Sittin’ in this hotel room, jet lag should be settin’ in real soon
Called the front desk on the phone; said the postman came and gone about noon
Tonight I know I’m gonna miss your sweet words and those paper kisses
Used to write me everyday, even when you had nothing to say
Letters signed with your red lips would meet me on my business trips each day
Tonight I know I’m gonna miss your sweet words and those paper kisses
Chorus
Postmarked promises, overnight delivery wishes
Now just piles of paper-thin paper kisses
Each time I’d go I always knew the moment I left home I’d be missing you
Until your lips were touching mine, your letters for the time would have to do
Tonight I know I’m gonna miss your sweet words and those paper kisses
Chorus
You told me time and time again when I’d be gone for weeks on end
Lipstick letters you would send to me
Absence makes the heart grow fond was said by someone never gone
I’ve been gone too long it’s plain to see
Spread old letters on my bed, staring at those lips of ruby red
I’m wondering where you are tonight and if there is someone else you’ll write instead
Tonight I know I’m gonna miss your sweet words and those paper kisses
About three miles down the Steel Bridge Road
Lie the banks of the Trinity River
Summer’s so hot it’ll make the devil sweat
And winter makes a polar bear shiver
Skippin’ stones across the fishing holes
Was just a couple of kids at play
My cousin would jump in the river and he’d float on his back and he’d say
“I’m gonna live here someday”
Chorus
He said the river soothed his soul
Kept his demons at bay
Waitin’ at the station for that Greyhound home and he’d say
“I’m gonna live here someday”
Chorus
When we grew tall well we grew apart
No longer innocent kids
My cousin, he’d do just about whatever he’d want
I didn’t want what he did
But every summer we’d head back to the Trinity
And put our differences away
Cast a line in a place we called Hippie Hole and he’d say
“I’m gonna live here someday”
Chorus
But with booze in his blood
And a needle in his vein
His body finally waved the white flag
Well, the river won’t ever be the same
About a year after Bill had died
I went back to the Trinity
We never had any sort of formal goodbye
And I was needing one for me
As I sat down along that riverbank
To reminisce the day away
I heard these words bouncing off the water and they said
“I’m gonna live here someday”
When I got back and I told his mom
Just what I heard that river say
She wiped a tear and said his ashes were there
He always said he’d live here someday
Chorus
Well I’d like to hang him by his thumbs, the guy who said your car
Reflects your personality and says just who you are
Well a truck is for the rugged type and a Lexus shows your wealth
And a sports car with the top pulled down shows fun and sun and health
Every time that I go out and mingle with the ladies
They want to know what year and color is my Mercedes
And when I finally tell the truth, I also have a dare…
I dare them to look closer and see what’s really there
The fact that my horn don’t blow means I’m the silent type
And I ain’t one for blowing smoke ’cause I got no tailpipe
That Bondo on the fender doesn’t mean I favor gray
It means that things ain’t black and white and I’ll meet you, baby, halfway
And that crack in the windshield is the only sign of crack
And I ain’t got no rearview mirror because I ain’t looking back
Chorus
You wouldn’t judge a book by it’s cover
Why would you judge someone by their ride
Read between the white lines, you might discover
The truth about the man who is inside
I’m not one for late night fun, I never cat around
My headlight’s broke so I’ll be home before the sun goes down
And that change all over the floorboard doesn’t mean I’m nearing debt
No I always keep it handy for the occasional homeless vet
Allright, I’m bald as my tires but hot as my wires and I got a few miles to go
And I know you know there’s no ego sittin’ in a Yugo
Chorus
I went to a reunion of my graduating class
Well, we bragged about the future, and we lied about the past
The talk, it got more free and loose the more the champagne poured
And I was the butt of jokes that night ’cause my escort was a Ford
But I was glad to see the prom queen who started all the jeers
Accelerated to sixty-five in just a few short years
Chorus
Well I’d like to hang him by his thumbs
The guy who said your car
Reflects your personality and says just who you are
Six o’clock in the morning, I get my child out of bed
I grab her hat, her coat, her boots, I make sure that she gets fed
A chilly drive to school today, I only wore short sleeves
Two hours preparing her, I forgot about preparing me
I took my daughter camping with a couple of her friends
I packed all their eighth-grade needs to have a good weekend
I forgot my sleeping bag, my pillow was a tree
Two days preparing her, I forgot about preparing me
Chorus
From the time of your child’s first cry
It’s never again about me. No I,
I never saw it as a sacrifice
If I wasn’t preparing me
I want to help her study for that college entrance test
But there’s a job down at the office I don’t want to miss
I didn’t pass my interview, but she aced her SAT
Two weeks preparing her, I forgot about preparing me
Chorus
I watched the U-Haul drive away with everything she owns
She waves good bye with confidence, I think “my how she’s grown”
Tears form from behind my shades, they gather on my cheeks
Two decades preparing her, I forgot about preparing me
Preparing her for just this day, well I forgot about preparing me
Well, your head’s as big as the universe, thinking that you’d be the first
To boldly go where no one’s been before
I’m the first to say that’s no big deal, congratulations you’ve invented the wheel
And it just goes ’round and ’round again some more
These government buzzwords preached to me, they come around every year or three
The corporate world has long since moved along
But you push them through for bad or worse, won’t show me the chorus, don’t know your verse
But you want me to gladly sing along
Chorus
Buzzwords
Gone quick as they came
Like smoke signals in a hurricane
Here’s another plan from Uncle Sam, this one’s solid as a pile of sand
You assure us you know what’s best for all the people
Then you pat each other on your backs, increase your pay, increase my tax
And then you head off for some other government debacle
Chorus
Here comes a buzzword, there it goes, here comes another one, there it goes
Hey, watch out! Duck! Here comes another one, there it goes
I’m way past all the anger stage. I work hard for me, collect my wage
Sit back, prop my feet, and watch the show
Chorus
Still hear you walking out my door
It’s ringing in my ears
Tonight you’ll spend with someone else
So tonight, I’m sleepin’ with my tears
I never gave you cause for concern
I’ve been faithful all these years
But tonight I’m steppin’ out on you
Tonight, I’m sleepin’ with my tears
Chorus
They come ’round when I need them most
They always seem to care
They never leave me high and dry
So tonight, I’m sleepin’ with my tears
When you don’t take time to nourish love
Love soon disappears
But you found the time for someone new
So tonight, I’m sleepin’ with my tears
Chorus
They show up when I’m feeling down
Like good friends, they appear
They never leave me high and dry
So tonight, I’m sleepin’ with my tears
You were my only lover, but I’m another face in your crowd
Rest assured under my covers my tears are allowed
I never gave you cause for concern
I’ve been faithful all these years
But tonight I’m stepping out on you
Yeah tonight, I’m sleepin’ with my tears
I met her at a Travelodge, the bar was dark and smoky
Beltin’ out ol’ Patsy Cline, she loved that karaoke
Her in skin-tight denim, me in my Best Western
Firin’ up the dance floor like a loaded Smith & Wesson
She said work keeps her busy, motels are her home
Howard Johnson ain’t no place for a woman all alone
And then she grabbed her card key, her vodka, and my hand
We hurried up into her room, the rest you understand
Chorus
We’ll frolic down in Fresno, we’ll rendezvous in Reno
We’ll do the tryst in Tracy, then meet in Mendocino
Wherever business takes her, I will meet her there
There’s Quality and Comfort Inn our motel love affair
Days Inn and out we traveled in her Thunderbird
Singing with the radio, no sweeter sound I’ve heard
And by a Rodeway in Manteca, she said she’d see me soon
I turned into a Vagabond and checked into a room
Chorus
I found her at a Lamplighter, she was singing a duet
Crooning out a love song with a guy named Tom Bodett
She said “it’s checkout time, my love, I found me a new date
You’re just an average six and he’s a Super 8”
Chorus
Like the moon pulls on the ocean
I pull someone in each day
I know you feel me, but you cannot see me
Much like the color of rain
I’ll turn your daytime into darkness
Then push sunshine through your veins
Deep in your mind, but I can’t be described
Much like the color of rain
I take all, I give back nothing
Fleeting pleasure, lasting pain
Invisible, but I’m seen ’round the world
Much like the color of rain
Everyday you say you’ll leave
But I got something up your sleeve
To keep you calling my name
I’ll make you mine, as you try to define
What is the color of rain
What is the color of rain
I am the color of rain
Abandoned by her parents when she was young
Disease took her husband, a joyride took her son
So now she paints her daughter, her art is how she copes
Her sad eyes see the world through her heart’s kaleidoscope
Blue is for her childhood, forever left unsaid
Her heart cries out each lonely night and stains the canvas red
But as she paints, the colors change to hues of gold and green
They brighten up her memory and all that she has seen
Chorus
So wet your brush and dry your tears
Wash away your pain and fears
Each healing stroke’s a step toward
Where you will reach your just reward
When you walk into her gallery and see her art upon the wall
You wonder how she gets the strength to rise above it all
Christine, you are a beauty, your art so bold and true
And if I had the artist’s hand, my painting would be you
Chorus
Staring across the table at a love grown cold
We reached the silver, don’t think we’ll go for the gold
She stepped out on me so I followed in her shoes
I didn’t think I’d meet a woman that would make me face my truths
It took someone like you to make me see
That I don’t know me
Chorus
Never thought I’d ever do the crazy things you make me do
Never thought I’d ever take a midlife rendezvous
Never thought I’d lie like this to lie next to you
But I don’t know me
Always had my morals, I said I’d never cross that line
But I must be out of my head, I can’t get you out of my mind
Twenty five years, I never had much to say
But you and I make love all night and talk right through the very next day
I hoped my conscious would not let me be
But I don’t know me
Chorus
A mile high, a thousand miles from you
The Great Divide divides us in two
You say your foolish, you just couldn’t stay
I’m the fool, I walked away
I don’t know me
I never thought I’d live so dangerously
But I don’t know me
Chorus
I was driving home from work one night
When I stopped at this here traffic light
Next to a Chevy Impala, lowered front to back
The light turned green and away I went
And he turned right, right off the pavement
Right onto some well used railroad tracks
Well there was no one else around to care
And I couldn’t very well leave him there
Besides, a woman in the front seat seemed very distraught
So I went up to the window said “sorry about this fella”
He looked at me and said “Esta es muy muy malo”
I thought we have bigger problems than I first thought
Being a man of action, one to answer the call
The first thing I did was move my vehicle
I didn’t want it peppered with shrapnel and those are some pretty busy tracks
Then I went back to the woman and said “Senorita
If a train hits your car it ain’t gonna be very bonita”
And I put her my car, well behind the possible point of impact
He and I stood there just scratching our heads
There was nothing to say even if we knew what the other one said
The language of this problem seemed pretty universal
For the Chevy sat perched up off its wheels
Hanging down just like a sailboat keel
Was the drive shaft or something jammed between the rails
After a while, some folks drove past
Looked over at us then stepped on the gas
Even a motorcycle cop looked over and then he vanished
Just when we thought we were out of luck
Along come this flatbed pickup truck
With some chain, a big hook, and a driver who spoke Spanish
Then around the bend, they always come around the bend
Was this monstrous looking Southern Pacific engine
With its headlamp lighting up the panic in our face
I know why it’s called a locomotive
’cause it looked plum loco and I could tell its motive
Was to scatter glass and metal all over the place
I ran to my car where I knew I’d be safe
They pulled that lowrider clear without a second to waste
As the train roared by I felt a little queasy in the mid-section
For a thought I’d made me a brilliant decision
To park my car behind the collision
It never occurred to me the train would come
from the other direction
In Whitewood, South Dakota
All the senior girls and boys
Throw their caps in the air as graduates
And when they land they’re unemployed
If the boy gets lucky he’ll find work down in the mine
And if the girl gets lucky it’s one of them boys that she’ll find
This life it wasn’t for one girl
Their fate she wouldn’t share
It didn’t matter where her compass pointed
‘Long as it’s pointing out of there
She headed for Alaska despite her parents’ pleas
And if the girl gets lucky she’ll beat October’s freeze
Chorus
Salt over the shoulder, four leaf clover
Rabbit’s foot dangling from her keys
Fingers crossed, she’ll be her own boss
If the girl gets lucky
She didn’t want for much
Just three squares and a bed
But she fell head-first into the jackpot
Made lots of money with the feds
Young lady in a man’s world, told each day she don’t belong
And if the girl gets lucky, she’ll prove them they are wrong
Chorus
But forty years in the wilderness
Turns independence into loneliness
All-night days alone she won’t miss
No the badlands ain’t looking all that bad
In Whitewood, South Dakota
All the senior women and men
Thinking ’bout hatching their nest eggs
And updating insurance plans
And if the boy gets lucky he’ll find someone to share his time
And if the girl gets lucky it’s one of them boys that she’ll find
It doesn’t matter which way the wind blows
Doesn’t matter how hard the air flows
I’ll ride the highs, I’ll survive the lows
It doesn’t matter which way the wind blows
Doesn’t matter which way the wind blows
If it kisses the leaves or slams the doors closed
I’ll sleep each night because each day I know
It doesn’t matter which way the wind blows
Could be a hurricane force or a horse latitude
Nothin’ gonna change my attitude
Face what blows my way when that rooster crow
And a hard winter wind or a gentle summer breeze
I’ll be sittin’ pretty as you please
Worry about tomorrow sometime tomorrow
Could be a rich man, poor man, beggarman, chief
Doctor, lawyer, it’s all the same to me
Life ain’t ’bout how many presidents in your pocket
If I’m ridin’ my thumb in the wind and rain
Or hopping boxcars on a gravy train
The wind keeps whirlin’ around you can’t stop it
It doesn’t matter which way the wind blows
Doesn’t matter how hard the air flows
I’ll ride the highs, I’ll survive the lows
