GOD BLESS ROBERT  E. LEE (Bobby Borchers - Mack Vickery) « © '83 Tree Publishing » When Robert E Lee surrended the Confederacy Jefferson Davis was upset about it He said how dare that man resent an order Form the president of the Confederate States of America Then somebody told him that General Lee had made the decision himself In order to save lives because he felt that the battle comin' up Would cost about 20 000 lives on both sides And he said 240 000 dead already is enough So this song is not about the North or the South but about the bloody brother war Brother against brother father against son the war that nobody won And for all those lives that were saved I gotta say God bless Robert E Lee Well the mansion where the General used to live is burning down Cottonfields are blue with Sherman's troups I overheard a yankee say yesterday Nashville fell So I'm on my way to join the fight General Lee might need my help But look away look away Dixie I don't want them to see What they're doing to my Dixie God bless Robert E Lee Sherman's troups burned Atlanta and the flames lit up the sky And those of us who survived it are watchin' my Dixie die But today at Appamattox General Lee sat down And surrended to the yankees and Ulysees S Grant So look away look away Dixie... I won't ever stop loving you my Dixie till they put me in the ground And the last words they probably hear from me are God bless Robert E Lee	COWBOY WHO STARTED THE FIGHT (Billy Joe Shaver) « © '79 House Of Cash » The legs on the lady a walkin' was tanned to a dark berry brown Her body was made like a song to be played to the tune of a million a pound So was a wonder of a woman I reckon and she sure screwed her head on right The toast of the world was the long legged girl and the cowboy who started the fight He'd just pulled into town in an old green 1953 Chevrolet pickup truck With whiskey bumps all over it and the right front fender falling off He coasted on into a no parking zone Got out and took the keys and chunked 'em down a gutter Turned around and just walked off He allowed how his time had been wasted or drinking and running around He spent half his life searchin' barrooms at night For the sweetheart that he never found It was plain from the moment their eyes met they'd wind up in each others arms The lady's young life was laid open that night And the cowboy drank deep of her charms Singing hey-hi-de-he from the depths of the sea to the mountains so hollering high I've found the best one under God's given sun yeah the cowboy got lucky tonight While the angel beside him lay sleeping he silently thanked God above For being a kind hearted father and blessing his love with her love For one night of love with that woman was more than he knew he deserved So he found all he had left worth givin' and he gave all he had left to her He slid back inside his ole levi's and he filled up his boots with his feet While the subways beneath New York City screamed through the veins of the street For the lady gave up without question the trophy she saved all her life Then she curled up beside his old weather worn hide And the cowboy just laid down and died Hey-hi-de-hi when a whoop through the street as his soul slowly winged out of sight The lady was torn from the child bein' born and the cowboy found heaven that night The lady was torn from the child bein' born and the cowboy found heaven that night **********
THAT'S THE TRUTH (Paul Kenerley) « © '83 Irving Music » Saw a girl in Tampa I asked her for a date She said baby I'm a sailor this thing better waits I said I don't believe you would you show me some proof She showed me her tattoo then I knew that that's the truth Met a woman on a highway by the exit sign You'd bet your last dollar that she was forty-nine But she swored to me that she was still in her youth When I turned down the lights I knew that that's the truth Had a girl on a border I guess she was shy never spoke a word in years not even hi But one night she said honey we're gonna raise the roof She put on some dancin' shoes then I knew that that's the truth [ guitar ] I knew a preacher's daughter in fact I knew her well He said son you better ramble unless you've got somethin' to sell It's an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth He pulled out a fourty-four now I know that that's the truth that's the truth **********	W-O-M-A-N (Johnny Cash) « © '80 House Of Cash » I just wanna tell you baby if I can I need my W-O-M-A-N A M-A-N needs a W-O for love or dirty boogie or the do-se-do And the F-E-M-A-L-E can turn a B-O-Y into a M-A-N [ guitar ] Well I can take a failure I can take a flop I've survived at the bottom better than the top I take it day by day and I can do alright if my W-O-M-A-N is in at night I'm not talking good or bad or lust or sin oh I'm just talking W-O-M-A-N [ guitar + harmonica ] I can get along without a dog or a cat and luxury is not where happiness is at I can do without tobacco coffee or tea And I turn down lots of money makin' deal offered me I can make it through the hills without a jeep or a van But I gotta have my W-O-M-A-N I need you woman W-O-M-A-N man man I need you and I'll kepp you just as long as I can cause you are my W-O-M-A-N **********
GOIN' BY THE BOOK (Chester Lester) « © '86 Vidor Publications » You can see it in the movies and the paper and the TV news Somebody's army is always on the move There's gonna be a battle the lines have been drawn They've got guns and tanks and planes The wells are gone dry and the water is bad and the rain is acid rain There's war after war and rumors of war from the East There's a rumblin' in the ground and they're talkin' about the beast Good mothers cry cause the rivers run high with the bloood of too many sons Some people say peace is on the way but the worse is still to come Cause the prophets wrote about it and Jesus spoke about it and John gotta take a look And he told us what he saw and it's easy to see It's goin' by the book it's goin' by the book [ guitar ] There's armies in the cities and the missiles stand ready for flight A pale horse rides like the wind across the night And that rumblin' in the desert like thunder gettin' closer And the trumpet's gettin' ready to blow There's gonna be a shout that will wake the dead we better be ready to go Cause the prophets wrote about it... It's goin' by the book goin' by the book	MYSTERY OF LIFE (Johnny Cash) « © '91 House Of Cash » Peterbilt drivers don't pick up low riders they don't slow for the curves in the road They hate to keep logs they hate riders on hogs watch out for shift in your load When I was young I had a Gene Autry gun but I never had a Lionel train Now I've got a truck if I keep payments up and it weights thirty tons in the rain I wear Frisco jeans with riveted seams my money is chained to my belt I wear a cat cap just like my pap he drove till it ruined his health Now Georgia Bill Smith wore thick glasses and boots He could see about as far as he could walk He came up too fast on that bridge overpass Lord the preacher sure gave a fine talk When I was young... [ dobro ] I've read a few lines from the poets and sometimes I might cross the line I don't know the answer to the mystery of life but a woman sure helps pass the time When I was young... When I was young...
VETERAN'S DAY (Tom Russell) « © '90 copyright control » Well I used to hang out down at the VFW hall And stare at the photographs up on the wall Of the neighborhood boys that died in the wars we've been through And the hand lettered sign that said remember Jimmy McGrew Well Jimmy went to Nam back in 1965 But there's a lot of men here that think Jimmy McGrew's still alive Though they carved his name on a stone in Washington DC His brother said that stone don't prove a thing to me It's veteran's day and the skies are gray Leave the uniforms home cause there ain't gonna be a parade But we'll fill up a glass for the ones that didn't make it through And leave a light in the window tonight for Jimmy McGrew [ guitar ] There's a hot rain fallin' on the back streets of Saigon There's an old soldier stumblin' down the alley with his mama-san Lord his eyes are cloudy and his arms are black and blue He's just hangin' by a thread and he looks like Jimmy McGrew It's veteran's day... And keep it burnin' bright there may still be a lot of Jimmy McGrews overthere But we'll fill up a glass...	I LOVE YOU I LOVE YOU (Johnny Cash) « © '90 House Of Cash » I love you love you I love you just in case you know I do I've done everything I know to do to catch your eye and get a rise from you I've said everything I know to say till I'm afraid that I'll scare you away I've tried everything I know to try and if you don't love me I'm gonna die I'll be anything I need to be to make you want to bring your love to me Cause I love you love you I love you can't help it that I feel the way I do I love you love you I love you just in case you know I do [ guitar ] I'll quit anything I need to quit or I'll change anything to make it fit I'll start anything I need to start if that would mean you're givin' me your heart I love you love you I love you... I love you love you I love you
BACKSTAGE PASS (Johnny Cash) « © '90 House Of Cash » Hello I'm Johnny Cash One night I had a backstage pass to the Willie Nelson Show There were wackoes and weirdoes and dingbats and dodoes And athletes and movie stars and David Allan Coe There was leather and lace and every minority race With a backstage pass to the Willie Nelson Show Kristofferson got an offer for a movie promoters closed another deal or two Waylon got a call from his son Shooter and he went home the minute he was through I moved with the mob at intermission To the green room where you see who you can see There were has-been's and would-be's and never-were's Paupers punks and millionaires and me And there were wackoes... [ guitar ] Hells Angels blocked the traffic to the building In order for the beer truck to come through And waitin' in the wings to sing with Willie were hopeful stars of flickering magnitude There was a singer Willie knew back in the fifties Who once paid him fifty dollars for a song There were women who once did and some who still would I heard one ask did Connie come along And there were wackoes... I wish you could've been there well maybe you were **********	HOBO SONG (Johnny Prine) « © '91 copryright control » There was a time when lonely men would wander through this land rolling aimlessly along So many times I've heard of their sad story written in the words of dead men's song Down through the years many men have yearned for freedom Some found it only on the open road So many tears of blood have fell around us Cause you can't always do what you were told Please tell me where have all the hobos gone to I see no fire burning down by the rusty railroad tracks Could it be that time has gone and left them tied up in life's eternal travelin' sack Last Sunday night I wrote a letter to my loved one I signed my name and I knew that I stayed away way too long There was a time when my heart was free to wander And I remember as I sing this hobo song Please tell me where... Please tell me where... **********