Bob Martin
Makin' the same mistakes

From the CD, Next to Nothin' ,  CD RSA2



1. Makin' the Same Mistakes    

Words and Music by Bob Martin, © Copyright Bob Martin, 2000

I'm ten days out on a 90-day run, 
Playin' one night shows headed down route 81.
And I'm thinking to myself, 
There's got to be an easier way to starve to death.

All the club owners seem to be chipping away
At the original price they said they were willing to pay.
They got the chicken wire stretched across the front of the stage.

There's got to be some kind of lesson learned,
But I could never get that right, ziggin' when I should be zaggin'
And I'm too far down for sorry.

            I keep makin' the same mistakes.
            Goin' around with the same-old-same-old.
            Never learned to put on the brakes.
            I keep makin' the same mistakes. 

I'm makin' 80 percent of the front,
But the crowds every night has been thin.
I've played here before and I always make sure I tip the waiter.
He said ya got to watch out for the owner.
Ya know he's grabbin' every buck he can skim.
But by the end of the night the mony's too light to be skimmin'

And I'm thinkin' to myself, 
Maybe I could make livin' doin' this.
But ya got to be 4-cards-shy of a full deck,
When it's the highway that you miss.

            I keep makin' the same mistakes.
            Goin' around with the same-old-same-old.
            Never learned to put on the brakes.
            I keep makin' the same mistakes. 
            I keep makin' the same mistakes.

And the room fills up with a heavy white smoke.
I choke on the words never heard by the crowd of five people at the bar,
Watchin' the big -screen tv.

So I sing to the wall and the waitress who winks.
Makes me think I might, by the end of the night,
Be just a little farther down highway 83.

Sometimes in the middle of a song,
In the middle of a line,
Something you said to me comes back so clearly to my mind.

            I keep makin' the same mistakes.
            Goin' around with the same-old-same-old.
            Never learned to put on the brakes.
            I keep makin' the same mistakes.
            I keep makin' the same mistakes. 
            I keep makin' the same mistakes.