Blue Eyes

Gram Parsons. Uncle Tupelo.

This is how I feel the majority of the time. The world, most of the time, is just too complicated. Too noisy. Too hard to figure out.

Sometimes, all I want to do is ditch everything except Sue, Vida, and that old pickup that's just about on its last legs. I wish we had a cabin somewhere and a long, tree-shaded dirt lane that led up to it. A garden out back. A big old barn. A few animals. Definitely a dog, or two. Aussies. And chickens. Maybe a couple of goats. A horse for Sue.

Gram Parsons wrote it. Uncle Tupelo sang it later. Because they realized what a great song it is.

Blue Eyes by Uncle Tupelo

INTRO:

G

VERSE 1:

G                                                    D

Sometimes I get upset when people treat me bad

C                                                      G

I don't have time to think and so I get real mad

        C

And I pull my hair and find somewhere where I can be alone

D                                                                                         G

And when I do I think of you and head myself back home

CHORUS:

C                                        D   G

Where I got chores to keep me busy, a clock to keep my time

C                                          G                                                     D

A pretty girl to love me, with the same last name as mine

C                                                                                           G

When the flowers wilt, a big old quilt to keep us warm

D                                                                                                                                    

I got the sun to see your blue eyes, and tonight you're in my

G

arms

VERSE 2:

G                                                D

Sometimes I get unwound when fancy cars drive past

C                                                G

Money don't get me down, I can't make it last

                                                                                         C

And I bite my nails and if that fails I go get myself stoned

D                                                                                         G

And when I do I think of you and head myself back home

CHORUS

HARMONICA SOLO:

| G | G | D | D |

| D | C | C | G |

REPEAT VERSE 2

CHORUS

END:

G C D G

The Jayhawks: Angelyne

I always have to be digging around.

I've known about The Jayhawks for a while. Have downloaded some of their files. As a matter of fact, the first time I ever saw Lucinda Williams, The Jayhawk opened for her. So, yeah, I've been aware of them for awhile.

But last night I was looking through the current No Depression "bookazine" and read a review of Ready for the Flood by Mark Olson and Gary Louris, which I guess, according to Amazon.com, is due out tomorrow. Remember: You heard it first here. Action Bob Markle at the forefront of the music world.

Anyway, The Jayhawks, and all those bands that aren't around anymore like Uncle Tupelo and Whiskeytown seemed to get what Gram Parsons was trying to do with country music, that those stoned-out hippies in Laurel Canyon couldn't figure out. Country rhythms with mature, poetic lyrics and a few sophisticated key changes--not shit about my pickup truck or tractor or all those freakin' bar songs and workin' and payin' the bills.

It's just nice stuff. Like this song, Angelyne. Don't expect to get your socks blown off. Expect your foot to start tapping and the song to stay in your head for a couple of days. Isn't that really all it's supposed to do?




Here comes the weather
It's looking like another storm
If all desire
Would leave this tired boy alone

Hopes haunt me like ghosts
They point their fingers
Grass grows in the cracks
Wind makes me shiver

Angelyne, forgive me
We threw it all away
You could never stand living with a man
Who could only lead you half way to love

I tried to fake it
But you wouldn't play along
I watched you naked
Innocent and holding on

Snowflakes make your bones ache in the winter
Your face will not fade, it will just linger

Angelyne, forgive me
We threw it all away
You could never stand living with a man
Who could only lead you half way
Angelyne, forgive me
We threw it all away
I could never fit into your plans
I'm nobody's man

Don't you tell me how to live my life
Don't you tell me how to live my life

Angelyne, forgive me
We threw it all away
You could never stand living with a man
Who could only lead you half way
Angelyne, forgive me
We threw it all away
I could never fit into your plans
I'm nobody's man

Return of the Grievous Angel

how come the good ones all seem so damn crazy...and how come they die so young?

Won't you scratch my itch sweet Annie Rich
And welcome me back to town
Come out on your porch or I'll step into your parlor
And I'll tell you how it all went down

Out with the truckers and the kickers and the cowboy angels
And a good saloon in every single town

Oh, and I remember something you once told me
And I'll be damned if it did not come true
Twenty thousand roads I went down, down, down
And they all lead me straight back home to you

`Cause I headed West to grow up with the country
Across those prairies with the waves of grain
And I saw my devil,
and I saw my deep blue sea
And I thought about a calico bonnet from
Cheyenne to Tennessee

We flew straight across that river bridge,
last night at half past two
The switchman wave his lantern goodbye and good day
as we went rolling through
Billboards and truckstops pass by the grievous angel
And now I know just what I have to do

And the man on the radio won't leave me alone
He wants to take my money for something
that I've never been shown

And I saw my devil,
and I saw my deep blue sea
And I thought about a calico bonnet from
Cheyenne to Tennessee

The news I could bring I met up with the king
On his head an amphetamine crown
He talked about unbuckling that old bible belt
And lit out for some desert town

Out with the truckers and the kickers and the cowboy angels
And a good saloon in every single town

Oh, but I remembered something you once told me
And I'll be damned if it did not come true
Twenty thousand roads I went down, down, down
And they all lead me straight back home to you

Twenty thousand roads I went down, down, down
And they all lead me straight back home to you