Boundary County All songs by E. Jewell Boundary County Say hello to Boundary County If you make it up that way I don’t get around as much As I did in my younger days I was raised in that country So pure and so fair But I took too hard to the whiskey And I wandered away from there. I miss the barbed wire and the sage On that wild northern range The giant, staring sky Like a bright, tragic blue eye Why I left I can’t say why I can’t say why Say hello to Boundary County for me She’s prettier than dreams If you’ve been someplace so far away Then you’ve really seen some things Those miles and miles of steel rails Are a one-way track And no matter how hard I try I never make it back I never make it back I miss those violet hills And the sweet smell of the fields Reach their arms out so wide Like heaven’s only bride Why I left I can’t say why I can’t say why Every man serves his time I know I’ve done my share And when that old roll is called You will find me there In Boundary County, If you make it up that way I don’t get around as much As I did in my younger days Till You Lay Down Your Heavy Load It’s a hard, and it’s a rough road It’s a hard, and it’s a rough road It’s a long, long ways to go Till you lay down your heavy load You will walk it all alone, You will walk it all alone None will save your weary soul Till you lay down your heavy load Seasons come and seasons go Seasons come and seasons go Still so little any will know Till we lay down our heavy load Angels calling soft and low Angels calling soft and low They will guide me safely home Till I lay down my heavy load Hey Hey Hey Everything’s empty in this lonesome old town If I could find the river I’d follow it down To someplace with some life still left Go out dancing in my Sunday best I need to forget Shake off this regret What I need’s a grand piano to do things right Cool my fingers in its pools of black and white I need time, clear to eternity Half of it to set it straight and the other just to sleep I need to forget Sleep off this regret I never seem to catch things as they’re coming my way I go chasing them down crying hey come back hey Hey what were you hey Hey hey hey Fourth Degree Once upon a starry night I had a little boy was the light of my life And I know that I never can stay away Oh my god I pray Well I follow you down, I follow you down I won’t do nothing till I follow you down And I go so far astray That it takes years to find my way The first degree, the second degree I can’t stop baby till the fourth degree And I go all outta my way Just to chase all my blues away Mess Around Feel like messing up, cutting my teeth On stolen candy, chewing on something sweet I don’t know what, what I came here for Stumbling down these streets, trying to find your door Take the long way ‘round, long walk across this town If I was any good at painting, I’d paint it up and down But I’m not, I’m just trying not to make a sound Whistling to myself the Fourth Street Mess Around Mess around, mess around, mess around… Wanna tell it like it is from heaven’s point of view But I would not have lived in vain if I could utter one thing true Or not build this life so artificially Not go about it all so goddam superficially Lay myself down, quit running so ragged Blaze me a trail just a little less jagged But for now I’m just stuck here in this town Singing to myself the Fourth Street Mess Around Mess around, mess around, mess around… Back to Dallas Lay around the shack all day Bootlegging for your sorry pay I don’t care what your mama say You’re going back to Dallas Ain’t worth a gunny sack of beans Worst case a girl ‘bout ever seen You love me like a bulldog baby just as mean Now you’re going back to Dallas Hello central information please Give me all the numbers I need I got some money for the driving fee Cause he’s going back to Dallas Tom cats never made so many goddam rounds You just can’t ignore that old howling sound Honey you done let that deal go down Now you’re going back to Dallas No Place to Go It’s so hard to find your way In these streets from day to day So easy to disappear When the night conceals you here In the gloom of a vacant road You’ll know that you’re alone Like a pain you’ve never known When you got no place to go When you got no place to go… When the icy winds they blow You’ll hang your head down low You’ll be wishing for that home That sweet home you used to know When you wander all the time With a ragged and a worried mind When you walk a crooked line Then your troubles will be like mine Then your troubles will be like mine… So Long Blues I’ve been waiting forever now I’ve been waiting so long Guess I’ll wait my whole life out And honey it just seems wrong It’s been so long since your kissing So long since holding you All your loving I’ve been missing I’ve got the so long blues You can’t make up your mind about me It’s been taking you so long First it’s yes, then maybe And then you’re up and gone Since the day that we first met My life’s got no reason or rhyme Ain’t no telling what to expect Well so long peace of mind But some fine day I’ll get my senses back Someday I’ll dust my broom I’ll tip my hat, head down the tracks And say so long blues Gotta Get Right Hear you talking, Hear you talking, babe. Don’t believe a word you say Jug of whiskey Jug of gin Repent and do it all again You gotta get right You gotta get right, babe… You gotta get right one of these days Want your motor running Want it every night Oil when the wheel’s too tight The Flood Poisoned streets Full of blood The people can do nothing To hold back the flood The water takes them Not one life line Everyone just standing Ringing their hands and crying Can anyone among us please explain What went down on the banks of the Ponchartrain? No sir I don’t believe it was the hurricane That lay New Orleans out to waste Blown-out windows, Rooftops gone Every soul Singing a funeral song Look at the pictures All black faces Our leaders call themselves distracted I call them racists Can anyone among you please explain What went down on the banks of the Ponchartrain? It’s you our leader who’s to blame You lay sweet New Orleans out to waste And if I had Had my way I’d pull them all outta there And I’d make you stay For a storm All your own And I’d be that old hurricane And I’d wash away all your gold Your wife and children Would have no home You’d be left there in those waters Naked and alone In the streets Of poisoned blood Now what you gonna do To hold back the flood? Blow It All Away Let’s just keep driving you and me I like your soft voice and your pleasant company We can pull each other out of this dusty little town Make a new start somewhere maybe settle down I wanna get me a mean little bike Black and chrome or anything you like You can teach me how to ride it in style Put it on the pike and head south a million miles I asked the wind as it blew on by What we should do and it replied Blow it all away All these burdens needn’t stay I wanna fix up a row boat for you We could row it out at sunset and you know what we could do Doesn’t it feel like this is how it should be These stars, these dreams, and you and me Sometimes I feel like the world’s on my back Like there’s so much to lose and so much I lack But the truth is the world’s at my command The way you love me it’s all in my hands A breath and a wish, and we’re gone Someone's Arms Snow blankets the city in a cover of white I wish someone’s arms were holding me as tight But the devil wind blows harder on me, cold and bare And someone’s arms won’t be reaching for there’s nobody there. I guess there are some who love long and true Who never go wanting for loving to do But others try always in vain just to find Someone’s arms to hold them and ease their mind Love is a raven, feathers dark and long She perches by moonlight and is gone before dawn The lover is a babe in the woods full of harm To be laid down or gathered by someone’s arms You Can't Take My Song Away My strings how they’ll jangle My voice how it will rise In a feathery tangle And meet the truth above this world, among the skies More powerful than riches More precious than your gold Holier than your churches Bewildering as desert cold You can lock me in jail Cheat me of all I own Tie me to the rails Leave me forsaken and alone But you can’t take my song away…