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IYou made me. Breathed your spirit into me.

Carried me and shielded me.

Sacrificed and gave for me

And worked it to the bone.

You named me. Held me up and welcomed me.

Promised me your legacy.

Suffered and fought and prayed for me.

How hard I’ve never known.

There was a time I had no use for you.

Didn’t want to walk in your worn-out shoes.

To follow in the tracks of my old man.

Now I don’t think I can.

And I blamed you. For all my dreams not coming true.

I thought I knew much more than you.

I broke your loving heart in two.

And said I didn’t care.

I shamed you. With all the things a child can do.

Stood my ground in front of you.

Said that I’d no need of you.

Still you’re always there.

There was a time I had no use for you.

Didn’t want to walk in your worn-out shoes.

To follow in the tracks of my old man.

Now I don’t think I can.

Everything you told me then has finally come to pass

Looking in the mirror now I see the truth at last.

Now you’re eighty and every night to god I pray.

Forgive me the mistakes I made

This debt I owe cannot be paid

With everything I own.

There was a time I had no use for you.

Didn’t want to walk in your worn-out shoes.

To follow in the tracks of my old man.

Now I don’t think I can.

I don’t think I can.

Thunder and lightning

Endless rain

Louisiana on a bayou train

Rising water, raging wind

Good to be home again

I call your name

Into the eye of a hurricane

Opelousas, Lafayette, Baton Rouge

On the night we met

Angry heavens

Angry seas

That night you put

A spell on me

I call your name 

Into the eye of a hurricane

Force of nature

Devil’s kiss

Consummated on a night like this

Raised me up, tossed me around

Here I am

Back in town

I call your name 

Into the eye of a hurricane

Frying down in Texas

Hottest that I’ve seen

Got me feeling restless

Makes my woman mean

She’s meaner than the hot Texas sun

When Margaret’s got her killing boots on.

They took me off the dayshift

Couldn’t pay my rent

They repossessed my Chevy 

And I haven’t seen it since

If I could make it to the door I’d be gone

But Margaret’s got her killing boots on.

Big blue eyes

Red, red, lips

Skin tight jeans are caressing her hips

Left foot, right foot

Pull’em up tight

Pointed and sharp like a knife in a fight.

Me and Jimmy Johnson

Robbed a liquor store

Now we’re flying down the turnpike with a loaded .44

Cause anything is better than being at home

When Margaret’s got her killing boots on.

Margaret’s got her killin’ boots on

Why in the world can’t she leave me alone?

Cut like a razor clean to the bone

Please won’t you tell me what I”ve done that’s so wrong?

I ain’t afraid of nothin

Nothin I can see but 

Maggie’s Tony Lamas when she coming after me

If I can make it to the door I’d be gone

But Margaret’s got her killing boots on

Please won’t you tell me what I’ve done that’s so wrong

Margaret’s got her killing boots on

Margaret’s got her killing boots on 

Margaret’s got her killing boots on

Portraits in paint

Moments in time

Sinners and saints

Captured and signed

They’re hung in a line

Gathering dust 

I’m posing for mine

A portrait of us.

Paint this heart

Torn in two

Paint it blue

Paint it blue

Layer on layer

Colors on cloth

Running together

Heartache and loss

The essence of us

A palette and knife

The edge of a brush

Revealing a life

And when the work is done

Hang it high for all to see

The price I paid to have this image made

for me

I am a native son of the stars and bars

In a coat made of Richmond grey

The same wool on the shoulders of Robert Lee

that he wore on the final day.

You can talk about economics

You can argue the rights of states

But you can't cheat fate

Or erase the sound of the moans 

On the hallowed ground.

So take me to Vicksburg

I want to see where daddy fell

On a silent hill where the wind’s as still

As the ghost of a rebel yell

I’m a native son of the stars and bars

I’ve got wounds that refuse to mend

The same wounds that were opened in ‘65

When we came to a shameful end

You can talk about grace and honor

You can cry that it’s all been lost

But no cause is just

if the cause at hand

Is enslaving another man

So take me to Vicksburg

I want to see where daddy fell

On a silent hill where the wind’s as still

As the ghost of a rebel yell.

Yeah they say the war is over

Reunited once again

The north and south

Is a bitter taste in the mouth

Of a confederate man

I was down in Portales

In the Land of Enchantment

Where the desert’s on fire

Like it’s painted with magic

And the stars shine like tears on a field between turquoise and blue

’Til they’re faded from view by the light of the New Mexico moon

And if I ever see Clayton again…

She was playing her songs on an old concertina 

On a Saturday night in Clayton cantina

When I begged her to stay in a haze of tequila and lust

She turned silver to rust by the light of the New Mexico moon

And if I ever see Clayton again, it’ll be too soon.

If I ever see Clayton again

I’ll stumble and choke on the dust

While I twist in the gathering wind

And look for the traces of us.

I was headed for Dallas

When I happened to meet her

In a town near the border

I wish I’d never seen her

As I faded away

In her eyes between turquoise and blue

She stole away with my heart by the light of the New Mexico moon

And if I ever see Clayton again, it’ll be too soon.

If I ever see Clayton again

I’ll remember the turquoise and blue

As I bend in the gathering wind

To look for the traces of you.

And if I ever see Clayton again

It’ll be too soon.

Oh, St. Landry Parish

C’est bon ton rouler

Lafayette is singing

I can’t stay away

Cajuns by the millions

Everywhere I turn

Just one bayou baby

Makes my fire burn

CHORUS

Say you’ll let me hear the drum roll tonight

Move the squeezebox outside and in

Gonna make the gumbo just right

Wild night on the bayou again

Étendez Evangeline

Set my spirit free

Show my how to break the spell

That you put on me

Take me down to Lagneaux’s now

Feed me Étoufée

Show me all the secrets

Of that Louisiana way

Louisiana Louisiane

Read my billet doux

It will help you understand

Why I’m in love with you

She plays me like an Oscar-winning scene

She slays me like a science-fiction-alien machine

She takes me to another world

Another place I’ve never been

She says that I’m the best she’s ever seen.

She runs me like a rabbit runs a dog

She stuns me like a Frankenstein emerging from a fog

She eyes me like a crocodile when she’s rolling off a log

She calls me like a farmer calls a hog

Don’t set me free Eileen

I feel a chill and my will is gone

I’m at the door to the great unknown

You’ve got me under your spell

And it thrills me to the bone

Eileen, Eileen

Don’t set me free Eileen

I’m just a slave and you’re my Queen

Don’t set me free

When I first saw you baby

I was appalled by the way that you wore your clothes

But it didn’t take you too long

To put the chain on my leg

The ring in my nose

Eileen, Eileen

Don’t set me free Eileen

I’m just a slave and you’re my Queen

Don’t set me free

She holds me like a mama holds a son

She rolls me like a cigarette between her fingertips and thumb

She told me if she weighed our love

It would probably weigh a ton

She says that I’m the best she’s ever done.

I took the pictures off the wall and the cards with the names I’ll never call

And I threw them away

I threw them away.

I put the books that I won’t need with the letters you wrote that I'll never read 

Cause I’m going away

I’m going away.

Took  my trophies and all of these worthless things I’ve collected all this time 

The more of these moments I get rid of today, then the less I’ll leave behind.

And there’ll be less to go through, less to divide, less to discard, and less to decide what to do

After I say goodbye to you. 

Took the hats and coats and worn-out shoes that are in your way that I'll never use

And I gave them away

I gave them away.

Took my trophies and all of these useless things I’ve collected all this time 

The more of these moments I get rid of today, then the less I’ll leave behind.

And you’ll have less to go through, less to divide, less to discard, and less to decide what to do

After I say goodbye to you.