Take Me Home

Lyrics are in order of track listing. Scroll down to see them all.

 

I’LL DRIVE

The vision’s kind of blurry

We’d wake up in a hurry

Leaving early in a white Oldsmobile with my mama at the wheel

 

We’d be crossing state lines

We’d be making good time

Reading road signs without ever really knowing or asking Mama where we’re going

 

She’d been listening to the radio

Something told her it was time to go

 

She’d say “get in, get in, let’s go

get in, get in, let’s go”   and we’d get in, get in, we’d go

she said “I’ll drive”

 

We stopped in Arizona

Blew through Oklahoma

All alone out on a road called Indian Nation, Mama called it our education

 

She was trying to do right

Chasing that elusive better life

We’d stay a while and then she’d say

this ain’t the right town, then she’d put the pedal down

 

We were flying on our mama’s wings

Burning rubber and chasing dreams

 

With “get in, get in, let’s go

get in, get in, let’s go”   and we’d get in, get in, we’d go

she said “I’ll drive, I’ll drive, I’ll drive”

 

The journey’s long the road is wide

So come on baby, the car’s outside

 

Get in, get in, let’s go

get in, get in, let’s go   Get in, get in, we gotta go

and I’ll drive, I’ll drive, I’ll drive

 

 

 

PACK UP YOUR STUFF

 

Baby won’t you pack up your stuff

Baby won’t you pack up your stuff

‘Cause this house feels the way a rowboat feels when all the water’s rough

 

Baby won’t you pack up your stuff

Gun-racks on your pickup truck

The crushed aluminum, the dirty magazines, just pack ’em up

 

Cause I’ve been thinking about my friend from Georgia

How she left her husband when he broke her arm one night

She drove out west till she hit California

But she sees his violence in the eyes of her four-year-old

 

So baby won’t you pack up your stuff

The time is right for giving up

I’m tired of waiting, feeling scared and hating, think I’ve had enough

 

My heart watches from a distant corner

It’s been living separate for about a year or more

You can’t believe that you don’t mean more to me

But you’re not the man for me, you tear right through me

 

Baby won’t you pack up your stuff

For way too long I’ve pushed my luck

I need to find a man a little kinder, one who’s not so rough

I’m tired of telling you, there’s nothing you can do

You’ve done enough

 

 

 

COLD RIVER

 

Cryin’ child you’ve been inside, been inside, been in the house all day

Sad child won’t you go on, won’t you go on your poor unhappy way

A-I-A-I-O     A-I-A-I-A

 

You know that boy, the mean one down, the mean one down, the boy from across the way

For that boy, get on your knees, get on your knees, cross yourself and pray

And down I, down I go, and down I down I stay

 

Cold River, there’s a rocky bed

At Cold River the water’s red

 

Saw that boy lookin’ wild, lookin’ wild anxious and distraught

I was in my best dress, my best dress, the new one that I bought

And oh I oh I ran   and oh I oh I fought

 

At Cold River the water’s red

At Cold River I left him dead

 

There’ll be another child, another soul, another mouth to feed

And it’ll know the pain of life, the pain of life, this roughly planted seed

And as it as it grows, so I so I wait

And as it as it loves, so I so I hate

 

 

 

TEXAS

 

Jane won’t you come back to Texas, come back to Texas

I bet they’d let you in

And Jane you could visit your brother, remember your brother

He wonders where you’ve been

Out on the West Coast for ten years or better, you say that it’s better

But I don’t think that’s true

And Jane you should come back to Texas,

the whole state of Texas wants you

 

Remember that one hot as hell summer with no air conditioner

Your sweat poured down like rain

You stayed up at night, because the nights were cooler,

just you and the radio

That’s how you learned to sing

You took the car once and drove to the border,

you stood at the border of Louisiana state

But Jane you came back to Texas, so come back before it’s too late

 

It’s nine hundred miles,

from Beaumont or Brownsville to the hills of El Paso

Down by the Rio Grande

And I know you feel

the sweet air of springtime,

the pull of your lifeline

The longing of the land

In my dream last night I was hearing your heartbeat, and even your heartbeat

It sounded so alone

But Jane, you could still come back to Texas, Texas is calling you home

 

 

 

JOSEPHINE

 

Came a young man courting me

Sweetest boy you’ve ever seen

He would take me anywhere washed his face and combed his hair

And his hands were always so clean

 

Then one day he gave to me

Sweetest ring you’ve ever seen

I wore white and he wore black, now there ain’t no turning back

Preacher did the ceremony

 

And this house he built for me

Sweetest house you’ve ever seen

Cool by day and warm by night, trim was blue the walls were white

And the grass around it was green

The grass it was green

 

There is not a day gone by I regret being your wife

There is not a thing that I would change about my life

There is nothing we ain’t got we need to carry on

There is nothing freer than a song

 

And our children numbered three

Sweetest kids you’ve ever seen

Boy named Henry, boy named Bo, how we raised them I don’t know

And a girl we call Josephine

Hey we call Josephine

 

There is not a day gone by I regret being your wife

There is not a thing that I would change about my life

There is nothing we ain’t got we need to carry on

There is nothing freer than a song

 

And my life is like a dream

Sweetest life you’ve ever seen

Me and my boy growing old, kids all doing what they’re told

And we’re living so happily

So happily

 

 

LEROY

 

Leroy was the name of my first love, he had eyes as black as night

Part Indian part wolf he liked to say and he must have been right

Leroy drove a beat up pickup truck, a 1964 Chevrolet

Full of rocks and sticks and dirt, Leroy liked his truck that way

And in our town of Aubrey, South Dakota there was never much to do

They say that it’s the land that God forgot, most folks forgot about it too

We’d go out driving me and Leroy, driving just to get away

And it was sweet then loving Leroy, on the South Dakota plains

 

We’d tell each other all our plans for when we made it through high school

Yeah, even Aubrey, South Dakota can inspire a dream or two

I was gonna be this hot-shot actress like the ones on your TV

Leroy never had these aspirations, said he was gonna drive a truck for me

But we both knew he’d never leave this town, it’s like it was too much in his blood

This was one thing about Leroy that I never understood

He would look at me with those sweet dark eyes, black obsidian, black coal

Loving Leroy in South Dakota, I could almost see his soul

 

When my chance for leaving finally came right after high school graduation

Leroy helped me pack my bags, he drove me to the Greyhound station

 

Leroy was silent as we packed, Leroy he was silent on the way

Finally I just said “goddamn it, Leroy, ain’t you got no words to say?”

And he said “I don’t wanna loose this love we have” and there I was thinking I was so free

Leroy turned his eyes back on the road, but he aimed his words at me

“I know that you’ll forget all about this town, maybe even forget my name

But I will always be here loving you, on the South Dakota plains”

 

Leroy never turned his engine off as we were saying our goodbyes

I said “hey Leroy, keep in touch now,” but he would not meet my eyes

So I took one last ragged breath, then I took a window seat

And we took off down the road with Leroy staring after me

But we had only gone maybe fifty miles when I saw a sheer cliff on the right

And I saw a 1964 Chevrolet truck drive right off the side

Leroy was the name of my first love, but that love went up in flames

Now he just drives through my memory on the South Dakota plains

 

 

 

LOVE VS. THE USA

 

Colorado in the morning  I saw the sun rise through my windshield

And the mountains looked so pretty  As they sucked the life out of your brakes

And you blamed me for driving too slow  And I blamed you for not down-shifting

And we argued, but we kept traveling  The first of many more mistakes

 

We left the West Coast for Massachusetts

Seeking a new life, seeking a change of pace

Said we’d tell our future children

‘bout how we traveled like backwards pioneers

But then you blamed me for packing too much

And I blamed you for choosing a crazy route

And we argued, we argued loudly  You yelled so loudly, it hurt my ears

 

And I wrote this tune as a warning to

Anybody who thinks their love is true

You can test it out three thousand miles in seven days

It’s love versus the USA

 

We fought in Boise about the hotel  we fought in Utah about the Mormons

We fought in Omaha, I don’t remember why, we fought in Iowa about the corn

And in Ohio we saw lake Eerie and had a very peaceful afternoon

But in Pennsylvania, I blew a tire you broke my jack

I lost your phone you cursed the day that I was born!

 

And I wrote this tune as a warning to

Anybody who thinks their love is true

You can test it out three thousand miles in seven days

It’s love versus the USA

 

Some things were never meant to be

Some people make bad company

Beneath those spacious skies, those amber waves of grain

Put a strain upon my brain, I fear our love will not remain

 

When we got to Massachusetts we took different roads

we weren’t together anymore

And I didn’t blame you, you didn’t blame me either

Love: zero, US: one, that’s the score

 

And I wrote this tune as a warning to

Anybody who thinks their love is true

You can test it out three thousand miles in seven days

It’s love versus the USA

 

 

 

FOURTH OF JULY

 

An innocent man is scheduled to die

At seven a.m. on the fourth of July

The judge and the jury has failed him somehow

And all the state’s lawyers cannot save him now

 

And there was no witness to speak at the trial

But a man was convicted who fit the profile

The whole legal system has failed him somehow

And all of our protests cannot save him now

 

But oh. Lord oh, let your mercy reign

And oh. Lord oh, save us from the shame

Wash us clean again

 

We won’t hear his footsteps as he marches towards death

We won’t hear his heartbeat as he takes his last breath

An entire nation has failed him somehow

And songs of redemption cannot save us now

Tears of contrition cannot save us now

 

 

 

LULLABY

 

It’s two in the morning I’m trying to sleep

But you’re on my mind and the memories run deep

You always did love me you always did care

But you never did think I would get anywhere

 

But now I’m doing good and I still play guitar

I bought a computer I bought a new car

And I hear all about you how you’re doing great

Though you still live at home now at age twenty-eight

 

And having a baby was something I thought

I would do with you but I know now it’s not

We just weren’t ready and it was too soon

You needed your mommy, I needed my moon

 

I was sad I was sick I was watching TV

You were in the kitchen you were making me tea

And I still can remember exactly the day

We had our big chance and we threw it away

 

And I sometimes I cry

For the love that we lost, although I’m doing fine

 

And if I’d never have left you, I’d never have found

The love of my life and I’m here with him now

But how can I tell him how can I explain

That sometimes I miss you I still hear your name

 

And you’ll always be with me, you’ll always be there

You’re deep in my heart you’re not going no where

And I’ll always remember the things that we had

And the things that we lost, you’d have made a great dad

 

And I, sometimes I cry

For the love that we lost, not to mention the life

And I, I know time still goes by

And some days we enjoy, and some days we survive

 

Two in the morning I’m thinking of how

I could be singing  a lullaby now

 

 

 

NOT MY BOYFRIEND

 

You never were my boyfriend

But every time we talk

There’s fire beneath the surface just like water under rock

 

You never were my boyfriend

But I remember when

I’d taste you on my lips And all my clothes smelled like your skin

 

And when I was dying for you, you had to wonder free

Giving nothing up for me

 

You’re not my boyfriend, you were never mine

All we had were moments locked in time

Not my boyfriend, still it’s true

When I go to bed alone, I dream of you

 

Remember when I met you

Already on the run

Your hair was thick and tangled Full of Arizona sun

 

You never were my boyfriend

Not even way back then

You’ve always been too wild to be Anyone’s boyfriend

 

And it ain’t right how you invite, ignite so much

With your temporary touch

 

You’re not my boyfriend, you were never mine

All we had were moments locked in time

Not my boyfriend, still it’s true

When I go to bed alone, I dream of you

 

Not my boyfriend always free / Tho’ our bodies fit so perfectly

Not my boyfriend still its’ true / I go to bed alone I dream,

You’re not my boyfriend, you were never mine

All we had were moments locked in time

Not my boyfriend, still it’s true

When I go to bed alone, I dream of you

 

 

 

YOU DON’T KNOW

 

My name is Tommy, but my friends all call me killer

I just had my sixteenth birthday, not like anyone remembered

Yeah, the old man came home drunk, he busted up my ma, I heard it

And I could have tried to stop him, but she probably deserved it

 

And you don’t know anything about me

You don’t know anything about me

 

I knew that store took in at least a couple hundred daily

Seemed enough to make a new start, try to get away and save me

So I took my brother’s gun, I could have sworn it wasn’t loaded

But then some joker tried to be a hero, and my whole world exploded

 

And you don’t know anything about me

You don’t know anything about me

 

And there’s nowhere that you can put me where I’ll feel worse

That man I shot comes every night, he’s haunting me just like

Haunting me just like a curse

 

My name is Tommy, you know killer’s just a nick-name

I never meant to hurt nobody, I just made a bad decision

And I stand before you now, I know you think I’ll beg for mercy

But you’ve never had to live my life, so how dare you try and judge me

 

‘Cause you don’t know anything about me

You don’t know anything about me

Hey you don’t know me

 

 

 

TAKE ME HOME

 

You moved your own mountains you parted your own sea

You made so many enemies, but you made a friend out of me

And you were so beautiful, you were the one

You were washed by the rain, warmed by the sun

You were everything I thought I would need

 

But empty brown bottles, I won’t cry over you I won’t cry over you

Still when you ask me, I cannot refuse

 

Take me home take me home take me home take me all the way home

Take me home take me home take me home take me all the way home

 

And man I remember how you played that guitar

You made all the girls cry, you made all the boys look from the bar

And you were so beautiful, blew me away

With the notes you would sing, the words you would say

You were everything I wanted to be

 

But I made a promise, not to cry over you I won’t cry over you

Yet there’s still one thing I need you to do

 

Take me home take me home take me home take me all the way home

Take me home take me home take me home take me all the way home