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Intro G D A D
D
I pulled into the regular pump
G D
I was feelin' quite at ease
E A
I rolled down my window and told the man, "Fifty cents worth please"
G D
Then out jumped my partner with his trusty pellet gun
D D A D
He said, "Boy, this is a holdup, keep 'a pumpin' and don't run"
Chorus
G A D
And now I wish I was somewhere other than here
G A E A
Down in some honky tonk, sippin' on a beer
G A D
Yes I wish I was somewhere other than here
G D
Cause that great fillin' station holdup
A D
Cost me two good years
We got fifteen dollars and a can of STP
A big ole jar of cashew nuts and a Japanese TV
Feelin' we had pulled the biggest heist of our career
We're wanted men, we'll strike again
But first let's have a beer
(Repeat chorus)
We were sittin' in the Krystal
About as drunk as we could be
In walked the deputy sheriff
And he's holdin' our TV
He roughed us and he cuffed us
And he took us off to jail
No picture on a poster
No reward and no bail
(Repeat chorus and fade)
Chorus
F
She's a railroad lady
C
Just a little bit shady
G7 C
Spendin' her days on the train
F
She's a semi-good looker
C
But the fast rails they took her
G7 F G C
Now she's tryin', just tryin' to get home again
C C7 F C
South Station in Boston to the freightyards of Austin
G7
From the Florida sunshine to the New Orleans rain
C C7
Now that the railpacks
F C
Has taken the best tracks
G7 C
She's tryin', just tryin' to get home again
Chorus
She's a railroad lady
Just a little bit shady
Spendin' her life on a train
Once a pullman car traveller
Now the brakeman won't have her
She's tryin', just tryin' to get home again
Once a high ballin' loner he thought he could own her
Bought her a fur and a big diamond ring
She hocked 'em for cold cash
Left town on the Wabash
Never thinkin', never thinkin' of home way back then
But the rails are now rusty
The dinin' car's dusty
Gold plated watches have taken their toll
Yeah the railroads are dyin'
And the lady she's cryin'
On a bus to Kentucky and home that's her goal
Chorus
She's a railroad lady
Just a little bit shady
Spendin' her life on a train
She's a semi-good looker
But the fast rails they took her
Now she's tryin', just tryin' to get home again
C G7 F G C
Yes on a bus to Kentucky and home once again
A
He went to Paris lookin' for answers
D A
To questions that bothered him so
He was impressive, young and aggressive
D E7
Savin' the world on his own
D
But the warm summer breezes
A
The French wines and cheeses
D E7
Put his ambition at bay
A
The summers and winters
Scattered like splinters
D E7 A
And four or five years slipped away
Then he went to England, played the piano
And married an actress named Kim
They had a fine life, she was a good wife
And bore him a young son named Jim
And all of the answers and all of the questions
Locked in his attic one day
'Cause he liked the quiet clean country livin'
And twenty more years slipped away
Well the war took his baby, the bombs killed his lady
And left him with only one eye
His body was battered, his whole world was shattered
And all he could do was just cry
While the tears were a' fallin' he was recallin'
Answers he never found
So he hopped on a freighter, skidded the ocean
And left England without a sound
Now he lives in the islands, fishes the pilin's
And drinks his Green Label each day
Writing his memoirs, losin' his hearin'
But he don't care what most people say
Through eighty-six years of perpetual motion
If he likes you he'll smile and he'll say
"Jimmy, some of it's magic, some of it's tragic
But I had a good life all the way"
A
And he went to Paris lookin' for answers
D E7 A
To questions that bothered him so
Intro B C B C F# G B C
B C B C
Grapefruit a bathin' suit
F# G
Chew a little juicy fruit
C
Wash away the night
B C B C
Drive-in you guzzle gin
F# G
Commit a little mortal sin
C
It's good for the soul
Chorus
Dm7 G7 Cmaj7 C6
And oh it gets so damn lonely
Dm7 G7 Cmaj7
When you're on a plane alone
Dm7 G7 Cmaj7 C6
And if I had the money honey I'd strap you in beside me
D7 G7
And never ever leave you leave you at home all alone and cryin'
Ten speed no need
My pickup gets me where I please
Chuggin' down the street
But I'll be leavin'
In a little while
So close your eyes and I'll
I'll be back real soon
Spoken: "Ah, take it Refers... Lady's choice, everybody dance..."
Repeat chorus
Chord diagrams: F# - |xx4322| D7 -|xxo212| Dm7 - |xxo211|
G7 - |32ooo1| Cmaj7-|x32ooo| C6 - |xx2213|
Intro: D G(alt) D(alt) A(alt) G(alt) D(alt2)
D G D
Well now Billy Voltaire was a piano player up from Miami way
He used to play in the bars, he could sound like the stars
E7 A7
The ladies would pay and pay
G D C G
But one night he did wind up playin' in Havana town
D A D
Nobody knew, least Billy Voltaire that these were his final sounds
He met up with Merrita, a dancer in from the coast
Half woman, half child she drove him half wild
He loved that lady the most
But one night he did find her in the arms of shrimper Dan
So he pulled a knife, took poor Danny's life
Then he turned his own cold hand
Chorus
D G
It's just a Cuban crime of passion
D
Messy and old-fashioned
A D
Yeah, that's what the papers did say
G
It's just a Cuban crime of passion
D
Anjejo and knives a-slashin'
A A-B-C
But that's what the people like to read about
A-B-C D
Up in America, up in America
(Repeat Intro chords)
Well now, they never found Merrita
Some people say she got ill
Billy Voltaire had no one to claim him
He was buried on Pauper's Hill
And no one talks about him no more, it happened just a week ago
But people get by and people get high,
In the tropics they come and they go
(Repeat chorus)
(Repeat Intro chords and fade)
D D7 G D
I really do, appreciate the fact you're sittin' here
Your voice sounds so wonderful
E7 A7
But your face don't look too clear
G D
So barmaid bring a pitcher, another round a' brew
G A D D7
Honey why don't we get drunk and screw?
Chorus
G A D
Why don't we get drunk and screw?
E7 A7
I just bought a waterbed filled up for me and you
G
They say you are a snuff queen
D
Honey I don't think that's true
G A D
So, why don't we get drunk and screw
Spoken: "Pick it Coral Reefers, here we go..."
Solo (violin)
Chorus
Why don't we get drunk and screw?
I just bought a waterbed filled up for me and you
They say you are a snuff queen
Honey I don't think that's true
So, why don't we get drunk and screw?
Yeah, now baby I say, "Lord!,"
Why don't we get drunk and screw
C G
Looking back at my hard luck days
F C
I really do have to laugh
C G
Working in a dive for twenty six dollars
F G
Spending it all on grass
F C
We were hungry hard luck heros
F G
Trying just to stay alive
F C
We'd go down to the corner drug
D G
This is how we'd survive
Chorus
C
Who's going to steal the peanut butter?
F C
I'll get a can of sardines
C
Running up and down the aisle of the mini mart
F G
Sticking food in our jeans
F C
We never took more than we could eat
F G
There was plenty left on the rack
F C
We all swore if we ever got rich
G C
We would pay the mini mart back
F C F C
Yes sir! Yes sir!
G C
We would pay the mini mart back
It was a two man operation
Had it all down on a note
Ricky would watch that big round mirror
And I'd fill up my coat
Then we'd head for the checkout aisle
With a lemon and a bottle of beer
Into to the car, got to make it on home
Supper time's gettin' near
(Repeat chorus)
I guess every good picker has had some hard times
I sure had my share
It's really kind of funny to laugh at it now
But I don't want to go back there
So every now and then when I'm in the grocery
I take a little but not much
You never know when those hard times will hit you
And I don't want to lose my touch
(Repeat chorus)
Intro: (see tab) C A F G C A F G
(Intro Tab:) ("Run" tab:)
e----------------- e -------------------------
b----------------- b ----------2--3--2--------
g----------------- g ----------2-----2--------
d----------------- d ----------2-----2--------
a-----0--3--0----- a -3-2-1-------------------
E---3------------- E -------------------------
C A F G
Walkin' down new streets the music is loud
C A F G
Neon signs bring in tumultuous crowds
F G "Run" A
But I'm just an old man, I'd probably get sore
F G C C A F G
Cause they don't dance like Carmen no more
She and old Cougie, my what a pair
Just doin' the Rhumba as no one else dared
Slidin' and glidin' past Hollywood floors
But they don't dance like Carmen no more
She had a big hat, my it was high
Had bananas and mangos all piled to the sky
And how she could balance it, I wouldn't dare
Cause they don't dance like Carmen nowhere
But the lady's not with us, she died long ago
And they don't run her movies on late midnight shows
Cause the kids would get restless, and the grown-ups would snore
Cause they don't dance like Carmen no more
(Repeat second verse w/ "hardwood waxed floors")
No more, no more
And I'm just an old man, I'd probably get sore
But they don't dance like Carmen no more
10 cents a dance, might take a chance (fade)
A D
Days drift by, they don't have names
A D
None of the streets here look the same
G Em A D
There's so many quiet places
E7 A7
Smilin' eyes match the smilin' faces
Chorus
G Em A D G Em A Bm
And I have found me a home, I have found me a home
G D E7 A7
You can have the rest of everything I own
G Em A D
'Cause I have found me a home
My old red bike gets me around
To the bars and the beaches of my town
There aren't many reasons I would leave
'Cause I have found me some peace
Bm
And the ladies aren't demanding here,
D
They'll never ask too much
Bm E7
When you're comin' off a cold love, that's sure
A7
A nice warm touch
(Repeat Chorus)
And the days drift by, they don't have names
And none of the streets here look the same
There aren't many reasons I would leave
'Cause I have found me some peace
(Repeat chorus)
C G
When I pay my bills
F C
Gonna leave these Tennessee hills
Am
Take my lady to the sea
C G
That's where we both come from
F C
That's where we both belong
Am G
Think I'll go back to the Keys
Chorus
F C
'Cause I don't want the fame that brings confusion
F G Am
Where people recognize you on a plane
F C
All I want's the quiet and the comforts
D G C
That livin' with my lovely lady brings
Somehow we survived the double talk and jive
Things are looking better all the time
I owe her all I can 'cause she made me understand
The simple way that we should live our lives
Chorus
And I don't want the fame that brings confusion
Where people recognize you on a plane
All I want's the quiet and the comforts
That livin' with my lovely lady brings
Let me tell you now she can eat her own weight up in crab meat
And there's plenty of that down there by the sea
Well we're sailin' in those warm December breezes
Sendin' picture postcards back to Tennessee
Chorus
Yes and I don't want the fame that brings confusion
Where people recognize you on a plane
All I want's the quiet and the comforts
That livin' with my lovely lady brings
Yeah that livin' with my lovely lady brings
Intro D D/C# D/B D/A G A D Dsus4 D
D D/C# D/B D/A G A
I once knew a poet who lived before his time
D D/C# D/B D/A G A
He and his dog Spooner listened while he'd rhyme
Bm F#m Bm C C/B Am7 A Asus4 A
Words to make you happy, words to make you cry
D D/C# D/B D/A G A D Dsus4 D
Then one day the poet suddenly did die
D D/C# D/B D/A G A Asus4
But he left behind a closet filled with verse and rhyme
D D/C# D/B D/A G A Asus4
Through some strange transaction, one was printed in the Times
Bm F#m Bm C C/B Am7 A Asus4 A
And everybody's searchin' for the king of underground
BRIDGE:
D D/C# D/B D/A G A D Dsus4
Well they found him down in Florida with a tombstone for a crown
G D/F# A G D/F# A
Every-body knows the line from his book that cost $4.99
G D/F# A G D Dsus4 D
I wonder if he knows he's doin' quite this fine
'Cause his books are all bestsellers
And his poems were turned to song
Had his brother on the talk shows
Though they never got along
And now he's called immortal, yes he's even taught in school
They say he used his talents, a most proficient tool
But he left all of his royalties to Spooner his old hound
Growin' old on steak and bacon in a doghouse ten feet 'round
And everybody wonders did he really lose his mind?
No he was just a poet who lived before his time
He was just a poet who lived before his time
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