PAYCHECK TO PAYCHECK

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Monday morning I’m a-hemming and a-hawing trying to get myself in gear 

I’m on a hard hat crew ‘cause the bills are due and I’m in up to my ears

But come Friday night I’ll be feeling right when I’m cashing my check downtown 

Where the liquor’s sold and the beers are cold and the jukebox turned up loud 

 

I’m living paycheck to Paycheck  

One quarter at a time

I just drop one in a jukebox

I can’t hold myself in line 

Tell the IRS to shove it and give me eleven twenty-nine 

Im living paycheck to Paycheck and I don’t waste a dime 

 

I’ve been a-churning and a-burning and a-working on the weekends for going on fifteen years

Tried to save my pay for a Chevrolet but then I spent it on fifteen beers

Now I’ve got a bank loan on a two-tone Pontiac GTO 

With Paycheck in the tape deck and blaring on the radio 

 

I’m living paycheck to Paycheck 

One quarter at a time

I just drop one in a jukebox

I can’t hold myself in line 

Tell the IRS to shove it and give me eleven twenty-nine 

I’m living paycheck to Paycheck and I don’t waste a dime

 

I’ve got an empty bottle and a broken heart

And you’re still on my mind

I’m living paycheck to Paycheck and I don’t waste a dime 

I’m living paycheck to Paycheck one quarter at a time

And I don’t waste a dime

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HOUR ON THE HOUR

 

It’s another hit about a heartache 

Somebody done somebody wrong 

All that remains of a memory 

Now lives forever in a song 

 

It took a million broken pieces

To fill an empty page with lines 

Find a few to string together

And find a way to make ‘em rhyme 

 

And every hour on the hour 

It plays on my radio

One thing leads to another 

And another and another one

 

Now I don’t mind a steady back beat 

Or a crying steel guitar

But you can keep your shot of whiskey 

And who wants another broken heart 

 

These days I drive around in silence 

Scared to death to touch the dial

For fear of bringing back a memory 

Damn near every country mile 

 

But every hour on the hour 

It plays on my radio

One thing leads to another 

And another and another one 

 

I know everybody’s been there 

But I don’t need to hear the tale 

I’ve got that devil on my shoulder 

The same as anybody else 

Some days I need someone to talk to 

But I don’t need no troubadour 

Singing me a sad reminder

Of someone walking out the door

 

And every hour on the hour 

It plays on my radio

One thing leads to another 

And another and another and another and another one

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GROWING PAINS

 

I grew up and found my way 

Honest work for decent pay 

Heard the call of the lost highway 

And took off runnin’ 

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I grew up and picked my fight

Lost a battle most every night 

Dodged the left but I caught the right 

And one to grow on 

 

Now I grow my hair until it feathers or fades

Tend my garden with a golden spade

Raise the money for the bills I plan to pay another day 

Growing pains Growing Pains

 

I grew up and made my name

Saw the world from an outbound train 

Did my best to keep it all in frame

If you get the picture 

 

I grew up and stood my ground

I ain’t the kind to get pushed around 

Someone’s always trying to knock you down 

But I’m still standing 

 

I’ll grow my hair until it feathers or fades

Tend my garden with a golden spade

Raise a glass to the ones who came before and went away 

Growing pains Growing pains

Growing pains Growing pains

 

I grew up and came around

Put my roots back in the ground 

Go to bed when the sun goes down 

I drink morning coffee 

 

I grew up and you did too

So we ain’t got much time to lose 

Walk a mile in your daddy’s shoes 

And you might learn something 

Yeah you might learn something 

 

Grow your hair until it feathers or fades

Tend your garden with a golden spade

Raise your boy ‘til he’s all grown up one day and moved away 

Growing pains Growing pains

Growing pains Growing pains

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RAINY DAY

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A man’s got to have a code 

Walk along a higher road

Learn to love the Holy Ghost whatever dulls the pain

 

Own a piece of the promised land

Take pride in a farmer’s tan

Get a little when you can keep praying for the rain

 

So I work my nine-to-five

Trying to keep the dream alive

Kicking it into overdrive and burning it at both ends 

 

It takes a lot of Tanqueray

And a little bit of take home pay

Just to keep the wolves away ‘til the ships come sailing in 

 

Blame it on my blood or on my destiny 

But I do my work with a willing hand

I wake up when the rooster crows

Head home when the whistle blows 

And try to save a little dough for a rainy day

 

I could sure use some time

To get away and clear my mind

Yeah I’d like to wet a line and drift into outer space 

 

Someday I’m gonna take drive

Head south down 35

Turn back when the tank runs dry or the highway meets the sea

 

Blame it on my blood or on my destiny 

But I do my work with a willing hand

Wake up when the rooster crows

Head home when the whistle blows 

And try to save a little dough I wanna buy a Chevrolet 

 

How the hell did we get here

You’re in there and I’m out here

I sit around and drink my beer while you sip sweet apple wine

Thank the lord for both the kids 

They don’t know the things we did

To keep all of the fighting hid and the fan to the flame 

 

Blame it on our blood or on our destiny 

But we do our work with a willing hand

Wake up when the rooster crows

Head home when the whistle blows 

Try to save a little dough 

Learn to get high on laying low

And one the these days

We’ll make our getaway 

Yeah

 

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WHOSE SIDE YOU'RE ON

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I don’t believe in luck

But when you turn the key

She always cranks right up

 

So I will navigate

And you can clear your head 

Out on the interstate

 

And you’ll know where I stand

With thunder on my breath 

And lighting in my hand

 

When the fields turn to dust

And steel turns to rust

When the good old days are as good as gone

You know whose side I’m on

 

Times have gotten tough

I can smell the rain

I pray that it’s enough

 

But folks are leaving town

Windows boarded up

Stations all closed down

 

But I know where you stand

With thunder on your breath

And lighting in your hand

 

And when the fields turn to dust

And steel turns to rust

When the good old days are as good as gone

I know whose side you’re on

 

And when the fields turn to dust

And steel turns to rust

When the good old days are as good as gone

I know whose side you’re on

 

I know whose side you’re on

Yeah you know whose side I’m on

I know whose side you’re on

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BROTHER​

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Well it was harder on me than it was on my brother 

He’d swear up and down that I’m telling you lies 

I was raised by our father out in Odessa

He was raised by our mother the light of her eye

 

Last I had heard he’d run south of the border

The day mother died he lost his way

So I’m just passing through in search of my brother 

And try to make good on a promise I made 

 

Oh Brother I’m trying to find you

I’m riding south to old Mexico

Oh Brother I’m trying to find you

We just struck oil and daddy’s passed on

 

I was blown from the rig when we first hit the big one 

Black gold covered my head to my shoes

With blood on his bootstraps and mud on his knuckles 

He reached for my hand and he called out for you

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You see daddy’d grown weary late last December

He kept forgetting my name and he chose not to shave 

A life with a drill and a son and a shovel

He dug his whole life 'til he dug his own grave 

 

Oh Brother I’m trying to find you

I’m riding south to old Mexico

Oh Brother I’m trying to find you

We just struck oil and daddy’s passed on 

 

You know he never spoke one word about mother 

But I shuddered each time he talked about you 

The love that he had for my younger brother 

Spilled from his lips like the bubbling crude 

 

Oh Brother I’m trying to find you

I’m have arrived here in old Mexico

Oh Brother I’m trying to find you

We just struck oil and daddy’s passed on 

We just struck oil and daddy’s passed on 

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THE VEIN​

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All I need is an alibi

A lie I’ve never told

And you could be my best kept secret 

I’ll be something you can hold 

 

With the rhyme and the rhythm on your radio

I get your heart beating right in time

But all that I can hear is the sound of the shatter

So you can show me yours but you’ll never have mine 

 

You’ve got me where you want me 

You’re pulling all the strings

You play me ‘til I’m broken

Run the needle through the vein 

 

You say you spent a lifetime living in a fantasy

Years in a love grown cold

One night hiding out undercover 

The greatest stories never get told 

 

By the sound of the song on the stereo 

Time ain’t on my side

All you wanna do is just dance around it

But I’m putting up a fight tonight

 

You’ve got me where you want me 

You’re pulling all the strings

You play me ‘til I’m broken

Run the needle through the vein

Run the needle right through the vein 

 

My heart is scarred and scattered

Under fire and against the grain

This can’t go on forever

The record skips but the song’s the same

 

You’ve got me where you want me 

You’re pulling all the strings

You play me ‘til I’m broken

Run the needle through the vein 

Just run the needle through the vein 

Run the needle right through the vein

 

Ooh ooh ooh through the vein

Ooh ooh ooh through the vein

Ooh ooh ooh through the vein

Ooh ooh ooh

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SOCIAL DRINKERS​

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Another night with a bitter end

And I’ve been drinking alone again

Thinking ‘bout some old friends and some used to be’s 

 

I ain’t ever gonna change the sound

Up here living on the higher ground

Nobody ever comes around but I like it that way

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In my new reality

Where the truth is plain to see 

 

That I miss old winos and social drinkers

Good time friends and perfect strangers

Cheating husbands lonely wives

I miss five piece bands

And one night stands

Oh what I’d give for last call and some smoke in my eyes

 

I still think about an empty glass

A stack of chairs and an open tab

And maybe a yellow cab if you’re lucky 

 

And making deals in the parking lot

Where you sell me what you got

And never a whole lot left after closing time

 

One more round of the third degree 

Where you been boy who’d you see 

 

Just some old winos and social drinkers

Good time friends and perfect strangers

Cheating husbands lonely wives

And a five piece band getting out of hand

Oh what I’d give for last call and some smoke in my eyes

In my eyes 

 

Between the devil and the deep blue sea 

Lies the man I used to be 

 

Out with the old winos and social drinkers 

Good time friends and perfect strangers 

Cheating husbands lonely wives 

And I want one more song before the lights come on 

Oh what I’d give for last call and a little smoke in my eyes 

 

I miss old winos and social drinkers 

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BURN OUT​

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I’m a burn out

Right down the filter

Ashes and embers are all that remain 

Of a good man

Right down to the letter

Who never could settle when it all sounds the same 

 

Still light the fuse on your stick of dynamite 

Still hypnotized by fire

Try to put me out and I’ll keep putting up a fight 

‘Cause I’m the last of my kind 

 

I had no choice

It’s the blood runnin’ through me

Since the day I was born I’ve had something to prove

I made a big noise

Then faded to silence

‘Til all that was left were the nails and the screws 

 

Still light the fuse on your stick of dynamite 

Still hypnotized by fire

Try to put me out and I’ll keep putting up a fight 

‘Cause I’m the last of my kind 

 

Still light the fuse on your stick of dynamite 

Still hypnotized by fire

Try to put me out and I’ll keep putting up a fight 

‘Cause I’m the last of my kind 

 

I’m a burn out

I’m down to the filter

Ashes to ashes and dust to dust