Steve Earle

El Corazón


Last updated: 17 January 1998

El Corazón album cover

Christmas In Washington
(Steve Earle)

It's Christmastime in Washington
The Democrats rehearsed
Gettin' into gear for four more years
Things not gettin' worse
The Republicans drink whiskey neat
And thanked their lucky stars
They said, 'He cannot seek another term
They'll be no more FDRs'

I sat home in Tennessee
Staring at the screen
With an uneasy feeling in my chest
And I'm wonderin' what it means

Chorus:
So come back Woody Guthrie
Come back to us now
Tear your eyes from paradise
And rise again somehow
If you run into Jesus
Maybe he can help you out
Come back Woody Guthrie to us now

I followed in your footsteps once
Back in my travelin' days
Somewhere I failed to find your trail
Now I'm stumblin' through the haze
But there's killers on the highway now
And a man can't get around
So I sold my soul for wheels that roll
Now I'm stuck here in this town

Chorus

There's foxes in the hen house
Cows out in the corn
The unions have been busted
Their proud red banners torn
To listen to the radio
You'd think that all was well
But you and me and Cisco know
It's going straight to hell

So come back, Emma Goldman
Rise up, old Joe Hill
The barracades are goin' up
They cannot break our will
Come back to us, Malcolm X
And Martin Luther King
We're marching into Selma
As the bells of freedom ring

Chorus


Taneytown
(Steve Earle)

I went down to Taneytown
I went down to Taneytown
To see what I could see
My mama told me never go
But I'm almost 22 years old
Sometimes I fear this holler swollow me
She ran off to Gettysburg
Went off with that new beau of hers
I snuck off after dark
Long way down the county road
Stars were bright
The moon was low
Down to where the black top highway starts

Chorus:
I went down to Taneytown
I went down to Taneytown
I went down to see what I could see

I could see everybody stared at me
You'd think that they ain't never seen
A colored boy before
They chunked at me at me
Called me names
They'd have whipped me sure but the sheriff came
I slipped off through the dry goods store
I ran down Division Street
Some of them boys followed me
Down to the railroad track
Four of them and I cain't fight
But I had my old Randall knife
I cut that boy and I never did look back

Chorus

Cross the fields and woods I run
Like a bullet from a rabbit gun
Back home to my bed
Ma came in from Gettysburg
Her and that new beau of hers
"Boy you look like hell" was all she said

Month went by without a word
Somebody down the holler heard
About that boy they hung
He begged those men to spare his life
But I dropped my bloody Randall knife
He picked it up so they thought he was the one

I went down to Taneytown
I went down to Taneytown
I ain't goin' back there anymore


If You Fall
(Steve Earle)

I saw you lookin' at that girl like that
I saw her too boy I know right where you're at
But you better be careful
'Cause she ain't the kind you're gonna forget
How much you wanna bet

Chorus:
If you fall in love
Nothin's gonna be the same
You walk around callin' out her name
Throw your heart down like a glove
Push comes to shove
You only end up lonely and blue
Whenever she's away from you If you fall in love

You gotta hear me talkin' to ya
'Cause I'm your best friend
And I'd hate to see you goin'
Where I've already been
'Cause I've been in love before
And I won't ever be the same again
You better listen to me, Jim

Chorus

There she is again
She sure looks fine
Boy, I know you're walkin'
On a very thin line
So I guess it's up to me
'Cause your heart's not as strong as mine
Well just this one time

Chorus


I Still Carry You Around
(Steve Earle)

Sweetheart last night I dreamed of you
You loved me like you used to do
Mornin' come and I woke up and found
I still carry you around

Chorus:
I still carry you around
Everywhere I travel now
No matter how I try to put you down
I still carry you around

I still just can't believe you're gone
Your memory haunts me from now on
I walk the streets of this old lonely town
I still carry you around

Chorus

You're with me everywhere I go
In my heart and in my soul
Down every road, no matter where I'm bound
I still carry you around

Chorus


Telephone Road
(Steve Earle)

My brother Jimmy, my other brother Jack
Went off down to Houston and they never come back
Mama wasn't gonna let her baby go yet
But there ain't nobody hirin' back in Lafeyette

I'm workin' all week for the Texaco check
Sun beatin' down on the back of my neck
Tried to save my money but Jimmy says no
Says he's got a little honey on Telephone Road

Chorus:
Come on come on come on let's go
This ain't Louisianna
Your Mama won't know
Come on come on come on let's go
Everybody's rockin' out on Telephone Road

Telephone Road is ten miles long
Fifty car lots and a hundred honky-tonks
Jukebox blastin' and the beer bottles ring
Jimmy banging on a pinball machine

Chorus

Mama never told me about nothin' like this
I guess Houston's 'bout a big as a city can get
Sometimes I get lonesome for Lafeyette
Someday I'm goin' home but I ain't ready yet

Chorus


Somewhere Out There
(Steve Earle)

Somewhere out there in the world tonight
Just out of my reach
I hear your heart beat
Comin' in loud and clear tonight
Poundin' in my brain
Callin' out your name

In the darkness something binds you to me
So that I can find you
When you want me
I will be there
Waiting on you
Somewhere out there

In there in your heart tonight
Where I have never gone
You are not alone
It is tearing me all apart alright
But girl what can I do
When I'm so far from you

And when I lay me down to sleep
My one and only prayer is you'll keep
Safe from harm until I get
Wherever you are
Somewhere out there

If you're sad or if you're lonely
If you’re scared, if you're only
Tired of fightin'
Seekin' shelter
Just hold on I'm
Somewhere out there

Somewhere out there in the world tonight
Just out of your reach
You'll hear my heart beat


You Know The Rest
(Steve Earle)

Moses went up to the mountain
To see what he could see
Well he come down talking 'bout a burning bush
Says 'This is how it's gonna be'
He's scared to death
You know the rest

Columbus went down to the ocean
In 1492
He said 'Boys, I'm looking for India
But America will do'
Sailed to the west
You know the rest

Davey Crockett went out to Texas
To fight at the Alamo
Old Will Travis never told him
Texas is in Mexico
It's a bloody mess
You know the rest

Robert Johnson went down to the crossroads
A guitar in his hands
Well, the devil had him a guitar, too
He says 'This is what you need man,
You can be the best'
You know the rest

Well this song ain't got no reason
Hell this song barely rhymes
Well it come to me when I was asleep
And it wakes me up sometimes
I can't get no rest
You know the rest


N.Y.C.
(Steve Earle)

He was standing on the highway
Somewhere way out in the sticks
Guitar across his shoulder
Like a 30 ought six
He was staring in my headlights
When I come around the bend
Climbed up on my shotgun side
And told me with a grin

Chorus:
I'm going to New York City
I never really been there
Just like the way it sounds
I heard the girls are pretty
There must be something happening there
It's just too big a town

He was cold and wet and hungry
But he never did complain
Said he'd come a thousand miles
Through sleet and snow and rain
He had a hundred stories
About the places that he'd been
He'd hang around a little while
And hit the road again

Chorus

See I've been to New York City
Seems like it was yesterday
I was standing like a pilgrim
On the Great White Way
The girls were really pretty
But they wouldn't talk to me
I held out about a week
Went back to Tennessee

So, I thought I'd better warn him
As he climbed out of my car
Grabbed his battered suitcase
And shouldered his guitar
I knew I was just jealous
If I didn't wish him well
I slipped the kid a twenty
Said 'Billy give 'em hell'

Chorus x 2


Poison Lovers
(Steve Earle)

I was almost out of here
Nearly left this time
I saw you in my rearview mirror
And I pulled up on a dime
But nothin' ventured, nothin' lost
You can't say we didn't try
That is unless you weigh the cost
Of every tear we cried

Chorus:
Why do we do this to each other
I guess we were always poison lovers

If you could look me in the eye
And tell me what you see
Maybe you can tell me why
I let you torture me
I know that your lips are soft
And they sing the sweetest songs
But I've been listenin' long enough
My heart has turned to stone

Chorus

Another time, another place
Another wind to blame
Cover every track and trace
I'll find you just the same
And even if we made our peace
And went our separate ways
You'd go west and I'd go east
And we'd meet here in this place

Chorus x 2


The Other Side Of Town
(Steve Earle)

When I'm sad and blue
And I'm feeling all alone
There's a place that I go to
That no one knows
Where no matter what I do
Won't nobody put me down
That's why I'm going to
The other side of town

Chorus:
On the other side of town
Where the sun don't ever shine
Everybody walks around
With a shadow cross their minds
When that midnight train rolls by
And they hear that lonesome sound
They just hang their heads and cry
On the other side of town

Well it isn't very far
And it's not that hard to find
You just follow all the other lonely souls
Take a walk down lonesome lane
'Til you see the dead end sign
And your broken heart will tell you where to go

To the other side of town
Where the sun don't ever shine
Everybody walks around
With a shadow cross their minds
When that midnight train rolls by
And they hear that lonesome sound
They just hang their heads and cry
On the other side of town

So if you've find someone
Who won't ever let you down
Hurry home before the sun goes down
No matter what you do
Don't let night fall like a shroud
And catch you on the other side of town

Chorus


Here I Am
(Steve Earle)

Here I Am
On my way
Down another road I've have paved
With every good intention I've saved
And hearts that I broke
As for me I got scars
For every mile I've traveled so far
And some blood on my hands
Here I am

With a song in my heart
And an attitude from the start
I took everybody apart
To see how they work
I got friends that I owe
I ain't namin' names
Cuz they know where they stand
Here I am

Here I am
Here I am
Here I am

If I went back where I've been
And I knew what I know now then
Well I'd probably do it again
Cuz I'm just a man
At the end of the day
I ain't got nothing to say

Here I am
Here I am
Here I am

Here I am
Here I am
Here I am


Ft. Worth Blues
(Steve Earle)

In Ft. Worth all the neon's burnin' bright
Pretty lights red and blue
But they'd shut down all the honky tonks tonight
And say a prayer or two
If they only knew

You used to say the highway was your home
But we both know that ain't true
It's just the only place a man can go
When he don't know where he's travelin' to

But Colorado's always clean and healin'
And Tennessee in Spring is green and cool
It never really was your kind of town
But you went around with the Ft. Worth Blues

Somewhere up beyond the great divide
Where the sky is wide and the clouds are few
A man can see his way clear to the light
Just hold on tight
That's all you gotta do

And they say Texas weather's always changin'
And one thing change'll bring is somethin' new
And Houston really ain't that bad a town
So you hang around with the Ft. Worth Blues

There's a full moon over Galway Bay tonight
Silver light over green and blue
And every place I travel through, I find
Some kinda sign that you've been through

But Amsterdam was always good for grieving
And London never fails to leave me blue
Paris never was my kinda town
So I walked around with the Ft. Worth Blues


© 2003-2007 Clint Harris  (clint@steveearle.net) – All Rights Reserved
© 1995-2003 Lisa Kemper  – All Rights Reserved

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