Waylon Jennings

Tonight I'm burning old love letters
Photographs and memories of you
Hoping somehow I'll feel better
And that when the smoke is gone I won't want you.

Burning memories
Teardrops fall while I am
Burning memories
Burning all the memories of you that I can't lose.

My heart to you no longer matters
And I can't live alone with memories
Into the fire those dreams that you've shattered
And when the smoke is gone then I'll be free.

Burning memories
Teardrops fall while I am
Burning memories
Burning all the memories of you that I can't lose

I've got a couple more years on you babe and that's all
I've had more chances to fly and more places to fall
It's not that I'm wiser, it's just that I've spent
More time with my back to the wall and I've picked up
A couple a more years on you babe and that's all

Now I've walked a couple more roads than you babe and that's all
And I'm tired of running while you're only learning to crawl
And you're going somewhere but I've been to somewhere
And found it was nowhere at all and I picked up
A couple more years on you babe and that's all

Sayin', "Goodbye girl don't ever come easy at all"
But you got to fly cause you're hearin' them young eagles call
Someday when you're older, you'll smile at a man strong and told
And say I got a couple more years on you babe, that's all

You'll say, "I've got a couple more years on you babe and that's all"
I've had more chances to fly and more places to fall
It's not that I'm wiser, it's just that I've spent
More time with my back to the wall and I've picked up
A couple a more years on you babe and that's all

I've held it all inward, God knows, I've tried,
But it's an awful awakening in a country boy's life,
To look in the mirror in total surprise.
At the hair on my shoulders and the age in my eyes.

Amanda, light of my life.
Fate should have made you a gentleman's wife.
Amanda, light of my life.
Fate should have made you a gentleman's wife.

It's a measure of people who don't understand,
The pleasures of life in a hillbilly band.
I got my first guitar when I was fourteen,
Well I finally made forty, still wearing jeans.

Amanda, light of my life.
Fate should have made you a gentleman's wife.
Amanda, light of my life.
Fate should have made you a gentleman's wife.

A vagabond dreamer, a rhymer and singer of songs
Singing to no one and nowhere to really belong
I met a beautiful lady, a pure Southern belle of the ball
Like Scarlet O'Hara loved no one and wanted them all

[Chorus]
I'll never forget you and love you inspite of your faults
The good and the bad I want to remember it all
I did a new dance and you did your Tennessee Waltz
The party's all over I came uninvited
I'm leaving and taking the belle of the ball

There will always be someone I guess that's the way it should be
I guess I should know that someone used to be me
They'll gather around her soon they'll all look the same
At the feet of the lady are lover's without any names

[Chorus]

Baby, go down to the drugstore, buy me a guitar string
And be sure to wear your coat, girl, 'cause it might rain
'Cause honey, you know that rain is bad for my guitar strings

Put on your warm coat honey, it's gonna be cold tonight
Put on the one that's warm and long
'Cause you're just before hearin' my brand new goodbye song

Baby, I've tried your doctors, they just couldn't make me well
The higher I tried to climb, the further I fell
Guess it must have blew my mind sniffing the fumes of Hell

Put on your warm coat honey, it's gonna be cold tonight
Put on the one that's warm and long
You're just before hearin' my brand new goodbye song

Baby, throw away my pillow just before you turn the light
All you'll have next to you now will be the night
I'll be somewhere wrong, you'll be somewhere right

Put on your warm coat honey, it's gonna be cold tonight
Put on the one that's warm and long
You're just before hearin' my brand new goodbye song

Dark cloud hangin' over me when will it go away
Rain is in my eyes and I can't see life's become just cloudy days
Why she's done me like she's done I guess I'll never know
She knows I need her more than anyone I've made a point to let it show
Cloudy days don't the sun ever shine anymore stormy weather will you always be around
When I'm down I can't stand cloudy days
[ guitar + steel ]
I recall the time when times were good Lord they seem so long ago
But you know they say if rain don't come then love has no chance to grow


Cloudy days don't the sun...
[ guitar + steel ]

You know I can't stand to be around you cause you know I'm still in love with you
And my arms keep reaching to do what my thoughts do all the time
I just can't keep my hands off of you
Cause it's like looking at heaven while I'm standing in hell
We shared something precious for a while
You look just like a baby in a cradle to me I just can't keep my hands off of you
Woman you've got the man inside my body trembling the way only you know how to
And I guess that's just one of a million reasons I just can't keep my hands off of you
Cause it's like looking at heaven...

So long to you, hope I don't make you blue,
Think I'm gonna kill myself, think I'm gonna myself.
Apart we've grown, now I can't go on alone.
Think I'm gonna kill myself, think I'm gonna myself.

Now dig my grave with a silver spade, a gold chain lay me down and down.
Send my remains to my best friend, the rest to my hole in the ground.
Send the rest to my hole in the ground.

I bow my head, cause in the mornin' I'm a gonna be dead.
Think I'm gonna kill myself, think I'm gonna myself.

Now dig my grave with a silver spade, a gold chain lay me down and down.
Send my remains to my best friend, the rest to my hole in the ground.
Send the rest to my hole in the ground.

I've been down the Mississippi,
Down through New Orleans,
Yes, I have.
I've played in California,

There ain't too much I haven't seen.
No, there ain't.
Well, I'm a ramblin' man,
Don't fool around with a ramblin' man.

Left a girl in West Virginia,
Up there where that green grass grows,
Yes, I did.
Another girl in Cincinnati,

Waitin' where the Ohio River flows,
Poor girl!
I'm a ramblin' man,
Don't give your heart to a ramblin' man.

You'd better move away,
You're standin' too close to the flame.
Once I mess with your mind,
Your little heart won't beat the same.
Lord, I'm a ramblin' man,

Don't mess around with any ol' ramblin' man.
Better not!
Well, up in Chicago,
I was known as "Quiet Boy,"

Yes, I was!
Down in Alabama,
They call me "The man of joy,"
Still do!

Well, I'm a ramblin' man,
Don't fall in love with a ramblin' man.
You'd better move away,
You're standin' too close to the flame.

Once I mess with your mind,
Your little heart won't beat the same.
Lord, I'm a ramblin' man,
Don't mess around with any ol' ramblin' man.

Willie we've been constant companion you know the light and shade
We have spent a million dollars find out what we made
We have made the maidens marvel the things we do and say
Down down and out brother up up in the way
If you see me gettin' smaller I'm leavin' don't be grieving
Just got to get away from here
If you see me gettin' smaller don't worry and no hurry I've got the right to disappear

God bless old Philadelphia they were standing in the rain
Out in front of a main yard wet and lonely train
Who knows who they came to see a mad man full of beer
A four piece band and a charter bus my border-line career
If you see me gettin' smaller

One two three four

In a barroom in Toledo, across from the depot
On a barstool, she took off her ring
I thought I'd get closer, so I walked on over
I sat down and asked her, her name

When the drinks finally hit her, she said, "I'm no quitter"
But I finally quit livin' on dreams
Hungry for laughter and here ever after
I'm after whatever the other life brings

In the mirror, I saw him, I closely watched him
I saw the look in his eyes
He came to the woman who sat there beside me
And slowly started to cry

His big hands were calloused, he looked like a mountain
For a minute, I thought I was dead
But he started shaking his big heart was breaking
As he turned to the woman and said

You picked a fine time to leave me Lucille
With a four hungry children and a crop in the field
I've had some sad times, lived through some bad times
But this time your hurtin' won't heal
You picked a fine time to leave me Lucille

After he left us, I ordered more whiskey
She said, "Let's go have a ball"
From the lights of the barroom to a rented hotel room
We walked without talkin' at all

Lord, she was a beauty but when she came to me
She must've thought that I'd lost my mind
I couldn't hold her 'cause the words that he told her
Came back to me time after time

You picked a fine time to leave me Lucille
With a four hungry children and a crop in the field
I've had some sad times, lived through some bad times
But this time your hurtin' won't heal
You picked a fine time to leave me Lucille

There only two things in life that make it worth livin'
That's guitars that tune good and firm feelin' women
I don't need my name in the marquis lights
I got my song and I got you with me tonight
Maybe it's time we got back to the basics of love

Let's go to Luckenbach Texas with Waylon and Willie and the boys
This successful life we're livin' got us fueding
like the Hatfield and McCoys
Between Hank Williams pain songs, Newberry's train songs
and blue eyes cryin' in the rain out in Luckenbach Texas
ain't nobody feelin' no pain

So baby let's sell your diamond ring
Buy some boots and faded jeans and go away
This coat and tie is choking me
In your high society you cry all day
We've been so busy keepin' up with the Jones
Four car garage and we're still building on
Maybe it's time we got back to the basics of love

Chorus:
Let's go to Luckenbach Texas with Waylon and Willie and the boys
This successful life we're livin' got us fueding
like the Hatfield and McCoys
Between Hank Williams pain songs, Newberry's train songs
and blue eyes cryin' in the rain out in Luckenbach Texas
ain't nobody feelin' no pain

Let's go to Luckenbach Texas with Waylon and Willie and the boys
This successful life we're livin' got us fueding
like the Hatfield and McCoys
Between Hank Williams pain songs, Newberry's train songs
and blue eyes cryin' in the rain out in Luckenbach Texas
ain't nobody feelin' no pain

I thought to leave your bed for the street
Was as simple as saying goodbye
I couldn't see how blind a man can be
Or how quickly life can fly

[Chorus]
As the lines in my face grow deeper
And the well of my soul runs dry
I find that I drink more and more
From the memories of you and I

The taste of fame is fire to me no more
The attention and hunger have gone
All I have left, the money and the game
I'm a prisoner to the road I'm on

[Chorus]

I gotta run to keep from hidin' I'm bound to keep on a ridin'
I got one more silver dollar
I ain't gonna let 'em catch me no I ain't gonna let 'em catch a midnight rider
[ steel + guitar ]
Well these ain't my clothes I'm wearin' this old road goes on forever
I got one more silver dollar...
[ steel + guitar ]
I've gone by the point of carin' some old bed I'll soon be sharin'
I got one more silver dollar...
[ steel + guitar ]
I ain't gonna let 'em catch me no I ain't gonna let 'em catch a midnight rider
[ steel + guitar ]

New York woman tryin' to make me love her a sad eyed girl with rollers in her hair
Down the hall somebody's cooking cabbage kids're running up and down the stairs
I'd like to leave this God forsaken city but I can't go no matter how I try
But once again I'll be in Oklahoma tonight when I lay down and close my eyes
I'll be standing in that Oklahoma sunshine just got off a bus from another world
Kissing mom and shaking hands with papa dryin' the teras of an Oklahoma girl
Standing in that oklahoma sunshine a dream that I have dreamed so many times
The blue eyed girl with the golden hair still loves me
When I go back to Oklahoma in my mind

When the cold wind blows in this big city a part of me flies home to where it's warm
New York woman thinks that I'm still with her just because I'm sleeping in her arms
But I'll be standing

Oh I'll be standing in that Oklahoma sunshine just got off a bus from another world

Pretend I never happened
Erase me from your mind
You will not want to remember
Any love as cold as mine

I'll be leaving in the morning
For a place I hope I find
All the places must be better
Than all the ones I leave behind

I don't suppose you'll be unhappy
You'll find ways to spend your time
But if you ever think about me
And if I ever cross your mind

Pretend I never happened
Erase me from your mind
You will not want to remember
Any love as cold as mine

I don't suppose you'll be unhappy
You'll find ways to spend your time
But if you ever think about me
And if I ever cross your mind

Pretend I never happened
Erase me from your mind
You will not want to remember
Any love as cold as mine

Oh rainy day woman
I never seem to see your for the good times or the sunshine
You have been a friend of mine, rainy day woman

That woman of mine, she ain't happy
'Til she finds something wrong and someone to blame
If it ain't one thing it's another one on the way

Woke up this mornin' to the sunshine
It sure as hell looks just like rain
But I know where to go on a cloudy day

Oh rainy day woman
I never seem to see your for the good times or the sunshine
You have been a friend of mine, rainy day woman

Always the same never complain
Though times gotta be tough
It's not right for you what can I do
I can never think of givin' you up

Oh rainy day woman
I never seem to see your for the good times or the sunshine
You have been a friend of mine, rainy day woman

Oh rainy day woman
I never seem to see your for the good times or the sunshine
You have been a friend of mine, rainy day woman

Wish I was a millionaire I'd play rock music and grow long hair
I tell you boys I'd drive a new Rolls Royce
Pretty women hangin' on me I'd give 'em all the third degree
Satin sheets to keep 'em off of the streets
Hallelujah hear me talkin' to ya praise the Lord and pass the tambourine
Great Jehova you'll come over
As soon as ya see me boogie woogie cross the silver screen

Hang 'em high and hang 'em low put 'em in the eyes wherever I go
Keep 'em all night feelin' just right
Hallelujah hear me talkin' ya

Where it began I can't begin knowing but I know it's growing strong
First was the spring and spring became the summer who'd believe you'd come along
Hands touching hands reaching out touching me touching you
Sweet Caroline good times never seemed so good
I'm inclined to believe they never would
Look at the night doesn't seem so lonely fill it up with only two
And when I hurt it runs off my shoulder how can I hurt when I'm holding you
Warm touching warm reaching out touching me touching you

Oh sweet Caroline,
Sweet Caroline,
Oh sweet Caroline good times never seemed so good