Copyright 1998

Text Version

.wps Version

BLACKJACK DAVID
Traditional, Arranged by Dave Alvin
(Blue Horn Toad Music, BMI, Administered by Bug Music)

 
Blackjack David came a-ridin’ through the wood
Singin’ so loud and merry
His voice was a-ringin’ through the green, green fields
And he spied a fair-haired maiden
Spied a fair-haired maiden.

“Listen here lass my name is Jack 
And I come from afar
Lookin’ for a fair-haired lass like you
Won’t you come and be my bride
Come and be my bride?”

“Now would you forsake your husband, dear
Would you forsake your baby
Would you forsake your fine, fine home
To go with a Blackjack David
Go with Blackjack David?”

“Yes, I’d forsake my husband, dear
And I’d forsake my baby
And I’d forsake my fine, fine home
Just to go with you Blackjack David
Go with you Blackjack David.”

She put on her high-heeled boots
Made of Spanish leather
And he pulled her up behind him then
And they both rode off together
Both rode off together.

Well last night she slept in a fine, fine bed
Beside her husband and baby
Tonight she sleeps on a cold, cold ground
Beside old Blackjack David
Beside old Blackjack David
Beside old Blackjack David
Beside old Blackjack David.



ABILENE
Dave Alvin
(Blue Horn Toad Music, BMI, Administered by Bug Music)

 
There’s a greyhound bus 
Leavin’ the great Northwest
Takin’ her tonight 
Back down south to Texas
She’s been dancing’ on tables
To pay rent and be able 
To just get by and maybe stay clean.

Abilene, Abilene
Abilene, Abilene.

Well her daddy’d get drunk
Then he’d hit her hard
And her mama’d lie in bed
High on pills and talkin’ to God
But like her beautiful tattoos
These old memories she can’t lose
Since she ran away at fifteen.

Abilene, Abilene
There’s a town ahead that you’ve never seen
Maybe it’s better if you get off there and try to
Forget everything
Abilene.

Starin’ out the window
At the long cold night
Ahead on the horizon
Is another string of bright lights
She’s dreamin’ of a man she’s goin’ to meet
In a bar on an Austin street
Maybe this one won’t be so mean.

Abilene, Abilene
There’s a town ahead that you’ve never seen
And maybe it’s better if you get off there and try to
Forget everything
Abilene.

In a Texas bar there’s a man sittin’ alone
Thinkin’ of a girl he swore he’d wait there for
But he’s drinkin’ beers and he’s feelin’ old
Rememberin’ every lie he’s told
‘Til he changes his mind and he leaves.

Abilene, Abilene
There’s a town ahead that you’ve never seen
Maybe it’s better if you get off there and try to
Forget everything 
Abilene, Abilene
Oh Abilene, Abilene.



NEW HIGHWAY
Dave Alvin
(Blue Horn Toad Music, BMI, Administered by Bug Music)

 
Well I’m leavin’ this mornin’ baby
Gonna ride that new highway
Yeah I’m leavin’ this mornin’ baby
Gonna ride that new highway
And the more you cry the more you gonna drive me away.

I ain’t got no family
Ain’t got no wife or no child
I ain’t got no family
Ain’t got no wife, no child
Ain’t got no religion, I’m just out here runnin’ wild.

Well a rich man’s got money
And a poor man’s only got his soul
Yeah rich man’s got the money baby
Poor boy only got his soul
But I got this new highway and I don’t care where I go.

Well this new highway baby 
Takes me from town to town
Yeah this new highway baby 
Takes me from town to town
Where some sweet angel always lets me lay down.

Well my Kansas woman’s got 
Skin as white as snow
Yeah my Kansas City baby’s got 
Skin as white as snow
But my Deep Ellum woman’s got hair as black as coal.

Well your lovers will leave you baby
Good friends will come and go
Yeah your lovers will leave you baby 
Good friends come and go
But this new highway’s the best friend I’ve ever known.

Now the gold sun’s settin’ baby
Silver moon on the rise
Yeah the gold sun’s settin’ baby
Silver moon on the rise
Gonna ride this highway ‘til the day I die.



CALIFORNIA SNOW
Dave Alvin/Tom Russell
(Blue Horn Toad Music, BMI, and Frontera Music, ASCAP, administered by Bug Music)

 
I’m just tryin’ to make a livin’
I’m an old man at thirty-nine
With two kids and an ex-wife
Who moved up to Riverside
I’m workin’ down on the border
Drivin’ back roads every night
Mountains east of El Cajon
North of the Tecate line.

Where the California summer sun
Will burn right through your soul
But in the winter you can freeze to death
In the California snow.

I catch the ones I’m able to
And watch the others slip away
I know some by their faces
And I even know some by name
I guess they think that we’re all
Movie stars and millionaires 
I guess that they still believe 
That dreams come true up here.

But I guess the weather’s warmer down in Mexico
And no one ever tells them ‘bout the California snow.

Last winter I found a man and wife 
Just about daybreak
Layin’ in a frozen ditch
South of the interstate
I wrapped ‘em both in blankets
But she’d already died
The next day we sent him back alone
Across the borderline.

I don’t know where they came from
Or where they planned to go
But we carried her all night long
Through the California snow.

Sometimes when I’m alone out here
I get to thinkin’ about my life
Maybe I should go to Riverside
And try to fix things with my wife
Or maybe just get in my truck
And drive as far as I can go
Away from all the ghosts that haunt
The California snow.

Where the California summer sun
Can burn right to your soul
And in the winter you can freeze to death 
In the California snow.



EVENING BLUES
Dave Alvin
(Blue Horn Toad Music, BMI, Administered by Bug Music)

 
Standin’ barefoot in your kitchen door
Listenin’ to the soft evenin’ rain
Watchin’ you dryin’ off from your shower
You look at me like you don’t know my name
Then you heat the coffee on the stove
Pull the cup down from the shelf
And slowly turn your back on me
As I sing a blues song to myself.

Yeah I wish that I could hold you baby
But you seem so far away
Yeah I wish that I could kiss you baby
But I’ve run out of sweet words to say
And I wish that I could hear
Yeah I wish that I could hear
The blues you sing to yourself.

Now all the makeup is washed off your face 
And your hair is slicked back wet
You hung the dress up you wore last night
And changed the sheets on your bed
All the promises you whispered to me
I guess they’re meant for someone else
Cause all I hear is the soft evenin’ rain
And the blues that I sing to myself.

Yeah I wish that I could hold you baby
But you seem so far away
Yeah I wish that I could kiss you baby
But I’ve run out of sweet words to say
And I wish that I could hear
Oh I wish that I could hear
The blues you sing to yourself
The blues you sing to yourself.

Now would you care if I walked out this door
Baby I can’t really tell
Our eyes meet but we just look away
And sing our blues to ourselves.
Yeah I wish that could hold you baby
But you seem so far away
Yeah I wish that I could kiss you baby
But I’ve run out of sweet words to say
And I wish that I could hear
Yeah I wish that I could hear
The blues you sing
The blues
The blues you sing to yourself.



THE WAY YOU SAY GOODBYE
Dave Alvin
(Blue Horn Toad Music, BMI, Administered by Bug Music)

 
Well I hate the way you call my name, baby
I hate that look on your face
And I hate the cold touch of your kiss, baby
I hate the chill in your embrace
Oh, but I hate the way that you pull from me
When I want you by my side
Yeah, baby
I hate the way that you say “Goodbye.”

I hate my eyes ‘cause they see, baby
That you’ll be goin’ soon
And I hate my mind ‘cause it knows, baby
There ain’t nothin’ I can do
But I hate my arms that long to hold you 
And I hate my heart that wants to cry
Yeah baby, I hate the way that you say “Goodbye.”

I hate the way you talk, and you talk and talk
‘Til I hate every word that you say
I hate the lies I believe when you swear you won’t leave
Then you turn around and you walk away
Well I hate the night I met you, baby
And your lips first touched mine
Yeah. baby
Well I hate the way that you say “Goodbye.”

Well I hate the way I wait
Honey, and I wait and wait
For you to make up your mind
And I hate the way it seems I’m always down on my knees
Begging, “Baby come back one more time.”
Well I hate everything I love about you
And I’m gonna hate it all my life
Yeah baby I hate the way that you say “Goodbye.”

I hate the way that you say “Goodbye.”



MARY BROWN
Dave Alvin
(Blue Horn Toad Music, BMI, Administered by Bug Music)

 
Well my name is Charlie Thomas and I’m as good a man as you
And for the love of Mary Brown there’s nothin’ that I won’t do
Well her husband was a banker, yet she told me he was cruel
So I left his body lyin’ in the yard where their roses grew.

Well she and I grew up neighbors where the houses looked the same
And I swear that I loved Mary Brown before I knew her name
And after she married and he moved her away
You know she’d still come back and lay with me like nothin’ had ever changed.

I know what’s what’s wrong and right
What goes around, comes around
But there ain’t nothin’ that I won’t do
For the love of Mary Brown.

Well people like him always look down on me
Because I’ve done a little time for armed robbery
Yeah, but Mary Brown knows I’m from a good family
And she didn’t say nothing’ when she slipped me the back door key.

I know what’s wrong and right
What goes around comes around
But there ain’t nothin’ that I won’t do
For the love of Mary Brown.

Well at my trial she testified she kissed me once or twice
But she swore that was long before she became his wife
And every time I looked at her she avoided my eyes
And the jury sentenced me to twenty-five years to life.

Now I haven’t seen Mary Brown since the trial’s end
And she never answers the letters that I send
And I heard that she married her husband’s best friend
Yeah but for the love of Mary Brown, man I’d do it all again. 

I know what’s wrong and right
What goes around, comes around
But there ain’t nothin’ that I won’t do
For the love of Mary Brown.



LAUREL LYNN
Dave Alvin
(Blue Horn Toad Music, BMI, Administered by Bug Music)

 
Laurel Lynn, Laurel Lynn
Will I ever see your face again?
Laurel Lynn, Laurel Lynn
Will I ever see your face again?
I can’t say that I love you darlin’
But you cross my mind every now and then.

Baby I was drunk, wild and crazy
I didn’t mean them words I said
‘Cause I know you’re somewhere darlin’
Sleepin’ in another man’s bed.

Laurel Lynn, Laurel Lynn,
Oh baby, let me apologize
I can’t say that I love you darlin’
But I wish that you were mine sometimes.

You don’t trust them politicians
You don’t trust the evenin’ news
You don’t trust them t.v. preachers
Tellin’ you what you can and can’t do
You don’t trust your downtown boyfriends
You don’t believe a word they say
But I woke up this morning, Laurel
Callin’ out your name.

Laurel Lynn, Laurel Lynn
Will I ever see your face again?
Laurel Lynn, Laurel Lynn
Will I ever see your face again?
I can’t say that I love you darlin’
But you cross my mind every now and then.

Yeah I can’t say that I love you darlin’
But you cross my mind every now and then
Oh, Laurel Lynn.



1968
Dave Alvin/Chris Gaffney
(Blue Horn Toad Music, BMI/Calhoun Street Music/Ensaga Songs, BMI, Administered by Bug Music)

 
Johnny gave Joe his first cigarette
And Joe lit the filter and then he smoked the whole pack
And Joe bought all the gas in Johnny’s old Ford
He always said that’s what friends were for.

When Johnny married Tina, Joe married Dee
Two blonde-haired sisters from Covington, Kentucky
And in ‘67 Johnny joined the Corps
Joe did too, but he never knew what for.

And tonight in this barroom he’s easin’ his pain 
He’s thinkin’ of  someone, but he won’t say the name
Folks say he’s a hero, but he’ll tell you he ain’t
He left a hero in the jungle back in 1968.

Johnny went from job to job tryin’ to make ends meet
And Tina divorced him back in ‘83
Now thirty years come and thirty years go
And Johnny’s got a grandkid that he barely knows.

And tonight in this barroom he’s easin’ his pain
He’s thinkin’ of someone, but he won’t say the name
Folks say he’s a hero, but he’ll tell you he ain’t
He left a hero in the jungle back in 1968.

Well Dee calls Johnny every now and then
And talks about her children and her third husband
But when he asks about someone they used to know
Dee says, “Johnny that was so long ago.”

Tonight in this barroom he’s easin’ his pain
He’s thinkin’ of someone, but he won’t say the name
Folks say he’s a hero; he’ll tell you ain’t
He left a hero in the jungle back in 1968
He left a hero in the jungle back in 1968.



FROM A KITCHEN TABLE
Dave Alvin
(Blue Horn Toad Music, BMI, Administered by Bug Music)

 
I hope this letter finds you
Wherever you may be
‘Cause I mailed some awhile back
And they were all returned to me
Ain’t nothin’ I can tell you ‘bout the hometown
Everything changes, but nothing’s new
Just Sunday night at the kitchen table
Finishin’ a beer and thinkin’ of you.

And I still work the same job
Just live with my mom for free
‘Cause ever since the old man passed on
It just got harder to leave.

Well I heard a rumor that you got married
Though you swore that you never would
I guess you finally got your own kids now
You ever tell ‘em ‘bout the old neighborhood?
Like the time we stole your dad’s car
Drove all night down Imperial Highway
You kept sayin’ “Maybe we should turn around,”
And I said “It don’t take much to get away.”

But I still work the same job
Just live with my mom for free
‘Cause ever since the old man passed on
It just got harder to leave.

Guess that’s all that I’ve got to tell you
I guess things turned out how they’re meant to be
I just hope that this letter finds you
But until then I’ll just keep it with me.

And I still work the same job
Just live with my mom for free
‘Cause ever since the old man passed on
It just got harder to leave.



TALL TREES 
Dave Alvin/Fontaine Brown
(Blue Horn Toad Music/Frontoones, BMI, Administered by Bug Music)

 
Love to see to see them tall trees swayin’
Tall trees swayin’ in the breeze
When I see them tall trees swayin’
Sway like my babe walkin’ back to me
Sway like my babe walkin’ back to me
Walkin’ back to me.

I love to hear that night bird cryin’ 
Night bird cryin’ low and sweet
When I hear that night bird cryin
Cryin’ like my babe callin’ me
Callin’ me.

Love to see the full moon risin’
Full moon risin’ gold and bright
When I see the full moon risin’
Maybe it’s guidin’ her home tonight
Maybe it’s guidin’ her home tonight
Home tonight.

I love to feel the warm sun shinin’
Warm sun shinin’ on my skin
When I feel that warm sun shinin’
Feels like my baby holding me again
Feels like my baby holding me again
Holding me again.

I love to see them tall trees swayin’
Tall trees swayin’ in the breeze
When I see them tall trees swayin’
Swayin’ like my babe walkin’ to me
Swayin’ like my babe walkin’ back to me
Back to me
Swayin like my babe walkin’ back to me
Back to me.

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