ATF: Panhandlin'

This weekly series will include as many of my all-time favorite tunes as I can get my grubby little hands on (so to speak).  Now, each one included in each edition will have some connection with the other—albeit only as a figment of my imagination, but they will not be numbered.  For I just cannot bring myself to rate some higher than others.  So, this will not be a countdown, but if you are enjoying them as much as I do, it won’t matter.  Besides, with no countdown, this could go on forever and ever!  Oh, and despite the fact that there is absolutely no way that your musical tastes can be as exquisite as mine, I welcome any suggestions that you might dare to make.  I am, after all, quite magnanimous by nature.

Link: [Mac Davis]

Texas in My Rearview Mirror

Mac Davis

I was just fifteen

And outta control

Lost to James Dean

And rock and roll

I knew down deep

In my country soul

That I had to get away

Hollywood was

A lady in red

Who danced in my dreams

As I tossed in bed

I knew I'd wind up

In jail or dead

If I had to stay

I thought

Happiness was Lubbock Texas

In my rear view mirror

My momma kept callin’ me home

But I just did not want to hear her

And the vision was getting’ clearer

In my dreams

So I laid out one night in June

Stoned on the glow of the Texas moon

Hummin’ an old Buddy Holly tune

Called Peggy Sue

With my favorite jeans

And a cheap guitar

I ran off chasin’ a distant star

If Buddy Holly could make it that far

I figured I could too

And I thought

Happiness was Lubbock Texas

In my rear view mirror

My momma kept callin’ me home

But I just did not want to hear her

And the vision was getting’ clearer

In my dreams

But the Hollywood moon didn't smile

The same old smile

That I'd grown up with

The lady in red

Just wanted my last dime

And I cried myself to sleep at night

Too dumb to run

Too scared to fight

And too proud

To admit it

At the time

So I got me some gigs

On Saturday nights

Not much more

Than orchestrated fights

I'd come home drunk

And I'd try to write

But the words came out wrong

Hell-bent and bound

For a wasted youth

Too much gin

And not enough vermouth

And no one to teach me

How to seek the truth

Before I put it into song

I still thought

Happiness was Lubbock Texas

In my rear view mirror

My momma kept callin’ me home

But I just could not

Would not hear her

And the vision was gettin’ clearer

In my dreams

Well I thank God

Each and every day

For givin’ me the music

And the words to say

I'd a never made it any other way

He was my only friend

Now I sleep a little better at night

When I look in the mirror

In the mornin’ light

The man I see

Was both wrong and right

He's goin’ home again

I guess

Happiness was Lubbock, Texas

In my rear view mirror

But now

Happiness is Lubbock Texas

Growin’

Nearer

And dearer

And the vision is gettin’ clearer

In my dreams

And I think I finally know

Just what it means

And when I die

You can bury me

In Lubbock Texas

In my jeans

Link: [George Strait]

Amarillo By Morning

George Strait

Amarillo by mornin'

Up from San Antone

Everything that I've got

Is just what I've got on

When that sun is high

In that Texas sky

I'll be buckin' at the county fair

Amarillo by mornin'

Amarillo

I'll be there

They took my saddle in Houston

Broke my leg in Santa Fe

Lost my wife and a girlfriend

Somewhere along the way

But I'll be lookin’ for eight

When they pull that gate

And I hope that judge

Ain't blind

Amarillo by mornin'

Amarillo’s on my mind

Amarillo by mornin'

Up from San Antone

Everything that I've got

Is just what I've got on

I ain't got a dime

But what I've got is mine

I ain't rich

But Lord

I'm free

Amarillo by mornin'

Amarillo's where I'll be

Amarillo by mornin'

Amarillo's where I'll be

Lyrics From: [elyrics.net]

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