Eternal & Lowdown

Three Days Straight

I’m going down to the police station

Just go on and turn myself in

For all the bad things I been doing

Then maybe I won’t do ‘em again

7 old dogs in the backyard

6 cat gut strings on an old guitar

3 days straight I been puttin’

Everything I own in an old mason jar

I went down to the mobile depot

Wanted to see Mr. Garfields’ train

All I saw was people cryin’

Creosote smoke and falling rain

7 last words to the faithful

6 shades of gray on a piece of wood

3 days straight I been sinking,

I ain’t been doing what I should

I went down to see the fortuneteller,

Gonna get my future read

She looked at my hand, said “It’s bad”

Crossed her eyes and fell back dead

7 miles as the crow flies

6 black birds flying somewhere

3 days straight I been thirsty, it’s gettin’ to where I don’t care

So I been standing in muddy water

Waitin’ for the sun to shine

I ain’t been doin’ what I ought to

Ol’ crystal ball don’t sympathize

7 x 7 is 49

6 x 9 is 54

3 days straight I been thinkin’,

Well I ain’t gonna do that no more

Written By Ray Wylie Hubbard

2000 Mt. Kharma Music (ASCAP), Administered by Bug Music

The Sleep of the Just

There always is consequences

For every thing that I do

I been awake here now all night

Shaking like the apostles used to do

Looks like I’ll never know, I’ll never know the sleep of the just

Each and every night is worrisome

Miseries cross my mind I declare

I guess it could be a guilty conscience

Who’d a thought I could ever care?

Looks like I’ll never know, I’ll never know the sleep of the just

Have mercy Lord, have mercy

I just can’t shed these blues

Both you and I know I can’t be fixed

With bailing wire, nails or screws

I thought I heard a voice calling

Outside my window at the break of day

Said, “Be much obliged when you’re leaving”

Things just ain’t going my way

Looks like I’ll never know the sleep of the just

So I been walking round in circle

Look at these holes in my shoes

The reason I’m leaving Houston

Ain’t nothing here left I can use

Looks like I’ll never know, I’ll never know the sleep of the just

Written by Ray Wylie Hubbard

2000 Mt. Kharma Music (ASCAP)

Administered by Bug Music

Mississippi Flush

Well they got a little game called 5-card draw

They take it serious in Arkansas

You can make a little money wagering on cards

You can’t get to heaven living this hard

Deliver me from my sorrow and shame

Release me from my burden and pain

It’s a one eyed jack and a suicide king

Ace of spades and two black queens

Never draw to an inside straight

I feel a ten knocking at the gate

Deliver me from my sorrow and shame

Release me from my burden and pain

Blackbird, blackbird fly away home

Say a prayer over St. John’s bones

Tell the gamblers they’re gonna die alone

Blackbird, blackbird fly away home

Blackbird, blackbird come back again’

Don’t tell mamma where I been

Going to the river and I’m gonna jump in

Blackbird, blackbird come back again

It’s an ace high straight and all the same suit

Read ‘em and weep this hand can’t lose

Somebody said “That ain’t good enough,

That don’t beat a Mississippi flush”

Mr. Ledbetter will you tell me again

What’s a Mississippi flush and how’s it beat this hand

He said “They don’t ask questions in the graveyard

It’s a small revolver and any five cards”.

Written By Ray Wylie Hubbard

2000 Mt. Kharma Music (ASCAP)

Administered by Bug Music

Sugar Cane

From where I stand it looks like rain off the coast of Louisiana

It’s gonna get bad and wet all the way up to Atlanta

Run tell mama here comes the storm, and put on your flyin’ shoes

Levy’s gonna break and the bottom’s gonna flood

That’ll get you some Delta blues

Might be the devil playin’ a little game

I can’t stand this old rain

Need a little something to ease the pain

Oh Lord have a little mercy on the sugar cane

If the world was the way it was, no God would be required

Now the woman comes along and something is to be desired

There ain’t a lot of praying going on in the houses on St. LaRue

It’s money for the bump and the grind, and that’ll get you some Delta blues

I heard it told, I didn’t see it myself, I guess it could be a lie

I‘ve come to believe it’s the Gospel truth, so help me hope to die

If you want a little more than this old world’s got and don’t care what you lose

Go down to the crossroads, make a little deal and get you some Delta blues

Written by Ray Wylie Hubbard

2000 Mt. Kharma Music (ASCAP) Administered by Bug Music

Nighttime

Down in New Orleans, they say there’s two kind of people in the world

The day people and the night people

And it’s the night people’s job to get the day people’s money.

Nighttime is when I come around

I get right when the sun goes down

Nighttime is when the neon comes on

When the sun goes down is when we shake and moan

Nighttime is for hi-jinx and kicks

Go downtown and hear some greasy guitar licks

Waste some time hanging out with Gurf Morlix

Pretty soon I gotta get back to New Orleans

And make a little money

Written by Ray Wylie Hubbard

2000 Mt. Kharma Music (ASCAP) Administered by Bug Music

Black Dog

Well you call me a dog when I’m gone honey babe

It’s black dog when I’m gone

When I get back with a hundred dollar bill

It’s “Daddy where you been so long”

I was born in old Kentucky

Raised in Tennessee

Any old place I hang my hat

Looks like home to me

My daddy taught me to gamble

Told me to bet on the deuce and trey

When I see my last deal go down

I’m gonna bet on the old deuce and trey

I roll my dice in Cuba

Dealt my cards in Spain

When I hear some lonesome whistle blow

I jump on an old freight train

Well you call me a dog when I’m gone honey babe

It’s black dog when I’m gone

When I get back with a hundred dollar bill

It’s “Daddy where you been so long”

Joyride

Joy Ride

Understand I was not lookin’ whereby to fall in love

I’d come downtown to check out this band at The Continenetal Club

When a Mamie Van Doren looking woman come in the door

I don’t know if she had seen the light, she seemed at home in the dark

She was untamed youth, rebellion and truth and so much more

Her eyes met mine and it was like the time they split the atom apart

She could have had any biker in the bar but she come up to me

She said “You’re done sleeping around, from now on you’re with me”

Understand I did not know if this was my last or my lucky day

She said “You wanna go for a joy ride or you wanna stand here and pray”

I thought about my choices and I guess I could have said no

She had and old Camero with naga hide tuck and roll

It was just a band I’d come to see, so I mumbled let’s go

She said “You can’t live down in Texas if you don’t have a lot of soul”

The stereo blasting Mendicino by Doug Sahm

She said “Fasten your seatbelt, you’re with me from now on”

Understand I was not sleeping at the next day’s sunrise

This joy ride angel and I stayed up all night I guess it’s no surprise

When we got to her house said “Go on and take off your shoes,

I don’t smoke afterwards I prefer to listen to blues”

“I know you’re an old root rocker and that’s a compliment”

When she said “Do you want to hear some Slim Harpo”,

I knew she was heaven sent

In her fine presence is where I want to be

I’m done sleeping around

From now on she’s with me

Written By Ray Wylie Hubbard

2000 Mt. Kharma Music (ASCAP), Administered by Bug Music

Weevils

John the Revelator’s knocking at my door

Got an “O” Resonator made in 1934

Weevils in my cotton, crows in my corn

You say my Redeemer wears a crown of thorns

I know a woman make a freight train moan

Combs her hair with catfish bones

I threw a nickel in a wishing well

If I get to heaven time will tell

Going where the water taste like wine

Water in Texas here taste like turpentine

Weevils in my cotton, crows in my corn

You say my Redeemer wears a crown of thorns

Written by Ray Wylie Hubbard

2000 Mt. Kharma Music (ASCAP) Administered by Bug Music

Don’t Bother Asking Me

I been walking out in the sun

The reason is my old car don’t run

Busted windshield, four flat tires

One day I just up and set the damned thing on fire

Don’t bother asking me I wouldn’t tell you if I knew

I don’t know why I do what I do, I just do

I been writing all these songs

Believed I was done, I was wrong

So I got me an old mandolin

I hit this chord and then I up and hit it again

Don’t bother asking me I wouldn’t tell you if I knew

I don’t know why I do what I do, I just do

For heaven’s sake, for crying out loud

The sun just went behind the clouds

Now you can’t tell me I don’t care

It’s just I’d rather cast a spell than say a prayer

Don’t bother asking me I wouldn’t tell you if I knew

I don’t know why I do what I do, I just do

Written by Ray Wylie Hubbard

2000 Mt. Kharma Music (ASCAP) Administered by Bug Music Group

Didn’t Have a Prayer

Didn’t Have A Prayer

I used to take comfort

From the loneliness with whiskey

It tore up my soul

And it turned against me

I stood at the fire with my hand on the knife

Didn’t have a prayer to save my life

I stood at the crossroads with tears in my eyes

I’d come as far as I could bring me

I could not live and I could not die

There was darkness all around me, no sun up in the sky

Didn’ t have a prayer to save my life

I wasn’t looking for something to fall from the sky

I’d come to believe just what I see with my eyes

I wasn’t looking for nothing but love from the start

I need to get me, I got to find me, I got to have me

A little peace in my heart

I stood in spiritual rags

Blinded by the dust of pride

Poisoned by my own cold, cold heart

And the shallow reign of my life

In the distance there was thunder

I saw the lightning strike twice

I threw out a little prayer

Threw out a little prayer, not expecting a reply

Written By Ray Wylie Hubbard

1994 Snake Farm Publishing (SESAC), Administered by Bug Music