Steve Earle
Uncut Gems
(PROMOTIONAL ONLY CD)

last updated:  20 March 2001


Uncut Gems CD cover
Some Blue Moons Ago
(Steve Earle, Richard Bennett)

Sensitivity ain't your style
A cheap box of candy and an Elvis smile
Drove me wild
That was some blue moons ago
It used to thrill me when you'd hold me tight
But I don't want another summer's night
Baby, it's alright
That was some blue moons ago

CHORUS:
I need a warm romance
Gotta take a chance
Gotta let those feelings show
We need to give and take
C'mon communicate
Baby, love's not touch and go
Like it was some blue moons ago

BRIDGE:
C'mon baby, it's a brand new day
I need your love but in a different way
Hold me, honey, it don't take much
All I need is just a little touch

I'm not hangin' on to yesterday
We need the kind of love that's built to stay
Baby here today
Not some blue moons ago

REPEAT CHORUS

She's So Mean
(Steve Earle, Walter Carter)

When she walks,
You'd think she just stepped out of a magazine
When she talks,
You'd swear you heard her voice in you fondest dreams
She got the money, she got the looks
The lips like honey, she even cooks
But she's so mean

When she's hot
You can put your arms around her and feel the fire
When she's not,
You're burning up inside from your own desire
She heats you up, she'll cool you down
No matter what, you hang around
Aw but she's so mean

She's so mean
She's so mean

She's so mean
Aw, she's so mean
You try to hold her, she'll laugh and run
You try to kiss her, she'll bit your tongue
Yea, she's so mean
She's so mean
She's so mean

No. 29
(Steve Earle)

I was born and raised here, this town's my town
Everybody knows my name
But ever since the glass plant closed down
Things round here ain't never been the same
Now I got me a good job, alright
But some nights take me to another time
Back when I was No. 29

I was pretty good then, don't you know
"Watch him go", buddy I could really fly
Everyone in town came—hip flasks, horn blasts
Every autumn Friday night
Sally yelled her heart out push em back, way back
I was hers and she was mine
Back when I was No. 29

We were playin' Smithville big boys, farm boys
Second down and four to go
Bubba brought the play in good call my ball
Now they're gonna see a show
But Bubba let his man go I cut back, heard it crack
It still hurts me but I don't mind
Reminds me I was No. 29

Now I go to the ballgames cold nights, half pints
Friday nights I'm always here
We got a pretty good team, good boys, strong boys
District champs the last three years
Got a little tailback pretty slick, real quick
I take him for a steak sometimes
Nowadys he's No. 29

I don't follow rainbows, big dreams, brass rings
I've already captured mine
Back when I was No. 29

Somethin' To Hold On To
(Steve Earle)

I've been in this honky-tonk before
Drug my boot heels round-n-round that floor
But my knees give out when I've had a few
I start trying to find somethin' to hold on to

I've danced with half the women in this bar
But I ain't found what I've been looking for
But my heart stood still the minute I saw you
And I knew I'd found somethin' to hold on to

CHORUS:
I've been holdin' out all these lonely nights
But I can't stop now cause it feels so right
After all this time I never dreamed I'd find
Someone who'd always be true
Somethin' to hold on to
Somethin' to hold on to

REPEAT CHORUS

TAG:
Somethin' to hold on to
Somethin' to hold on to...

I'm Not Gettin' Any Better At Goodbye
(Steve Earle)

[performed by Ray Cobb]

Seems like I've been here before
Just outside some closing door
Standing here just searching for a lie
You'd think by now I'd have it down
I know I should be wiser now
Cause no one's gonna bail me out this time
I'm not gettin' any better at goodbyes

CHORUS:
I'm not any better now than when I first began
It hurts every bit as much as it did way back then
I suppose I'll cry a lot
The only thing for sure is, I'm not gettin' any better at goodbyes

Friends may come and friends may go
But lovers memories die so slow
And they won't always let you know it's time
But even this shall pass, I guess
You'll be just like all the rest
I'll start dusting off all my best lies
I'm not gettin' any better at goodbyes

REPEAT CHORUS

Promise You Anything
(Steve Earle, Maria McKee, Patrick Sugges)

[performed by Maria McKee]

No curtains on my window
Outside the sun is sinking low
I feel you letting go
I will promise you anything

Wind whispering in your ear
I'll tell you what you want to hear
If you'll only let me near
I will promise you anything

CHORUS:
Well, I don't have to prove my intentions are golden
I don't have to tell you where we're goin'
If you feel somethin' wild, baby, out there blowin'
You should follow me

Run with me if you dare
Hold on, I'm gonna take you there
Solemn as a prayer
I will promise you anything

REPEAT CHORUS

No curtain on my window
Outside the moon is hangin' low
True colors start to show
I will promise you anything

TAG:
I will promise you anything
I will promise you anything
I will promise you anything

Sometimes She Forgets
(Steve Earle)

If you see her out tonight
She tells you it's just the lights
That bring her here
Not her loneliness
That's what she says
But sometimes she forgets

If she tells you she don't need a man
She's had all the comfort she can stand
You'd best believe every word she says
But don't give up
Cause sometimes she forgets

BRIDGE:
Sometimes she forgets, that not too long ago
She swore
She wasn't going to let her heart
Be broken anymore

So now she keeps it locked away
It grows colder everyday
And it won't warm to any man's caress
That's what she says
But sometimes she forgets

REPEAT BRIDGE

REPEAT FIRST VERSE

TAG:
No, don't give up 'cause sometimes she forgets

Tom Ames' Prayer
(Steve Earle)

Everyone in Nacadoches knew Tom Ames
Would come To some bad end
The sheriff had caught him
Stealin' chickens and such
By the time that he was ten
Then one day his daddy took a ten dollar bill
And he tucked it in his hand
He said "I can tell you're headed for trouble son
And your mamma wouldn't understand"
So he took that money and his brothers old bay
And he left without a word of thanks
Fell in with a crowd in some border town
And took to robbin' banks

Outside the law luck'll run out fast
And a few years came and went
Til he was trapped in an alley in Abilene
With all but four shells spent
And he realized prayin' was the only thing that he hadn't ever tried
Well, he wasn't sure he knew quite how
But he looked up to the sky
He said "you don't owe me nothin' and as far as I know
Lord I don't owe nothin' to you"
I ain't askin' for a miracle Lord,
Just a little bit of luck would do
And you know I ain't never prayed before
But it always seemed to me
That prayin' is the same as beggin' Lord
And I don't take no charity

"Right now Lord, with my back to the wall
I can't help but recall
How they nearly hung me for stealin' a horse
in Ft. Smith Arkansas
Judge Parker said "guilty" and the gavel came down
Just like a cannon shot
And I went away quietly
And I began to file and plot
Well, they sent the preacher down to my cell
He said "the Lord is your only hope"
"He's the only friend that you gonna have
When you hit the end of Parker's rope"
I guess he could've kept on preachin' 'till Christmas
But he turned his back on me
And I put a home made blade to that golden throat
And asked the deputy for the key

Now it ain't the first close call I ever had
As I'm sure you already know
I've had some help from you Lord and the devil himself
It's been strictly touch and go
Yeah, but wbo in the hell am I talkin' to?
There ain't no one here but me
And then he cocked both his pistols and he spit in the dirt
And he walked out in that street

She Can't Break My Heart
(Steve Earle, Alice Randall)

She's not the kind that I'd take home to mama
‘Cause mama always asks me how you are
She can't make it alright the way that you could
But she' can't break my heart

CHORUS:
She's not the one I spent my whole life searching for
But it won't hurt me one bit when she walks out the door
And she won't be there to hold me when I fall apart
But she can't break my heart

It's not the kind of love you can depend on
But this time we both knew that from the start
And I never miss her when she's not beside me
But she can't break my heart

REPEAT CHORUS

When The Mornin' Comes
(Steve Earle, Dave Gibson)

I'm going to Memphis on a midnight train
I'm tired of all this Mississippi rain
That delta lady broke my heart and soul
I got the blues, I can't stay, I gotta go

CHORUS:
But when the morning comes
She's gonna wonder where he good man has gone
When the morning comes
She's gonna know I was the one

Ain't nothin' darker than a Mississippi night
Especially when your baby ain't been treatin' you right
The river keeps rollin' back down to the sea
I'm gonna lose these Mississippi blues in Tennessee

REPEAT CHORUS TWICE

I'm going to Memphis on a midnight train
I'm tired of all this Mississippi rain

The First Fool In Line
(Steve Earle)

[performed by Ray Cobb]

Well the first time I saw you
You sat back in the corner
You had seven men waiting on you
I recall tellin' myself, girl
Lord, look at all of them fools
Then you walked over to me
And the lightning went through me
When those big brown eyes looked into mine
Tonight when your fools come a-callin'
Honey, I'll be the first fool in line

CHORUS:
I'm a fool for you darlin'
And your sweet love keeps callin'
I just can't get you off my mind
Tonight when your fools come a-callin'
I'll be the first fool in line

I don't know what's got into me
But the way that you do me
There ain't no use in strugglin', I can tell
I just can't believe this is me, girl
Fallin' all over myself
Well, I tried hard to fight it
But I started to like it
And we both know that that's the last sign
Tonight when your fools come a-callin'
Honey, I'll be the first fool in line

REPEAT CHORUS TAG:
I said tonight when your fools come a-callin'
Well I'll be the first fool in line

Someone's Got To Do It
(Steve Earle, Alice Randall)

[perhaps performed by Ray Cobb]

Once upon a time
A hero always knew his lines
But this ain't no movie
And you're no damsel in distress
You just need some tenderness
The only words I can find are

CHORUS:
I'm gonna love you
Someone's got to do it
Darlin' I can get you through it
If you hold onto me
I'm gonna love you
There ain't nothin' to it
And if someone's got to do it
Why can't it be me

Somewhere down the line
Everybody hopes to find
A love that shines
Just like a beacon in the night
And then holds up in the light
Maybe if we give it time

REPEAT CHORUS TWICE

TAG:
Once upon a time

Hot Enough For Ya
(Steve Earle, Walter Carter)

You always got your deep freeze on
You think you got me fooled
I've been around enough to know
No one could be that cool

CHORUS:
Is it hot enough for ya
Can you feel it now
You're a cool one, aren't you
I'm gonna melt you down
I always knew I'd get to you somehow
Hot enough for ya
Can you feel it now
You want to freeze me don't ya
I'm gonna melt you down
I always knew I'd get to you somehow

You tell yourself I'm cooling down
You think you got me beat
I got you where I want you now
So I'll just keep on turning up the heat

REPEAT CHORUS

For Better Or Worse
(Steve Earle)

[performed by Ray Cobb]

For better or worse that's what the man said
And I still can't get those words out of my head
And they come back to haunt me like some ancient curse
But it's just me to blame, for better or worse

CHORUS
For richer or poorer, in sickness and health
This is the poorest that's I've ever felt
Darlin' we made a promise and I broke it first
Now it's me and this heartache for better or worse

I could say I don't love you, but my heart know the truth
And it won't let me get away with hurting you
But it's knowing I've lost you forever that hurts
Now it's me and your memory for better or worse

REPEAT CHORUS

Heatin' Up
(Steve Earle, Walter Carter)

Don't need no radio weatherman
Telling me the mercury's out of hand
Heat waves shimmer off a blacktop street
You better keep moving or you'll burn your feet
Something about the sun when it's beating down
Makes a young man's head start spinning around
And an old man smiles cause he knows this town's heatin' up
Heatin' up, heatin' up

Girls in their cars on the drag downtown
Radio up and the ragtop down (heatin' up)
Pool hall boys all drop their cues
Running outside cause they're feeling it too (heatin' up)
Well the sweat starts rollin' in little hot drops
From cut-off jeans and the halter tops
And it's started now, and it ain't gonna stop heatin' up
Heatin' up

Well the sun is sinking, but it's too late now
The juke joint crowd just can't cool down
Dance floor's shaking from a heavy beat
The steam cloud rising, when the bodies meet (heatin' up)

Some are gonna love, and some are gonna fight
As a hell fire burns through the summer night
And it starts all over in the morning light heatin' up
Heatin' up
Heatin' up...

Hole In My Heart
(Steve Earle, Richard J. Dobson)

Don't understand why I don't love you
No one could ask for a heart more true
Sometimes I think I was born this blue
I should have know from the start

CHORUS:
Now I got a hold in my heart
I seem to be missing a part
I put the pieces together again
But this hole in my heart won't mend

I was in love once long ago
I tried my best not to let it show
But she was the kind that'll always know
That's the kind that'll tear you apart

REPEAT CHORUS

I'd be a fool to let you go
Tell me something that I don't know
She got the roses and the warm red wine
You got the thorns and these blues of mine
I got a rainbow I'll never find
I'm stumbling around in the dark

REPEAT CHORUS TWICE

I'm Still Around
(Steve Earle, Jimbeau Hinson)

[performed by Pebble Daniels]

CHORUS:
I'm still around
Someone you can always call anytime you're down
Years from now look around and you will find
That I'm still around

It's not as if I sit around with one hand on the phone
Old lovers make the best of friends
When new love's come and gone
I know how
To make you laugh as well as cry
That's why I'm still around

Other lovers come and go
We've both had our share
Other friends, they let you down
But you know I'll be there

REPEAT CHORUS

You Tear Me Up
(Steve Earle, Alice Randall)

I've been in love before
I can't say I was really impressed
So I ain't gonna anymore
This time I'm gonna give it a rest
Well if I see something good, I just might
I never let my heart out at night
So how'd you get to me
You must have found the key
You tear me up

I tell you that I don't know
But everybody knows that I do
Swearing that I won't
But girl, I wasn't counting on you
I've built a wall around my heart
So no little girl could tear it apart
For all my running ‘round
The wall came tumbling down
You tear me up

BRIDGE:
Oo-oo-oo what you do-oo-oo to me
Whoa, I want some mo-oo-re oo-wee

I call on the phone
Just to know you're there on the line
Well the way I carry on
You'd think it was my very first time
I can't believe I'm acting like this
Oh, why'd you have to give me that kiss
Little girl, you sure play rough
I just can't get enough
You tear me up

Well little girl, you sure play rough
I just can't get enough
You tear me up...

I Won't Be Your Next In Line
(Steve Earle)

CHORUS:
I won't be your next in line
If you don't love me, don't waste my time
Hearts break easy but you won't break mine
I won't be your next in line

You got a reputation
That follows you ‘round
It's the same old situation
You're tryin' to live it down
You left a line of lovers
Everywhere you've been
But I'm not like the others
So you better look again

REPEAT CHORUS

If you're looking for a fool girl
You may as well move on
Cause I've been watchin' you girl
A lot longer than you know
I could see it comin'
Like a freight train down the line
And you won't see me runnin'
Cause I'm not the runnin' kind

REPEAT CHORUS TWICE

My Old Friend The Blues
(Steve Earle)

Just when every ray of hope was gone
I should have known that you would come along
I can't believe I ever doubted you
My old friend the blues

Another lonely night, a nameless town
If sleep don't take me first, you'll come around
'Cause I know I can always count on you
My old friend the blues

Lovers leave and friends will let you down
But you're the only sure thing that I've found
No matter what I do I'll never lose
My old friend the blues

REPEAT VERSE 3

TAG:
Just let me hide my weary heart in you
My old friend the blues

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

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