LYRICS, STEVE GULLEY & TIM STAFFORD, "STILL HERE" (2021, Mountain Home Music)

 

Still Here

(Tim Stafford, Steve Gulley)

 

1) Up at 6, Every day, punch the clock, draw my pay

A Union job, and they’re hard to get, but I’d leave today, cause I

never seemed to fit

I love the money, but I hate this town, every day I’m here, just wears me down

 

CH) Another day in this big lonely city, Another month, Another year

It’s cost me more than this place will ever give me

But here I am, Still here

 

2) Stopped for gas, and a loaf of bread, the man just laughed, shook his head

 “Where you from?” I heard him say. I said, “Not from here,” shut the

door and walked away

Don’t fit in, but I won’t change, It’s who I am, sure as my name

 

CH) Another day in this big lonely city, Another month, Another year

It stole my life, and one day it's gonna kill me

But here I am, Still here

 

3) Look at me, that's who I am, just no way you'd understand

Where I'm from, folks still speak, they wave their hands if they see you on the street

30 years and nothing to show, just a pension plan and a longing for home

© 2021, Daniel House Music, Gulley's Curve Music (BMI)

 

Living Shouldn't be this Hard

(Gulley, Stafford)

 

V) I ain’t buying what you’re selling

and I don’t care what you think

You can lead a horse to water, 

but you can’t make him drink

 

CH) Seems like it takes a month of Sundays just to get through one more day

I’m tired of close but no cigar

Nobody said it would be easy, but you know what they say

Living shouldn’t be this hard

 

V) Feels like the deck is stacked against me

I seem to stay one step behind

A day late and a dollar short, 

That’s the story of my life

CH) Seems like it takes a month of Sundays just to get through one more day

I’m tired of close but no cigar

Nobody said it would be easy, but you know what they say

Living shouldn’t be this hard

 

V) Friends all try to tell me

It’s not as bad as it looks

Well I don’t need to see the movie 

and I already read the book

 

CH) Seems like it takes a month of Sundays just to get through one more day

I’m tired of close but no cigar

Nobody said it would be easy, but you know what they say

Living shouldn’t be this hard

© 2021, Daniel House Music, Gulley's Curve Music (BMI)

 

So Far

(Tim Stafford, Steve Gulley)

 

Verse

Some are  lucky and I've had my share So far

There's been good times and bad, times I wish I'd never had

Now matter where you go, there you are

And I'm still here so I'm glad, so far

 

Verse

I'd like to hold it all in a jar

Take out a little at a time, re-creation by design

And I wish that I could wish upon a star

But I've never needed to ,So far

 

Chorus

So far, I guess life's been pretty good to me

So far, it's been everything I thought it should be

But things aren't always gonna stay the way they are

And you can only see so far

 

Verse

This place keeps getting more and more bizarre

Can we really keep this Stuff? will it ever be enough?

I guess for me it's never been that hard

I've never needed much so far

 

Verse

It all depends how high you set the bar

If you don't make it, it's Okay.  Doesn't matter anyway

There's really nothing wrong with even par

It's worked pretty good for me, so far

Tag) we only need to see so far

Publisher : Daniel House Music, Gulley's Curve Music (BMI)

Copyright © 2021, Tim Stafford | Steve Gulley

 

There Ain't No Good Way to Go

(Tim Stafford, Steve Gulley)

 

CH) There ain’t no good way to go

car or train, bus or plane, fast or slow

Take the the credit or the blame, In the end it’s all the same

Cause there ain’t no good way to go

 

V1) There ain’t no Headstones for heartaches, no good time for bad breaks

Why worry about something you can’t change?

There’ll be a time for Grieving once it’s time for leaving

After all, it all gets rearranged

 

V2) You’re running the rat race, hanging on to first place 

But soon you won’t be running anymore

You could write your ending, but you won’t be attending

So there really ain’t no use in keeping score

 

CH) There ain’t no good way to go

car or train, bus or plane, fast or slow

If everybody knows your name, In the end it’s all the same

Cause there ain’t no good way to go

 

TAG) Take your money and your pride, push it all aside

Cause there ain’t no good way to go

 

© 2021, Daniel House Music, Gulley's Curve Music (BMI)

 

She Threw Herself Away

(Tim Stafford, Steve Gulley)

 

1) She's not the kind of girl who volunteers her mind

Never lets you know her heart is in a bind

People wonder why she don't have much to say

I guess she thinks it wouldn't matter anyway

 

2) She can't turn off these voices in her head

They keep saying, "What's the use?  Just stay in bed"

The only sign that they're doing any harm

are all the purple tracks up and down her arm

 

CH) If she was your daughter would you look the other way

Could you convince yourself that life is just that way?

If she was out standing on that ledge every day

Would you try to stop her

Before she threw herself away

 

3) A couple months ago I saw her at the store

You could hardly recognize her anymore

 I know she saw me, but she looked the other way

I wanted to tell her, but what could I say?

 

4) I saw her picture in the paper, and I thought

nobody ever knew the demons that she fought

Somewhere a mother cries and a father shakes his head

She never listened to a single word I said

© 2021, Daniel House Music, Gulleys Curve Music (BMI)

 

My Last Excuse to Drink

(Tim Stafford, Steve Gulley)

 

1) Another sad love story--that's how they all begin

I can't tell you where it started, but I do know where it ends

Could be a woman or a bottle, no matter what you think

There's always a last excuse to drink

 

2) If Daddy hadn't left us, if Momma hadn't died,

If living on the streets hadn't robbed me of my pride

If you hit rock bottom, how much lower can you sink?

You don't need a last excuse to drink

 

CH} I saw it in the mirror in the way I wore my skin 

I saw what I'd become, not what I could have been

30 years had come and gone in the time it takes to blink

Just searching for my last excuse to drink

 

3) Stand up and say your name, tell 'em what you are

Tell 'em all the reasons why you let it go this far

A family of believers tries to pull you from the brink

And take away that last excuse to drink

 

4)  She was always waiting every Tuesday night

There at 7:30, to help me fight the fight

She'd stand and tell the sinners, "I believe in you."

I'm not here to judge, 'cause I'm a sinner too"

 

CH)  I ran out of reasons for running from myself

from reasons for believing when there was nothing left

Cause when she came into my life, I found the missing link

She took away my last excuse to drink

 

© 2018, Daniel House Music, Gulleys Curve Music (BMI)

 

She Comes Back to me When we Sing

(Tim Stafford, Steve Gulley)

 

V1) There’s a table and a chair, one picture on the wall

A room like all the rest, just different numbers down the hall

She brought me in the world and taught me how to sing

She stares out the window but who knows what she sees

 

V2) But when I bring her Martin, it’s hard to understand

the look in her eyes when I put it  in her hands

Peace in the Valley, and Brother Have you Heard

She may not remember me, but she remembers every word

 

CH) Rock of Ages, Oh how sweet the memories

Peggy Sue, Secret Love and Maybelline

time fades away into two-part harmonies

Most days I miss her, but she comes back to me when we sing

 

BR) She taught me how the notes fit together, how the words on the paper came alive

And I’ve learned nothing lasts forever, but the music and love still survive

© 2021, Daniel House Music, Gulley's Curve Music (BMI)

 

Long Way Around the Mountain

(Tim Stafford, Steve Gulley)

 

1) Loading up the cars in the dark and dusty night

Our shift was finally over, as we headed toward the light

We heard the rifles and the shotguns come roaring down the hole

I’lll not be shot down like a dog for your damned old dirty coal

 

CH1) There’s blood running down the highway

They’re shooting men down at the gate

Take the Long Way Around the Mountain

Get away before it’s too late

 

2) It’s a sad way to go, filled with pain and strife

When a man can’t make a living without fearing for his life

It’s methane gas or gun thugs, you’re a dead man either way

I don’t mind a-dying but it won’t be today

 

CH2) There’s blood running down the highway

Yellow creek is a-running red

Take the Long Way Around the Mountain

Staying means you’ll end up graveyard dead

 

3) All along the ridgeline and down the other side

 From Bell County to the Valley with starlight as our guide

And when we reached the river by the widow Baker’s shack

We thanked the Lord above for passage safely back

 

CH3) There’s blood running down the highway

They’re shooting men down at the gate

Take the Long Way Around the Mountain

Get away before it’s too late
© 2021, Daniel House Music, Gulleys Curve Music (BMI)

 

HE’S TRYING TO TELL YOU SOMETHING

(Tim Stafford and Steve Gulley, 2003)

 

V1) Didn’t get home till after eight

Supper’s cold but he already ate

Missed you too, and by the way

About this Friday’s dinner date

 

V2) His hair’s not as gray as it used to be

He’s looking good for forty-three

There’s always some new friend to see

She’s thinking, “Where does this leave me?”

 

CH) He’s trying to tell you something

You may have to open your heart to see

He’s trying to tell you something

And girl you know it as well as me

 

V3) When she was a girl of seventeen

He was the sweetest thing she’d seen

But times they change and people too

And she’s left wondering if it’s true

 

Br) This feeling won’t go away

She don’t know quite what to say

But one thing is for sure

 

CH) He’s trying to tell you something

You may have to open your heart to see

He’s trying to tell you something

And girl you know it as well as me

 

© 2021 Daniel House Music, BMI,  Gulleys Curve Music, BMI

 

IT’S ALL ABOUT THE GAME

(Tim Stafford, Steve Gulley)

 

V1) Staring in the mirror, not one line on his face

Airbrushed smile, loads of style and every hair’s in place

He swaggers to a barstool like Bogart meets James Dean

He’s got stealing hearts down to an art

He’s a heartbreak machine

 

V2) Straight off a Cosmo cover, she’s smoothed out every flaw

Microderm abrasion, Ten hours at the Spa

Hourglass figure, the best a man can buy

She’s a poster child for Girls Gone Wild

No man can deny

 

Ch) Some people live for true love; Some don’t, and that’s a shame

They know love is temporary; They’re just here to play the game

 

V3) He assumed the pose, looked down his nose, checking out the scene

A chick buffet, just another day in the food chain for the King

Then she made her entrance, all hail the Deep Freeze Queen

She won’t spare a glance for half a chance; she’s locked like a laser beam

 

Then the Red Sea parted as she glided to her spot

Nobody’s fool, he played it cool, but that’s when things got hot

Their eyes met over Bourbon, not a single word was said

But the Fashion King and the Runway Queen are about to go Code Red

 

Ch) If they wake alone tomorrow, there’s no one else to blame

At least they looked good trying; they still love to play the game

 

TAG) It’s never been about forever; it’s all about the game

 

© 2005 Daniel House Music, BMI

© 2005 Mountain Heart Music, BMI

 

Back when it was Easy

(Steve Gulley, Tim Stafford)

 

Chorus

Back when it was easy, hard times passed by like the breeze

And livin' was something to do

Back when it was easy

 

Verse

Supper at seven, News at eleven

Three channels, one story to tell

Never paid much attention at all

The world wasn't big, I was just small

 

Verse

Now it's Dead ends and dead lines

Never enough time

Running a race I can't win

Life's not that hard at all

When it all brings me down I still recall

 

Chorus

Back when it was easy, hard times passed by like the breeze

And livin' was something to do

Back when it was easy

 

Chorus

Back when it was easy, hard times passed by like the breeze

Think it's time to go back there again

Back when it was easy

 

Publisher : Daniel House Music, Gulley's Curve Music (BMI)

Copyright © 2021, Tim Stafford | Steve Gulley

Wild West

(Tim Stafford, Daniel House Music)

 

1) I'm just an old Jayhawker, a scout and a spy, 

rode the Pony Express before the war,

On the Red Butte Station line

I killed 4000 buffalo to feed the railroad men

I took the scalp of Yellow Hair and I would do it still again 

 

2) I met Buntline in Nebraska and he wrote a pack of lies

But the eastern dandies loved it, much to my surprise

I became a daring hero on every stage across the land

Spent summers scouting with the Army for Lakota and Cheyenne

 

PRE-CH) Some say I am an artifact of disappearing times

But tonight beneath this circus tent I will bring it all alive

 

CH) Lay down your silver dollar 

For I'll bet you've never seen 

The world's greatest show, the envy of the Kaisers and the Kings

Where the Cossacks and Vaqueros, famed in deed and pen

all come alive before your eyes, And the West is Wild again

 

3) So I began to tell the story in 1883 

Of how the west was lost and won by saddle tramps like me

I met the queen of England And For her Golden Jubilee

A grand command performance None Like it ever seen

 

4) Annie was a beauty until she was provoked, shot the ashes off a cigar at 40 paces while you smoked

The Lakota they called Sitting Bull became my dearest friend

And He died for sins of white men, of that I still contend

 

PRE-CH) Some say I am an artifact of disappearing times

But tonight beneath this circus tent I will bring it all alive

 

CH) Lay down your silver dollar 

For I'll bet you've never seen 

The world's greatest show, the envy of the Kaisers and the Kings

Where the Cossacks and Vaqueros, famed in deed and pen

all come alive before your eyes, And the West is Wild again

 

© 2020, Tim Stafford, Daniel House Music 

 

The Last Clinchfield Run

(Stafford/Gulley, 12/16/15)

 

Verse

It's my last run from Erwin on the Clinchfield tonight

They'll close down the railyard at first morning light

Never had time for crying, not that kind of guy

But I'm dreading the moment the sun starts to rise

 

Verse

Got the crew call this morning, to Bostic this time

A short run, but a good one for old number 9

Just me and Ed Williams, like so many before

But this time we both knew it meant so much more

 

Verse

Automatic is handy, but it don't have the feel

So I switched down to manual, cause manual is real

And I wanted to feel it around every curve

I just felt it was something we both deserved

 

Verse

I was talking to Williams, he's older than me

about the people we'd known and the places we'd seen

Then his eyes kinda sparkled and I said with a smile

Why don't you take her a couple of miles

 

Bridge

Metal on metal, joints cracking the rail

Then it fades in the distance till the red light grows pale

 

Verse

So I'm standing in Erwin, and the yard's empty now

Don't know where I'm headed, but I'll go on somehow

I feel God on my shoulder and a tear in my eye

For we are the Clinchfield, my brothers and I

 

Publisher : Daniel House Music, Gulleys Curve Music (BMI)

Copyright © 2020, Tim Stafford | Steve Gulley

 

 

THE MARKS

(Tim Stafford, Joe Newberry)

 

I sat there a while, Didn’t want to go in, finally opened the door of my car

Inside the church, there on a stand, my grandfather’s old guitar

The smell of the wood filled up the room, like so many times before

It was like he was saying I’m not really gone, but boy I can’t play

this box anymore

 

And inside it smelled like whiskey and tears, dust from dances and

cigarette ashes

old spice and gin and herringbone trim but mostly it smelled like him

 

So I took it home, held it up to the light, saw things I never noticed before

When I turned it over, I saw the mark of every belt that he ever wore.

The neck with its divots, like valleys and hills, old frets worn from play

the finish was cracked, and grain saw daylight, as close as the judgement day

 

And outside it looked like cradle to grave, dust from dances and cigarette ashes

A top paper thin, with spidery skin, so mostly it looked like him

 

BR) All the marks, proud battle scars, of endless nights in nameless bars

He left his mark on country boys and old guitars

 

And when I play it I hear whiskey and tears, dust from dances and

cigarette ashes

A long time to spend with a song that won’t end, and mostly I sound like him

 

TAG) I try my best to sound like him

 

Publisher : Daniel House Music,  Newberry Songs (BMI)

Copyright © 2020, Tim Stafford | Joe Newberry

 

Sail Away to See the World

[Craig Market, Tim Stafford]

Verse

Greenland born and ocean bound

Two years until the others drowned

I bid farewell to solid ground

And sailed away to see the world

 

Verse

One hundred feet across her beam

As grand as any man had seen

Steel and wood, grace and steam

sailed away to see the world

 

Verse

From Londonderry, Cork and Claire

Far and wide they gathered there

In answer to a young man's prayer

And sailed away to see the world

 

Verse

Standing on the bridge alone

A Strong and steady hand upon

the wheel that guides her safely home

To sail no more and see the world

 

Bridge

The moon bright as day as she slid 'neath the waves

On That cold April night long ago

 

Verse

So when you bow your head to pray

Remember souls that slipped away

And young men dreaming still today

To sail away and see the world

 

Publisher : Daniel House Music (BMI), Drop D Publishing (BMI)

Copyright © 2020, Tim Stafford | Craig Market

 

LONDON TOWN

(Tim Stafford, Daniel House Music)

 

CH) Death came down to London Town, London Town, London Town

Death came down to London Town before the break of day

 

1) Dear old Boss, keep the letter back, letter back from Saucy Jack

Dear Old Boss, keep the letter back until the break of day

 

2) If you only wait a little while, a little while,  it will be worthwhile

If you only wait a little while, I will send the bloody knife

 

CH) Death came down to London Town, London Town, London Town

Death came down to London Town before the break of day

 

3) Mister catch me when you can, when you can, if you can

Mister catch me when you can, sincerely sent from hell

 

4) Dear old Boss, you was right, you was right, the other night

I’ll send you more cause you was right, soon I’m on the job again

 

CH) Death came down to London Town, London Town, London Town

Death came down to London Town before the break of day

 

5) Send regards to Scotland Yard, Scotland Yard, is still on guard

Send regards to Scotland Yard, they never had a clue 

 

CH) Death came down to London Town, London Town, London Town

Death came down to London Town before the break of day

© 2020, Daniel House Music, BMI

 

Shenandoah Valley Blues

(Tim Stafford, Jon Weisberger, Daniel House Music BMI, Asheville Music Publishing)

 

1) It’s Fall and I’m thinking of Virginia

and I know the time is drawing near

Cause in dreams once again I try to win ya

but I left you standing by the cabin door

now I wonder if I’ll see it anymore

 

CH) If I wake before the devil comes to find me

Still I’ll have nothing to lose

But this feeling that I left too much behind me

And the Shenandoah Valley Blues

 

2) When the Apple blossoms bloom I’ll be going

back to the one I love so dear

where once again that Shenandoah wind is blowing

and forever in your arms I’m gonna stay

Oh I wonder why I ever went away

 

Publisher : Daniel House Music, Asheville Music Publishing (BMI)

Copyright © 2020, Tim Stafford | Jon Weisberger

 

ARIZONA TEARS

Tim Stafford, Daniel House Music (2004)

 

These tears flow up, they don’t fall down

They come to sea and float to ground

Floating to an unheard song

And it won’t stop until the last one’s gone

Trailing gently in the flow

Cried by sailors far below

 

Since December ’41,  they’re sleeping there forever young

In a rusty iron bed

Their only thought was life ahead

Never thought they’d spend their years crying Arizona tears

 

Three brothers came to Newport yard

Leaving home was awful hard

They came together all the way

Singapore to Mandalay

But their trial was just begun come December ‘41

 

Two were fore, the other aft

Only one survived the blast

Held apart for 80 years

While history shed her oily tears

 

You see the names there on the wall

1177 in all

I wonder what would I have done?

Like so many father’s sons

When the world came crashing down

Say a prayer before you drown

 

Every year, another urn

Is lowered where no fires burn

Since December 7, ‘41

Every sailor has returned

 

They lowered him to sea today

To sleep inside that rusty grave

All three together finally home

The last tear floated in the foam

 

These tears float up, they don’t fall down

 

© 2020, Daniel House Music, BMI

 

 

I Am America

(Bobby Starnes, Tim Stafford)

 

Verse

I am a bridge in Dallas County that someone had to cross

I am a mine in West Virginia where thirteen lives were lost

I'm a grave in Pennsylvania in the middle of a field

I Am a lady in a harbor with a torch shining still

I am America, I am America

 

Verse

I am a light in a church house on the North End of town

a Courthouse in Appamattox, on dark and bloody ground

I'm a broken bell in Philly, on Independence Day

I am a diamond in a corn field where the whole world learned to play

I am America, I am America

 

Verse

I'm a date that lives in infamy, a post war baby boom

I'm a grassy knoll in Dallas, And I've walked on the moon

I am every creed and color, every point of view

I am black and brown and yellow, red, white and blue

I am America, I am America

 

Verse

We are ground zero, Where some gave all

We are a flag flying free on a tower standing tall

We are the tired, the poor and homeless from your teeming shore

We are every man and woman who yearns for something more

We are America, We are America

 

Publisher : Daniel House Music, It Says What It Says Music (BMI)

Copyright © 2017, Tim Stafford | Bobby Starnes

 

 

Just to Hear the Whistle Blow

(Tim Stafford, Steve Gulley)

 

Verse

 

When I was just a school kid, we used to hear it going by

If you were gonna leave this holler, it was the only way to fly

So many hopped a freight train, addicted to the sound

But me I took the safe track and never left this town

 

Chorus

No, I never jumped a boxcar,

Never felt those big wheels roll 

But I still come here every day

Just to Hear the Whistle Blow

 

Verse

Well I heard the singing brakeman, and it made me want to go

And life here in Kentucky was moving way too slow

Sometimes the high way ain't the right way, guess I'd do it all again

Still I can't help but wonder bout the way things might have been

 

Verse

So each day I drive to Corbin, just to satisfy my mind

Park beside the station, out past the limit sign

I know they look at me and wonder why I even hang around

What makes an old man sit here and listen to the sound

Publisher : Daniel House Music, Gulley's Curve Music (BMI)

Copyright © 2014, Tim Stafford | Steve Gulley


 

Worry's Like a Rockin' Chair

(Tim Stafford, Barry Bales)

 

CH) Worry's Like a Rockin' Chair

It won't get you anywhere

Back and forth, but you're still there

Worry's Like a Rockin' Chair

 

V1) Grandpa was a wise old man

cigarettes in calloused hands

Never had a lot to say

An education every day

 

V2) He'd take down his old guitar

apple pie in an old fruit jar

On his porch the whole day long

a Worried man sings a worried song

 

CH)

 

V3) Years of trouble, years of strife

Years of racing through this life

chased a dollar all the way

my reward is turning gray

 

V4) same old porch, brand new day

Where grandpa used to sit and play

I still hear him in my head

words of wisdom never said

Publisher : Daniel House Music, Quackhead Music (BMI)

Copyright © 2014, Tim Stafford, Barry Bales



 

On the Ledge

(Tim Stafford, Bobby Starnes, Alan Stockard)

 

1) All it took was the first time

She swore she'd never do it again

She's only looking for a good time

Till the Devil came walking in

 

She found herself a shadow

of the girl she use to be

She tries her best to hide it

But the whole world can see

 

CH) that's she's on the ledge,on a rusty razor's edge

 

2) friends and family welcomed him home

with medals on his chest

Now he walks the streets alone

But he just can't get no rest

 

He did his time on the front line

for God, Country and Corps

but the battle still rages in his mind

in a different kind of war

 

CH) he's on the ledge, on a rusty razor's edge

 

Forty hours a week for eighty years

They worked out on the line

Then the company up and disappears

without a warning sign

 

the brand they wore moved offshore

'cause greed has no pride

Now the wolf is knocking down the door

and there's no place to hide

 

BR) God looks down on creation With teardrops in his eyes

The lust of every nation Creates its own demise

 

CH) We're on the ledge, On a rusty razor's edge

Publisher : Daniel House Music, It Says What It Says Music (BMI)

Copyright © 2014, Tim Stafford, Bobby Starnes, Alan Stockard

 

DIMES

(Tim Stafford)

 

1) Daddy loved a story

He collected dimes

He built his memories

Ten cents at a time

He’d find ‘em on the corner of a crowded city street

Seems like they fell right at his feet

He’d take ‘em from the closet 

Then he’d take me on his knee

Hard to say what a dime is worth to me

 

2) Now I take them from the closet

And I remember Dad

There’s a flower from his funeral

I think it makes him glad

Cause I find ‘em on the corner of a crowded city street

Seems like they fall right at my feet

Every day I think of him

At least a hundred times

‘Cause everywhere I go, I find dimes

 

© Daniel House Music, BMI, 2014
 

Hideaway Hotel

(Steve Gulley, Tim Stafford)

 

Verse

I live out on the highway, not the greatest side of town

Since they built the new road, not as many come around

A lot of folks down on their luck, just working for a dime

Peeling paint and neon signs that work most of the time

 

I've seen pushers, pimps and preachers, by the hour or the day

They come to rent some peace of mind, or give it all away

some come here to hide, some to just be gone

Chances are if you come here, you're doing something wrong

 

Chorus

I don't have turndown service, but I got an empty pool

I deal in matters of the heart, just a halfway house for fools

I know how to be discrete with all my clientele

I live for you to use me, I'm the Hideaway Hotel

 

Verse

I've got little bars of soap and slots for razor blades

Sanitized for your protection, you've really got it made

I've got cable television, with a modern day decor

There's a bible in the nightstand, but that's not what you're looking for

 

You won't find me in AAA, or on the intenet

I just provide a service, what you see is what you get

Sometimes I give you things that you can't get at home

I'm the temple of addiction, a haven for lost souls

 

Outro

I'm right here when you need me, I'm the Hideaway Hotel

Publisher : Daniel House Music, Gulley's Curve Music (BMI)

Copyright © 2014, Tim Stafford | Steve Gulley


It Ain't the Mountain
Tim Stafford,  Jon Weisberger

 

Chorus

It Ain't the Mountain that you're climbing

It's just a place you're passing through, where you go is up to you

cause the mountain you've been climbing

is no bigger than the pebble in your shoe

 

Verse

Another Sunday, at the liquor store by two

He works the second shift cause the rent is overdue

Sometimes he wonders how working hard went wrong

How the best that he can do is barely hanging on

 

Verse

Come Monday morning, she's standing in the line

The cotton mill pulled out and she got left behind

So she worries about her children back at home

Will they find another way before their dreams have flown?

 

Bridge

Don't lie down; Don't give up on your pride

Don't look up; The way ahead is down inside

 

Publisher : Daniel House Music, Use Your Words Music (BMI)

Copyright © 2014, Tim Stafford, Jon Weisberger

 

ISAAC MORTON’S REVENGE

(Tim Stafford and Steve Gulley, 2005)

 

V1) Isaac Morton took a wife, he’d been a soldier half his life

Saw Pickett’s Charge in ’63, marched with Sherman to the sea

 

V2) His bride was barely seventeen, the fairest rose he’d ever seen

He swore the day he took her hand, He’d never raise a gun again

 

V3) One day while Issac went to town, young Arley Walker came around

Said, “Why’d you marry that old man?  I thought you promised me your hand.”

 

V4) When Isaac came back home that night, his eyes beheld the awful sight

Saw the bloodstains on the floor, a silver dagger by the door

 

V5) Time soon passed a year or more, one day a knock came at my door

“Could you spare a helping hand?  Water for a weary man?”

 

V6) I showed him where the cistern drew and then within a day or two

Isaac Morton came and swore, “I’ve tracked a killer to your door.”

 

V7) He led us to the Devil’s Gate, still arrived a day’s ride late

Through the pass to old Cheyenne, there we found his trail again

 

V8) We chased him for a hundred days until we reach the Frisco Bay

This is where I took my leave; I left old Isaac there to grieve

 

V9) Some say he never found his man he chased to hell and back again

They say he never found a home; across the plains his spirit roams

 

V10) The postman brought a week ago a parcel postmarked Mexico

Inside a Spanish scabbard rare, a silver dagger and a lock of hair

 

In days to come the legend grew; I only know this part is true

Vengeance to the Lord belongs, but Isaac Morton carries on

 

© 2014 Daniel House Music, BMI

© 2014 Mountain Heart Music, BMI


 

BACK IN THE DAY

(Bobby Starnes, Tim Stafford)

 

Billy was a wild child, his wanderlust was real

now he sells insurance, and he's living for a deal

Melinda had a love child when she was just sixteen

Now her baby's teaching college, and he's living out her dream

 

In this small town American clean

Norman Rockwell's homecoming queen

living, dying, finding our way

Life was good

Back in the day

 

Chuck was raised a quarterback, he could throw it deep and straight

And Bobby and Connie are still living their first date 

Butch dropped out our senior year, then he taught us life was short

and Vickie took her own life when she couldn't take no more

 

Of this small town American clean

Norman Rockwell's homecoming queen

living, dying, finding our way

Life was just life

Back in the day

 

BR) Scattered near and far like seeds cast to the wind

Once we were wildcats, but you can't go back again

 

Randall moved to Charlotte, George lives in L.A.

Tina married a millionaire; she's a million miles away 

Mickey's still in prison but Kevin played it safe

All of Ruby's children are still carrying the faith

 

of this small town American clean

Norman Rockwell's homecoming queen

living, dying, finding our way

Life was good

Back in the day

 

We were raised with a Rebel yell

Give 'em hell, Bloomingdale

living, dying, finding our way

Life was good

Back in the day

 

Publisher : Daniel House Music, It Says What It Says Music (BMI)

Copyright © 2014, Tim Stafford, Bobby Starnes

 

Rider on an Endless Line

(Tim Stafford and Steve Gulley)

 

V1) Black coffee waitin’ for me, day number 123, now there’s nothing more to say

I turn the radio on, hopin’ all it takes is a song

To get me through another day

 

Br) But it’s not workin’ anymore

I wonder what I’m workin’ for

 

CH) I’m just a rider on an endless line

This way of living seemed to suit me fine till now

There’s nothing better than a clear blue sky

To feel like flyin’, but you don’t know why or how

 

V2) Hey Boy, get out of bed, 

get the cobwebs out of your head

Burnin’ daylight ain’t the plan

All packed and ready to go, killing time at the fishing hole,

Learnin’ how to be a man

 

Br) But I’m not the man I planned to be

Forty years ago I couldn’t see

 

CH) I’d like to go back to a simpler day

If I believed that I could find a way, I would

But I’m not living this lie anymore

Someday soon I’m gonna close that door for good

 

I’m still a rider on an endless line

Running away and slowly out of time each day

And I’m still lookin’ for a clear blue sky

Where I can spread my wings and then I’ll fly away

 

© 2004, Daniel House Music, BMI

© 2004, Mountain Heart Music, BMI

 

THE KID

(Tim Stafford)

 

I am known as Billy Antrim, but McCarty is my name

You may have heard of William Bonney, I suppose it’s all the same

I soon came to shoot a pistol as sure as I could point my hand

But how I came to be an outlaw, guess I’ll never understand

 

If you live in Lincoln County, no matter what your trade has been

 You’re controlled by J.J. Dolan and his ruthless band of men

Now they name me as a killer, but the trouble that I’ve seen

Was all within the service of men named Chisum and McSween

 

See I hired for John D. Tunstall and he treated me so well

For him I gladly would have ridden through the very fires of hell

But he was killed by Jesse Evans, though Dolan fired a shot as well

And not an hour was spent in prison, at least by those who lived to tell

 

I rode with the Regulators when McCloskey met his end

Next was Morton, then came Baker, not one cartridge did I spend

But I was trapped inside a rock house by Sheriff Garrett and his crew

They shot poor Charlie Boudre, the closest friend I ever knew

 

I was brought in chains to Lincoln, barely clothed and poorly fed

Before I left that stinking prison, two deputies were dead

Now I’m here in Old Fort Sumner, and Paulita’s by my side

And my life is down to wondering how long an outlaw has to hide

 

If you’re looking for a hero or a villain in this tale

You’ll find both, most likely neither; just a human urge to fail

For I am just a young vaquero, never courted crime nor fame

Now I wish those Eastern papers had never heard my name

 

© 2004, Daniel House Music, BMI

 

DANVILLE GIRL
(Trad., arr. Tim Stafford)

 

1) I  went down to Danville Got stuck on a Danville girl

Oh, you bet your life she’s out of sight

She wears those Danville curls

 

2) She wears her hair on the back of her head

like all high-toned people do

The very first train that leaves this town

Going to bid that girl adieu

 

3) I don’t see why I love that girl, She never cared for me

But still my mind is on her wherever she may be

 

4) It’s forty miles through the rock

It’s sixty through the sand

Oh I relate to you the life

Of many a poor married man

 

5) Oh standing by the railroad track a-resting my poor tired feet

Nine-hundred miles away from home and not a bite to eat

 

6) A-walking about on the old platform

A-smoking a cheap cigar

A-waiting for a local freight, to catch an empty car

 

7) Look up, look down that lonesome road

Hand down your head and cry

The best of friends have to part sometimes

And why can’t you and I?

 

IF ONLY FOR A DAY

(Tim Stafford and Robert G. Starnes)

 

V1) Storm out on the water, lightning to the East

It’s hard to make a living from the bottom of the sea

Shadows on the canyon I may never see

But a fisherman is what I’ll always be

 

V1) Sunset on the prairie, wind across the plain

Evening star is shining, Sure could use some rain

The coast of Carolina I may never see

A cattleman is what I’ll always be

 

Bridge) Sometimes I wish that I could fly away

If only for a day

Lord help me find the way

 

V3) Every life has a reason, but still we believe

That every changing season will somehow set us free

Fate can just deliver what was meant for me

A simple man is what I’ll always be

© 2004, Daniel House Music, BMI

 

IF I HAD THE MONEY I WOULD RIDE THAT TRAIN

(Jack Tottle)

 

Ch) If I had the money, I would ride that train, ride that train, ride that train

If I had the money, I would ride that train way out to the Western shore

 

Lay a twenty on me if you don’t care, you don’t care, you don’t care

Pay you right back soon as I get there, way out to the Western shore

 

Ch) If I had the money, I would ride that train, ride that train, ride that train

If I had the money, I would ride that train way out to the Western shore

 

Don’t worry ‘bout me when I am gone, I am gone, I am gone

Just let everybody know I’m movin’ on, way out to the Western shore

 

Ch) If I had the money, I would ride that train, ride that train, ride that train

If I had the money, I would ride that train way out to the Western shore

 

Red tailed hawk’s on a Tennessee breeze, Tennessee breeze, Tennessee breeze

They fly away whenever they please, way out to the Western shore

 

Ch) If I had the money, I would ride that train, ride that train, ride that train

If I had the money, I would ride that train way out to the Western shore

 

© 2004, Daniel House Music, BMI