Bought myself a Stetson hat, a nice three quarter coat I untie a horse to fly, a red scarf for my throat Some spurs, some boots, some drinks, some hoots, a spread at supper time When tomorrow comes, well, I won't have a dime. Ride down the Rock Island line, the expressman pops the safe Then I'm by the water side to see the light of fate I'll be drenched down with salvation, hell, I'll lay it on the line Till tomorrow comes and I don't have a dime Knees tight to the saddle, I catch up to the train I'll holding my nuts and keeping my guts and riding off in the rain And back in town I'll show you to all of those lights you never knew Till I rub one dime together like a fool. Folding up the deck again and I'll cash in the chips Just enough to buy a round, I'll only drink in sips Till she's like some Mona Lisa with a face a bit equine And tomorrow comes and I don't have a dime Knees tight to the saddle, I catch up to the train I'll holding my nuts and keeping my guts and riding off in the rain And back in town I'll show you to all of those lights you never knew Till I rub one dime together like a fool. Much too much too much to gain and far too much to lose Deep in the saddle again and nearing the caboose I'll be rich tomorrow day but I'll be poor tomorrow night And wondering why I never have a dime. Knees tight to the saddle, I catch up to the train I'll holding my nuts and keeping my guts and riding off in the rain And back in town I'll show you to all of those lights you never knew Till I rub one dime together like a fool.

Castle Garden from the green I signed on thin and lean To head west for my stew Lucky Omaha heard Sacramento call And rode an iron horse through Ladders through the plains hammers through the rains Treated like a mindless old mule reeling with the heat frostbit with the sleet I’ll be your broken back fool. Thomas Clark Durant still rolling in his junta Can pave the plains with his stocks I’ll gandy dance by day for a hell on wheels to lay To pound the nail through the clock Coughing in the smoke, an artist with three strokes A 15 pound Nelson my tool. John Henry on a pile of 4000 spikes a mile I’ll be your broken back fool. John Henry full of bile with 12000 strokes a mile I’ll be your broken back fool.

Oh Lorraine, on the hood of a Monty Carlo Oh Lorraine, tight in skirt and sloe Feel your fingers dampen flex down to your toes Oh Lorraine drive out to the boardwalk Oh Lorraine taut and cavalier The ocean whispers but you don’t want to hear All the days claw at you like kind words All the days crawl to keep you kind But they can’t hear that voice behind your eyes Oh Lorraine let the engine grumble Oh Lorraine let the engine cry And watch this rear view town fade out of sight

There was three men came out of the west, Their fortunes for to try, And these three men made a solemn vow, John Barleycorn should die. They ploughed, they sowed, they harrowed him in, Throwed clods upon his head, And these three man made a solemn vow, John Barleycorn was dead. Then they let him lie for a very long time Till the rain from heaven did fall, Then little Sir John sprung up his head, And soon amazed them all. They let him stand till midsummer Till he looked both pale and wan, And little Sir John he growed a long beard And so became a man. They hired men with the scythes so sharp To cut him off at the knee, They rolled him and tied him by the waist, And served him most barbarously. They hired men with the sharp pitchforks Who pricked him to the heart, And the loader he served him worse than that, For he bound him to the cart. They wheeled him round and round the field Till they came unto a barn, And there they made a solemn mow of poor John Barleycorn. They hired men with the crab-tree sticks To cut him skin from bone, And the miller he served him worse than that, For he ground him between two stones. Here's little Sir John in a nut-brown bowl, And brandy in a glass; And little Sir John in the nut-brown bowl Proved the stronger man at last. And the huntsman he can't hunt the fox, Nor so loudly blow his horn, And the tinker he can't mend kettles or pots Without a little of Barleycorn.

If that mean old river keeps flowing Swollen bank by the rain and the snow If I keep on rolling home Winter's coming and it won't take long. If that mean old river keeps flowing Swollen bank by the rain and the snow If I keep on rolling home Well, there won't be no home to go. Drinking flat foot in Tennessee Saw her dancing by the willow tree Just hoping she might see me Counting time by the riverside And I'd set my life to rights Find a job and tuck in tight Push the mornings back all night In my house by the banks so wide If that mean old river keeps flowing Swollen bank by the rain and the snow If I keep on rolling home Winter's coming and it won't take long. If that mean old river keeps flowing Swollen bank by the rain and the snow If I keep on rolling home Well, there won't be no home to go. In St. Louis barring chords To make a dime cuz I can't find more. In a cheap dive room and board Dreaming of her half the night I'll pack my bag up right tight When I'm finished and I'll drive all night It's a hard, cold rain outside In the beam of the one headlight. If that mean old river keeps flowing Swollen bank by the rain and the snow If I keep on rolling home Winter's coming and it won't take long. If that mean old river keeps flowing Swollen bank by the rain and the snow If I keep on rolling home Well, there won't be no home to go.

Dime store tries and shallow sighs Dusty road that ends in sun Another town to feed the eyes Another bar to feed the numb Roads to you are long but true And the waiting’s all but gone Night will shade all roads that stray I’ll be holding back the dawn. Angels of the wood and rail Cut the dusty swirls with speed Blur the sound to sagebrush brown As that whistle it pleads concrete Roads to you are long but true And the waiting’s all but gone Night will shade all roads that stray I’ll be holding back the dawn. Midnight blues are nothing new Just a life that’s held in pawn Don’t count the ways, don’t count the days I’ll be there before the dawn Burning all to find your way Across the iron bridge through town With the wind and with the sway To your gray stray Irish hound Roads to you are long but true And the waiting's all but gone Night will shade all roads that stray I’ll be holding back the dawn.

Just let the abandoned grass Fade till tomorrows light I’ve been gone too long it seems And I see myself up here tight in the wind like a kite I tried hard to waste this time I drank in the Prodigal’s room Just follow the embers Out to the endless tide and gloom So let me face up this time And stand with your heart in my hand If I had pled innocent Played a fool in the dock would the ocean have changed her commands? Well, I’d had my hands tied before But never so goddamn tight They said I was wanted for… Said it could never be me, I was with you on that night. Your father came to the bars Whispered I’d be hanging soon He gave them gold for my sacred word To step on the planks and ride any wind far from you. So let me face up this time And stand with your heart in my hand If I had pled innocent Played a fool in the dock would the ocean have changed her commands? Did I sometimes fade in Like some morning machine As you watched the skyline Your face to the wind as it dried out your wet memories? Did hills fade to shadows As you closed our book? I wished you more than this Wished you garlands and bands and bells pealing loud donnybrook All this and diamonds All this ripped from that space in your heart When I took the easy path My face to the wind and my course pinned with maps, stars and charts So let me face up this time And stand with your heart in my hand If I had pled innocent Played a fool in the dock would the ocean have changed her commands?

Every time that you held that look You were taken down easy in the second book And my whole damn plot folds to silence in the night. So I packed I stuff and I upped my sails Bowling Brook was hazy so I hit that trail The lamp posts sputtered as I took off for the light I found a wall and I backed right up What's the use in drinking but the harder stuff You don't have to bother looking for the light stone blind One takes it easy another's too quick One clutches his diamond and another his dick This time I won't slow till the holding out is good and fine Don't need the money, don't need the show When it comes too easy it's time to go And I'll be waiting for tomorrow by the Saint Street five and dime. Come the moon, I'll take your bricks Carve you out a home from paper and sticks Witch willow for the walls and myrtle for the roof and beams Dress us up in reeds and twine Weave a tight cover for this love of mine And press my damn watch with your rose in the bible seams Don't need the money, don't need the show When it comes too easy it's time to go And I'll be waiting for tomorrow by the Saint Street five and dime. Every time that you held that look I took you down easy in the second book And my whole damn plot fell to silence in the night.

Just a bagman with a heavy load Just here waiting on a train So what the hell if I don't fit the mold A Stagger Lee in autumn rain Just a ring of light and a ring of gold With a pinch of loss and gain Turn up the collar to break the cold And keep to still in autumn rain A buck ain't much when a hundred's owed But that's the offer just the same Fingers crossed and a good tight hold Melt to the seat in autumn rain I want to give us all that we deserve But we're stuck here if I play the game I'll ignore the call and throw the curve And make a break through autumn rain Watch the Green Line light slow and swerve Light the tracks and platform stains Clutch the bag and clutch the fraying nerve Shoot the moon through autumn rain

O the times are hard and the wages low, Leave her, Johnny, leave her! I think it's time for us to go! An' it's time for us to leave her! O I thought I heard the old man say, Oh, leave her, Johnny, leave her! Tomorrow ye will get your pay! An' it's time for us to leave her! Leave her, Johnny, leave her! Oh, leave her, Johnny, leave her! For the voyage is done an' the winds don't blow, An' it's time for us to leave her! It's Liverpool Pat with his tarpaulin hat, Oh, leave her, Johnny, leave her! It's Yankee John the packet rat. An' it's time for us to leave her! It's rotten beef an' weev'ly bread, Oh, leave her, Johnny, leave her! It's pump or drown the old man said. An' it's time for us to leave her! CHORUS The wind was foul an' the sea ran high, Oh, leave her, Johnny, leave her! She shipped it green an' none went by. An' it's time for us to leave her! We'd be better off in a nice clean jail, Oh, leave her, Johnny, leave her! With all night in an' plenty o' ale! An' it's time for us to leave her! CHORUS The ship won't steer, or stay, or wear, Oh, leave her, Johnny, leave her! An' so us shellbacks learnt to swear. An' it's time for us to leave her! I hate to sail on this rotten tub, Oh, leave her, Johnny, leave her! No grog allowed and rotten grub! An' it's time for us to leave her! CHORUS The old man shouts, the pumps stand by, Oh, leave her, Johnny, leave her! Oh, we can never suck her dry. An' it's time for us to leave her! We swear by rote for want o' more, Oh, leave her, Johnny, leave her! But now we're through so we'll go on shore. An' it's time for us to leave her! CHORUS O the times are hard and the wages low, Leave her, Johnny, leave her! I think it's time for us to go! An' it's time for us to leave her!

Well my father's a merchant with a house on the Brae And he was off for his dealings on my sixteenth birthday So I followed the road out through the gold fields And I there met a man so tall and well-heeled. John Smith was his name and he'd come from the sea With his piercing blue eyes and dressed in his finery But he'd tired of those winds and he'd tired of those sails He'd come home to the islands to hide from the gales So we talked through the night of the places he'd seen And his voice conjured visions in this maid of sixteen Of Santa Cruz ports and Iberian seas He said all Italy's statues can't compare to me. Well, my father James Gordon was a rich enough man To rule like a lord over half this island When my John did court me I and I took his hand Through the hole in the stone that was our wedding band When my father came home and he found me gone Well, his rage it did smolder his pride it was stung there was much to be gained through a marriage to me To some son of a lawyer or some fleet in the sea But he bide his time and he listened for word Of who my dear John was no body had heard Till a swag from the pier with a grudge to avenge Recognized John Gow from the dread ship Revenge. John took to the sea the very next day His ship ran aground on the calf of Eday They took him to London and found him guilty Of a great many murders and dread piracy. Well, my father James Gordon was a rich enough man To rule like a lord over half this island When my John did court me and I took his hand Through the hole in the stone that was our band I made my way south with a promise to break I crossed over the Firth with my life in my wake. The islands and highlands they faded from view Those gray towns of England I made my way through On the banks of the Themes, there he waited for me In his tar and his feathers and hung from his tree They say he had taken a great while to die I looked at his gray face and I thought I knew why I watched as his hand swung on over my head All blackened and burnt and duller than lead I reached out my hand he swung away like a bell and touched his cold fingers and said my farewell: “As I took your hand through the stone on that night With you as my lover, with me as your wife This touch of our flesh, may it grant us release To find us both us lonely, to find us both peace.” Well, my father James Gordon was a rich enough man To rule like a lord over half this island When my John did court me and I took his hand Through the hole in the stone that was our wedding band

Should I wait too long Wake in the night just to leave at dawn Bottle and save your face Map every lane that your fingers trace I can wait for the princess Like I wait out the rains Every candle Flame Freezes a bedroom mise en scene Just a glance for the memory As I trip at the door on your Mary Janes I can wait for the princess Like I wait out the rains If I wait too long Wake in the night just to leave at dawn Bottle and save your name Pulling the door gently to its frame I can wait for the princess Like I wait out the rains Through all the wishing the wailing the fighting the flailing I can’t keep this up tonight.