Quote for Discussion: Southern Rock

Since I’ve been talking about the South with some of y’all tonight, I thought I’d share some of my favorites from the world of Southern Rock.

Bloody knuckles and a broken nose

oh, that’s why i never left home

i’ve fought in bars

and i’ve fought in the streets

four more years of fightin’

’til they’re done with me

leave it ’til tomorrow ’til you say good bye

aint in the mood to watch no one cry

tonight it’s whiskey, so buy another round

drink it up boys its my last night in town

momma i ain’t your only son

aint no favorites here, its just how its done

drink it up boys its my last night in town

its too late to turn back now, oh

in the mornin’ its the wide open road

take it far enough it’ll bring you back home

she said “i watched them carry you to the back

couldnt say good by to you like that”

I can only say, “I’m sorry i’s drunk”

so many times ’til it doesnt mean much

when i get home the first rounds on me

raise up that glass – good bye tennessee

momma I ain’t your only son

aint no favorites here, its just how its done

drink it up boys its my last night in town

its too late to turn back now, oh

I can only say, “I’m sorry i’s drunk”

so many times ’til it doesnt mean much

when i get home the first rounds on me

drink it up boys – good bye tennessee

Lucero, “Last Night in Town”

You want to grow up to paint houses like me, a trailer in my yard till you’re 23

You want to be old after 42 years, keep dropping the hammer and grinding the gears

Well, I used to go out in a Mustang, a 302 Mach One in green.

Me and your Mama made you in the back and I sold it to buy her a ring.

And I learned not to say much of nothing and I figured you already know

but in case you don’t or maybe forgot, I’ll lay it out real nice and slow

Don’t call what your wearing an outfit. Don’t ever say your car is broke.

Don’t worry about losing your accent, a Southern Man tells better jokes.

Have fun but stay clear of the needle. Call home on your sister’s birthday.

Don’t tell them you’re bigger than Jesus, don’t give it away.

Six months in a St. Florian foundry, they call it Industrial Park.

Then hospital maintenance and Tech School just to memorize Frigidaire parts.

But I got to missing your Mama and I got to missing you too.

So I went back to painting for my old man and I guess that’s what I’ll always do

So don’t try to change who you are boy, and don’t try to be who you ain’t.

And don’t let me catch you in Kendale with a bucket of wealthy-man’s paint.

Don’t call what your wearing an outfit. Don’t ever say your car is broke.

Don’t sing with a fake British accent. Don’t act like your family’s a joke.

Have fun, but stay clear of the needle, call home on your sister’s birthday.

Don’t tell them you’re bigger than Jesus, Don’t give it away.

Don’t give it away.

Drive-By Truckers, “Outfit”

Ride the blue wind high and free

she’ll lead you down through misery

leave you low, come time to go

alone and low as low can be

If I had a nickel I’d find a game

If I won a dollar I’d make it rain

If it rained an ocean I’d drink it dry

and lay me down dissatisfied

Legs to walk and thoughts to fly

eyes to laugh and lips to cry

a restless tongue to classify

all born to grow and grown to die

So tell my baby I said so long

tell my mother I did no wrong

tell my brother to watch his own

and tell my friends to mourn me none

I’m chained upon the face of time

feelin’ full of foolish rhyme

there ain’t no dark till something shines

I’m bound to leave this dark behind

Ride the blue wind high and free

she’ll lead you down through misery

leave you low, come time to go

alone and low as low can be

Townes Van Zandt, “Rex’s Blues”

21 comments

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  1. …posit: any culture which led to those words is inherently valuable.

    • 3card on August 13, 2008 at 08:56

    Which also gave us The Allman Brothers, Johnny Winter, Louis Armstrong, Earl & John Lee Hooker, etc, etc… (How long could I go on) Is inherently priceless.  

    I never cared for Skynerd, and the tunes quoted above might prompt me to leave the party, but so what.  Maybe there’s a Zydeco bar down the street. I don’t feel any obligation to like everything about anything. Or anyone.

    I like to think that I have a greater capacity than most to ‘live and let live’, but I could be kidding myself about that.  Certainly there are limits.

    • RiaD on August 13, 2008 at 15:41

    the south is changing…. just a bit

    well, at least the women are!


  2. does this count?

    • Robyn on August 13, 2008 at 17:55

    …including some very hard years, I’d just like to add that it also should not be free of criticism.  There should be no free rides.

  3. Well, since my baby left me,

    I found a new place to dwell.

    Its down at the end of lonely street

    At heartbreak hotel.

    You make me so lonely baby,

    I get so lonely,

    I get so lonely I could die.

    And although its always crowded,

    You still can find some room.

    Where broken hearted lovers

    Do cry away their gloom.

    You make me so lonely baby,

    I get so lonely,

    I get so lonely I could die.

    Well, the bell hops tears keep flowin,

    And the desk clerks dressed in black.

    Well they been so long on lonely street

    They aint ever gonna look back.

    You make me so lonely baby,

    I get so lonely,

    I get so lonely I could die.

    Hey now, if your baby leaves you,

    And you got a tale to tell.

    Just take a walk down lonely street

    To heartbreak hotel.  

  4. stuff at work but I like “Cat Power”, southern girl who sings sort of acoustic soul.

    I never got too jazzed up about traditional southern fried work but there are plenty of great blues me/women springing from he general area here.

    • RiaD on August 14, 2008 at 04:17

    • kj on August 14, 2008 at 05:42

    A Canadian and a Born in the USAian.

    Neil Young and Bruce Springsteen: All Along the Watchtower

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