turned back around Your chest was on fire when you both hit the ground The years have passed by and your body has healed The people've stopped talking but your mind never will You won't learn to dance and you can't learn to fly You'll never smile without fear in your eyes So you sit on the front porch and stare the moon Waiting for nothing at all

Suzannah's Silver Ribbon She says she works at the cafe on the corner I know it's true because I've seen her there She walks to work early every morning She wears a silver ribbon in her hair You smile like the summer breeze Suzannah Dancing like that ribbon in your hair And I hope someday you'll see Suzannah There's more to living than this city air On Wednesday's she gets off at 2:30 I know because I saw her yesterday I called her name but she didn't hear me I had finally got the nerve to say... Passing by the cafe early evening Summer sun is stretching out the light Caught her eye just as she was leaving "I'd like to walk you home if that's alright" We caught a bus just four blocks from the cafe Got off at the last stop on the route Sun's about to sink into the valley "Hurry" she says "it's not much longer now" Sitting on a bluff above the river Half a moon is hanging in the sky She unties the ribbon sun is golden in her hair Evening dancing beauty in her eyes You smile like the summer breeze Suzannah Dancing like the sun across the sky Life and love can be so funny Suzannah Let me hold your silver ribbon for a while

One Too Many Mornings She’s staring through the window Out across the street Where the sun lifts the rain Off the concrete like a veil The mist is slow in rising Like lies she thought were love It's one too many mornings Where the shower ain’t enough ‘I didn’t see a road’ she says You can see it in her eyes Wet hair on her shoulders Cool there where it lies She backs up from the window The light falls on her feet ‘If I wait here 'til tomorrow, It won’t be so hard to meet’ She can feel the sun upon her Like she hasn't for some time ‘Jesus Christ, I’m dying’ She says it in her mind She lifts her arms above her Cries to taste the tears Like some forgotten lover That she hasn’t seen in years Sunlight in the water Pieces of her heart The morning may be gone But it ain't too late to start She trembles for the crying Anxious as a bride Waiting in the wings With her daddy by her side She’s staring through the window Out across the street Where the sun lifts the rain Off the concrete like a veil

Come On She comes to me like summer breezes Speaks her mind with just a smile Sunshine awaits her voice The sky obeys her like a child Whispers words long and lonesome Lost somewhere in my mind Then she leaves me Like a poet who cannot find a rhyme Got the world wrapped round her finger Wrapped my heart around her thumb Though I wanted I could not bring her Love or flowers, rain or sun Sighs like the sky on fire Makes the morning sun look new Then she leaves me Like a choir with no one to sing to Now the sun is laying low, boys Evening clouds are rolling in All the stars they come rejoicing But my heart is not with them There's a place the clouds can't cover There the moon won't make you blue There's a place there for a lover With no one to cling to She comes to me like summer breezes That blow where they will Got my heart wrapped round her finger But I cannot love her still

Song for Sarah Sleep now for it’s evening Sarah Sleep so that you may Wake tomorrow morning To brighten another day Stars, they sing a song for you Moon, he holds your hand Morning waits your waking To help the sun to stand Dream a dream of flowers Like when you were young A field of painted daffodils Dancing in the sun Fall into their music Hands up to the sky Lift them to Jesus He loves you even more than I I’d like to keep you safe from All the trouble that I’ve known But if that just ain't do-able I’ll never let you cry alone I got a shoulder you can lean on To rest your head a while I’ll play you any song that you want me to Babe, if it'll make you smile Sleep now for it’s evening Sarah Morning ain't too far You’ll start the sun a-shining You’ll hold a poor boy’s heart

Ballad of the Ace of Spades My daddy named me Navy ‘bout a week before he died Least that’s what mama told me on the nights that she cried Herself to sleep in the bedroom there While I’s getting beat playing Solitaire I grew up trying to be what he was not And not get shot in a barroom fight And not get caught with a second Spade Ace In a game with a man with a scar on his face When I was a kid I built me a fort Way up in a tree, a magnolia of course My friends would come by and we’d play Old Maid I’d beat ‘em or cheat ‘em with the tricks of the trade One day I was up there, nobody but me I’s learning to hide a card up my sleeve When the wind blew through and the cards they scattered One out the door to ground it fluttered I jumped to catch it but I missed by an inch So I jumped again and I hit every branch As I fell from the top of that magnolia tree I caught that card, but it didn’t catch me I hit the ground hard with the card in my hand It hurt a lot more than I guess I'd have planned But I didn’t care much that I was all tore up ‘Cause it was a Spade Ace, and they’re full of good luck About 20 years later, I turned 21 Went out on the town to scare up some fun I stopped at Old Nick’s and got out of the truck Put my lucky Spade Ace in my drawers for good luck Old Nick’s was a-buzzing with gamblers and girls And a couple of cowboys sitting on stools In corner down past the end of the bar Some fellow was singing playing a Mexican guitar About 6 shots later and Spanish lullaby She walked in with wet hair in her eyes She pulled it all back and wrung out the rain Walked up beside me, said her name was Lorraine Well me and Lorraine, we hit it off big Stepped on the floor to a fiddler’s jig She’s something else, oh my, she could dance And I’s glad that I had my Spade in my pants About 2 weeks later we tied the knot Honeymooned in my truck in the mall parking lot You should’ve seen the look on her face When she found where I kept my lucky Spade Ace She laughed and said, “Oh my, that’s keen, ‘Cause that’s right where I keep my lucky red Queen” Then she showed me… King, he’s got the money; Queen, she’s got her smile You might have seen their faces if you’ve walked that road a while Hell is full of Aces, well you know it if you’ve been Me, the Joker and the Jack, we got one hand in the wind Lorraine and her Queen, they were a mighty fine pair I’d come home and they’d both be there Sharing a bottle and finding all my flaws That’s not to mention the late night phone calls Things didn’t work out with me and Mrs. Navy It was like chicken fried steak without any gravy We could only seem to agree on one thing That she was the greatest, if you know what I mean So she packed up and she left the place And I went down to the bar with my lucky Spade Ace And lost everything ‘cept the boots on my feet Got shot by a man who said I’s a cheat He got up and left me lying here Gut-shot on the ground so I can’t reach my beer Thinking about women and Jesus And the valleys of darkness that our choices’ll lead us And how not even ten minutes before I’d bet my pistol on that dirty Club whore But she didn’t turn up and I lost my place With four Clubs and a Heart and my lucky Spade Ace It was the Ace that got him all heated and mad Although it could not have helped the hand that I had He threw down his cards and picked up my gun And he shot me with my bullets that he’d already won If you’ve never been shot, I don’t recommend it But I didn’t see it coming so I couldn’t defend it But I’s glad I had my Ace or I might be dead Shot in the heart or worse yet in the head So give me an hour and my story’ll be through And you can get back to whatever it is that you do But there’s a moral here that maybe you’ll find If your Spade Ace is a lot luckier than mine

Thinking of You Now Evening sky is sliding by The stars begin to smile I thought of you this afternoon And I'm thinking of you now The moon hangs in the half-light Of the night it's trying to steal The sun's still spinning this old world around Jesus love you this I know and he always will And I can't wait to see you again If I had a boat I'd sail Across the shining sea If I had an airplane I'd fly you back to me But all I got is this guitar And a beat-up Chevrolet And neither one's gonna take me very far So I pray the Lord will hold you close and bless you every day I'll be waiting when you get back home My fingers hurt from playing songs I'd like for you to hear I wish the wind would carry them softly to you there Jesus loves you this I know and he always will You've been such a friend to me I hope you know somehow I thought of you this afternoon And I'm thinking of you now