(Bill Staines)
It was the middle of Montana on a cold winter night
When our van pulled up outside the door
We'd been on the road for three months, four-hundred miles that day;
We were tired, but we loaded our stuff out onto the floor
There was Mad Jack on the fiddle and old Bill on the ba**
Tom played the lonesome steel
I played the guitar around the place
And it was Walker behind the wheel
Well, the crowd was with us that night right up till closin'
And we played like we hadn't played in awhile
When we were through even the management was pleased
So we all hit the bar with a smile
When this old man full of whiskey comes over to me
And says with a look in his eye
"I can tell by your songs you're from Texas, boys
Brother, well so am I...tell me..."
CHORUS:
"Do the bluebonnets carpet the fields in the spring?
Does the Brazos still run to the sea?
Does the sun still shine down on those Texas girls?
Once one gave her love to me."
He said, "you see, son, there was a time when my song was just as sweet as yours
And I traveled and I worked with the best
But day after day got to be year after year
And the road gives you no time to rest
The runaway dreams put a rope to my soul
The nights took my company
The whiskey got the lyrics to most of my songs
And the age took my memory...tell me..."
REPEAT CHORUS
"So you see, I see a lot of myself in you and your friends here
I see the poet, the clown, and sometimes the king
So just you take care of yourself and try not to end up like me
With a bunch of broken dreams and no song left to sing
Aw, I didn't mean to go preachin' at ya, let me buy you a beer
I guess I spend to much time talkin' alone
But you write pretty good songs from what I can hear
And you paint me a picture of home...tell me..."
REPEAT CHORUS
There was Mad Jack on the fiddle and old Bill on the ba**
Tom played the lonesome steel
I played the guitar around the place
And it was Walker behind the wheel
REPEAT CHORUS