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Lyrics
1.
GREATEST COWBOY OF THEM ALL
(Johnny Cash)
« © '91 Song Of Cash Music, ASCAP »
I have always had my heroes I've loved a lot of legends
Many men in my mind are ridin' tall
But my cowboy hero hats off to the man who rode a donkey
He's the greatest cowboy of them all
He loves all his little doggies he speaks to them kind and gently
And he'll lift up any maverick that falls
He sees every stray that scatters like it's the only one that matters
He's the greatest cowboy of them all
Once he rode into the sunset but some returning sunrise
He'll call up all the riders in the sky
I gotta get my roll together gettin' ready for that sunrise
That winds up where old cowboys never die
The trail he rides is narrow but it's straighter than an arrow
And he rides point for all the great and small
He will take us through the wire onto that plain that's higher
He's the greatest cowboy of them all
Once he rode into the sunset...
He's the greatest cowboy of them all
**********
2.
I'M AN EASY RIDER
(Johnny Cash)
« © '91 Song Of Cash Music, ASCAP »
I'm an easy rider the wind is at my back I'm an easy rider the white line is my
track
Every lane is a passin' lane and the ride away is mine
Let me on that straight-away and I'll be fairly flyin'
I'm an easy rider my wheels love to roll
I'm an easy rider I ride a new road every day
I'm an easy rider I will see you on my way
I got a number down in every town in my little black book
And they understand that I'm a travelin' man so they don't think they got hooked
I'm an easy rider I love that gray highway
[ guitar ]
I'm an easy rider oh Lord I love to roll I'm an easy rider movin's in my soul
I know a lady down in Little Rock and I stopped for a little while
But I had to go cause another I know is wain' for my smile
I'm an easy rider I can't stay in one place
**********
3.
MYSTERY OF LIFE
(Johnny Cash)
« © '91 Song Of Cash Music, ASCAP »
Peterbilt drivers don't pick up low riders they don't slow for the curves in the
road
They hate to keep logs they hate riders on hogs watch out for shift in your load
When I was young I had a Gene Autry gun but I never had a Lionel train
Now I've got a truck if I keep payments up and it weights thirty tons in the
rain
I wear Frisco jeans with riveted seams my money is chained to my belt
I wear a cat cap just like my pap he drove till it ruined his health
Now Georgia Bill Smith wore thick glasses and boots
He could see about as far as he could walk
He came up too fast on that bridge overpass Lord the preacher sure gave a fine
talk
When I was young...
[ dobro ]
I've read a few lines from the poets and sometimes I might cross the line
I don't know the answer to the mystery of life but a woman sure helps pass the
time
When I was young...
When I was young...
**********
4.
HEY PORTER
(Johnny Cash)
« © '55 Song Of Cash Music, ASCAP »
Hey porter hey porter would you tell me the time
How much longer will it be till we cross that Mason Dixon Line
When we hit Dixie would you tell that engineer to slow it down
Or better still just stop the train cause I'd like to look around
Hey porter hey porter what time did you say
How much longer will it be till I can see the light of day
When we hit Dixie would you tell that engineer to ring his bell
And ask everybody that ain't asleep to stand right up and yell
[ guitar ]
Hey porter hey porter it's gettin' light outside
This old train is puffin' smoke and I have to strain my eyes
But ask that engineer if he will blow his whistle please
I smell frost on cotton leaves and I feel that southern breeze
Hey porter hey porter please get my bags from me
I need nobody to tell me now that we're in Tennessee
Go tell that engineer to make that lonesome whistle scream
We're gettin' close for home so take it easy on the steam
[ guitar ]
Hey porter hey porter please open up the door
When they stop this train I'm gonna get off first cause I can't wait no more
Tell that engineer I said thanks a lot I didn't mind the fare
I'm gonna set my feet on southern soil and breathe that southern air
**********
5.
BEANS FOR BREAKFAST
(Johnny Cash)
« © '91 Song Of Cash Music, ASCAP »
I couldn't hear you for the TV I didn't know you said goodbye
I saw your cancelled check for the airfare didn't know flyin' got too high
Beans for breakfast once again hard to eat 'em from the can
I've run out of clean utensils I'm a hungry nasty lonesome man
I heard the crows outside my window guess it's me they're talkin' about
The fire you lit has burnt to cinders every good thing's fizzled out
Beans for breakfast once again hard to eat 'em from the can
Wish you'd come back and wash the dishes I'm a hungry nasty lonesome man
Caught a cold with the window open crow droppings on my window sill
Probably got histoplasmosis got no gun or I would kill them crows
Beans for breakfast once again hard to eat 'em from the can
Plastic forks are a dime a dozen I'm a hungry nasty lonesome man
Finally made it to the mailbox felt so bad I thought I'd die
All I got was a bill from my doctor well I guess flyin' ain't so high
Beans for breakfast once again hard to eat 'em from the can
Blue tick mattress cold and greasy I'm a hungry nasty lonesome man
The house burned down from the fire that I built in your closet by mistake
After I took all them pills but I got out safe in my duck head overalls
Beans for breakfast once again I'm a hungry nasty lonesome man
**********
6.
GOIN' BY THE BOOK
(Chester Lester)
« © '86 Vidor Publications, BMI / Chester Lester Music,
BMI »
You can see it in the movies and the paper and the TV news
Somebody's army is always on the move
There's gonna be a battle the lines have been drawn
They've got guns and tanks and planes
The wells are gone dry and the water is bad and the rain is acid rain
There's war after war and rumors of war from the East
There's a rumblin' in the ground and they're talkin' about the beast
Good mothers cry cause the rivers run high with the bloood of too many sons
Some people say peace is on the way but the worse is still to come
Cause the prophets wrote about it and Jesus spoke about it and John gotta take a
look
And he told us what he saw and it's easy to see
It's goin' by the book it's goin' by the book
[ guitar ]
There's armies in the cities and the missiles stand ready for flight
A pale horse rides like the wind across the night
And that rumblin' in the desert like thunder gettin' closer
And the trumpet's gettin' ready to blow
There's gonna be a shout that will wake the dead we better be ready to go
Cause the prophets wrote about it...
It's goin' by the book goin' by the book
**********
7.
WANTED MAN
(Bob Dylan)
« © '68 Big Sky Music, SESAC »
Wanted man in California wanted man in Buffalo
Wanted man in Kansas City wanted man in Ohio
Wanted man in Mississippi wanted man in old Cheyenne
Wherever you might look tonight you might see this wanted man
I might be in Colorado or Georgia by the sea
Working for some men who may not know who I might be
If you ever see me comin' and if you know who I am
Don't you breathe it to nobody cause you know I'm on the lam
Wanted man by Lucy Watson wanted man by Jeannie Brown
Wanted man by Nellie Johnson wanted man in this next town
But I've had all that I wanted on a lot of things I had
And a lot more that I needed of something that turned out bad
[ guitar ]
I got sidetracked in El Paso stopped to get myself a map
Went the wrong way into Juarez with Juanita on my lap
Then I went to sleep in Shreveport woke up in Abilene
Wondering why the hell I'm wanted at some town halfway between
Wanted man in Albuquerque wanted man in Siera Cruz
Wanted man in Tallahassee wanted man in Baton Rouge
[ guitar ]
There's somebody set to grab me anywhere that I might be
And wherever you might look tonight you might get a glimpse of me
Wanted man in California wanted man in Buffalo
Wanted man in Kansas City wanted man in Ohio
Wanted man in Mississippi wanted man in old Cheyenne
Wherever you might look tonight you might see this wanted man
**********
8.
I'LL GO SOMEWHERE AND SING MY SONGS AGAIN
(Tom T. Hall)
« © '80 Hallnote Music, BMI / Acuff-Rose Music, BMI »
[ with Tom T. Hall ]
Way out on the mountain near the sky hidin' from the cold realities of life
(Shaking that old road dust off my heels
I give my heart and mind a chance to heal)
Then I'll go somewhere and sing my songs again
More than likely ride back to the places I've been
(In fairness to my music and my friends) I'll go somewhere and sing my songs
again
(A racoon stole my minnoes in the night I appreciate his need and his appetite)
But like me he doesn't have to roam and it's true that man can't live on bread
alone
Then I'll go somewhere...
Oh it feels so good to have a simple wish where life and death is me and some
old fish
(Poor king sits with a cold beer in his hand
And surveys a clear blue kingdom on the sand)
Then I'll go somewhere...
I'll go somewhere and sing my songs again
**********
9.
HOBO SONG
(Johnny Prine)
« © '91 Big Ears Music, ASCAP / Bruised Oranges, ASCAP »
There was a time when lonely men would wander through this land rolling
aimlessly along
So many times I've heard of their sad story written in the words of dead men's
song
Down through the years many men have yearned for freedom
Some found it only on the open road
So many tears of blood have fell around us
Cause you can't always do what you were told
Please tell me where have all the hobos gone to
I see no fire burning down by the rusty railroad tracks
Could it be that time has gone and left them tied up in life's eternal travelin'
sack
Last Sunday night I wrote a letter to my loved one
I signed my name and I knew that I stayed away way too long
There was a time when my heart was free to wander
And I remember as I sing this hobo song
Please tell me where...
Please tell me where...
**********
10.
ANGEL AND THE BADMAN
(Johnny Cash)
« © '91 Song Of Cash Music, ASCAP »
There was a man whose deeds were dark as night
And quite by chance he rode into the light
A man wild as the dust devil with no place to run livin' by his wits and by his
gun
He met a girl like none he had ever known she cared not for the wild oats he had
sown
And so he laid his gun down and set his spirit free began living in
respectability
But his old ways of thinkin' wouldn't die could not forget the old creed he
lived by
And the good and bad and right and wrong kept fightin' for his soul
Till his heart and mind both went out of control
[ guitar ]
But now the old saloon had lost its spell what once was laughter now was living
hell
And the hookers guns and drinkin' in his life were out of place
And in his mind he saw an angel's face
So he burned all his bridges in a day and the devil deeds were done and laid
away
And he rode out a better man than when he first rode in
And the angel got the badman in the end
**********
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