“I’m soberin’ up…”

“Not yet, not yet!”

“Why not?”

Yes, I’m a-soberin’ up. I’m a-straigtenin’ out
I’m a-gonna be a good boy now

Yes, I’m done with drinkin’ and carryin’ on
I’m gonna wake up early and work all day long
And then I’m gonna buy a nice house with a big front lawn
It’s gonna be the good life for me from now on

‘Cause I’m a-soberin’ up. I’m a-straigtenin’ out
I’m a-gonna be a good boy now

I’m gonna buy myself a brand new suit
With a nice silk tie with Italian shoes
And then I’ll drink the best coffee
With the sweetest cream
I’m gonna ride all around town in an SUV
Then I’m gonna buy a nice jet plane
And park it on an island in the Meditterain
And then I’ll run for office. I’ll have the best campaign
I’m gonna be your president as soon as I get clean

‘Cause I’m a-soberin’ up. I’m a-straigtenin’ out
I’m a-gonna be a good boy now

Yes, I’m done with drinkin’ and carryin’ on
I’m gonna wake up early and work all day long
Yes, I’m a-toeing the line. I’m a-walking tall
I’m a-through bars and this alcohol

I’m a-soberin’ up. I’m a-straigtenin’ out
I’m a-gonna be a good boy now
Yes, I’m a whole new man as soon as I leave this bar
If I can just get home without wrecking my car

No, I can’t keep no money. It just flows right out my pocket again
No, I can’t keep no money. It just flows right out my pocket again
Oh, Lord I’m praying I won’t be this way all the rest of my days

I’m drinking coffee for my lunch. I’m eating dinner at the gas station
I’m drinking coffee for my lunch. I’m eating dinner at the gas station
And I can’t begin to wonder what I spent all my money on

‘Cause I can’t keep no money. It flows right out my pocket again
No, I can’t keep no money. It just flows right out my pocket again
Oh, Lord I’m praying I won’t be this way all the rest of my days

I’m scraping all my pennies together. I’m just trying to make my rent on time
I’m scraping all my pennies together. I’m just trying to make my rent on time
Oh, Lord, I’m trying. Oh, Lord, I’m trying. Lord knows how hard I’m trying

But I can’t keep no money. Lord, it just flows right out my pocket again
No, I can’t keep no money. It just flows right out my pocket again
Oh, Lord I’m praying I won’t be this way all the rest of my days

I’m asking all my friends. I’m trying to make my rent on time
I’m asking all these broke-ass friends of mine. I’m just trying to make my rent on time
Oh, Lord, I’m trying. Oh, Lord, I’m trying. Lord knows how hard I’m trying

I can’t keep no money. Lord, it just flows right out my pocket again
No, I can’t keep no money. It just flows right out my pocket again
Oh, Lord I’m praying I won’t be this way all the rest of my days

Seen a man he was walking through town
And I ain’t never seen someone look so down
So I asked how he was he said “Son,
I thought I’d be in Hell by now”
I’d never gone down this old road
If I knew it would be so long
I’d never’ve gone this way if I’d known
That Hell would be so far down
So far down

See, this man he looked just like a ghost
A stiff breeze would’ve blown him over
He was a-shiftin’ ‘round, I couldn’t catch his eyes
When I finally tried I caught his eyes
And looked just like mine
Lord, they looked just like mine

He said “I just want to feel like a good man
Just want to feel like a good man
I wish God would work me into his good, good plan
Let me feel like a good man
Oh, Lord, just a good man”

Feel like an old freight train
That the devil set a-flame
And sent it barreling down the line
Like he set Heaven on fire
And he’s a-makin’ good time
I hate that old devil of mine
He wants he said to me
“you will belong to me
You’ll start with me, you’ll end with me
And everything in between
It will all be of me

I just want to feel like a good man
Just want to feel like a good man
I wish that God would work me into his good, good plan
Let me feel like a good man
Lord, just a good man
Just a good man
Just a good man
A good man

If I lost my sight would you call me blind?
Would you save me the last flower in the spring?
Would you bring it to me on the day right after
And ask me if I could see?

And would you call to me and pick me up
Hitchhiking down the road?
Would you cow my pride with a club of your own?
Mix it like mud and motor oil

And would you believe I ain’t been called no thief
For any other thing that I stole?

If I lost my house would you kick me out?
Would you say you were sorry for me?
Would it stain your hands black like pine tree sap
That only bleeds from a living tree?

Would you call to me a song of relief
When I was down on the killing floor?
And did you know that I get more rich than you
Every time that you call me poor?

‘Cause whoever you are, I don’t care
Some things just ain’t for sale
Ain’t for sale

Would you drug me up and take me out
And dress me n the whitest, white, white gloves?
Would you hold me, squeeze me, scold me, tease me
And kick me down into the mud?
And if I cried enough, Lord, just outside
Screaming if I could
Would you open your door and from your porch
Tell it was for my own good

And would you believe I ain’t been called a thief
For all of the things that I could?

It was fourteen days in January
Do you think that she left with a bag in her hand?
Do you think she just ran to the arms of some more familiar man?
Do you think she’d do it all again?
Do you think she’d do the same thing all again?

Lord, what kind of woman was that queen of hearts?
Do you think she likes the smell of those old smoky bars?
And do you think she like the feeling of strange fingers on the back of her card?
Do you think that she still loves that king?
Do you think she loves that sad king of hearts?

It was fourteen days and I was amazed
Lord, that I had made it so far
See, she was just playing and I was afraid of her
I suppose I guess I’ll never know
I guess I’ll never really know for sure

I remember the sun through the shade
On the bed where I lay in the shadows
Dancing through the dust on the window pane
And I knew she had gone and I knew she wasn’t wrong
For going all the same. I wanted her again
I wanted all the chances that she gave
And I swear this time I’d take them

Lord, what kind of woman was that queen of hearts?
Do you think she likes the smell of those old smoky bars?
And do you think she like the feeling of strange fingers on the back of her card?
Do you think that she still loves that king?
Do you think she loves that sad king of hearts?
Do you think she loves that sad king of hearts?

There’s a ghost on the radio whispering through the white noise
A mean face asking “are you listening?”
There’s water ‘neath the bridge laughing at the pillars
And the interstate is slitherin’ sideways
Got gears grinding down that I can’t say now
From a soulless invitation of a human being
Got a fine pair a shoes trying not to use them
‘Cause my mama never raised no runaway
No runaway

There’s some trash on the exit ramp.
The crows are picking through it
There’s an abandoned cardboard sign
In sloppy handwriting in a heavy black marker
Says “I’m broke and I’m hungry and I need a ride”
But the sun he don’t care, he’s going down
And painting pretty colors in the evening sky
There’s a crack in the blacktop. Grass growing up
Just waiving at the trucks blowing by
Blowing by

There’s a little kid standing by the gas pump
Just wondering where his mama has gone
And she’s just inside buying cigarettes
And waiting for the car to fill up
And the smell of sulfur from a papermill
Getting blown in from another town
See, this kid had eyes like he’d never smiled
And I forgot to block him out
Lord, block him out

Wind coming in from the window going down and the sound drowning out the radio
All the trees look tired while the air stands still
The only breeze is me blowing through
Pass a pawn shop, a quick stop
A mom and pop restaurant with an empty parking lot
See mom and pop left when the fast food came in
And found that they could not keep up
Lord, keep up

So, I turned a road where the speed limit’s slower
And the road paint turned into a mowed lawn
Where the fence come up and the trees are young
And civilized people ain’t civil at all
In the broad day light, I can wave as I roll by
And watch the heads just turn away
Where the land has been tamed and the houses look the same
And the neighbors don’t even know each other’s name
And the neighbors don’t even know each other’s name

There’s a ghost on the radio whispering through the white noise
A mean face asking “are you listening?”
There’s water ‘neath the bridge laughing at the pillars
And the interstate is slitherin’ sideways
Got gears grinding down that I can’t say now
From a soulless invitation of a human being
Got a fine pair of shoes trying not to use them
‘Cause my mama never raised no runaway
No runaway
No runaway
No runaway

Hallelujah, it’s a holy day
Say Hallelujah, it’s a holy day
Oh the sun is coming and it drove the night away
Say Hallelujah, it’s a holy day

Well, bless my soul, what a long hard road
What a long hard road we’ve been traveling
And bless that sun that illuminate
What a long way we’ve been

Hallelujah, it’s a holy day
Say Hallelujah, it’s a holy day
Oh the sun is coming and it drove the night away
Say Hallelujah, it’s a holy day

Well, bless that night we’ve been wandering in
We’ve been wandering in it for such a long, long time
Oh, bless that night, Lord, it trained my eye
Lord, it trained my eye on the light to come

Hallelujah, it’s a holy day
Say Hallelujah, it’s a holy day
Oh the sun has come and it drove the night away
Say Hallelujah, it’s a holy day

Hallelujah, it’s a holy day
Say Hallelujah, it’s a holy day
Oh the sun has come and it drove the night away
Say Hallelujah, it’s a holy day

Say Hallelujah, it’s a holy day
Say Hallelujah, it’s a holy day
Oh the sun has come and it drove the night away
Say Hallelujah, it’s a holy day

It’s a sleepy little town on the edge of the river
It’s clear, cold, and deep
With nothing moving most of the time
Except the water and me
And the only thing to do on any giving night
Is to work, sleep, or drink
But the work it don’t pay and the sleep it don’t stay
And the price for a drink is too steep

I just need one cold night when the lights go out
The moon can hang however she please
Just two headlights down the two lane road
With the branches of overhanging trees

Down that yellow paint blacktop
The blacktop and yellow paint
Down that yellow paint blacktop
That blacktop and yellow paint

Cause it’s orange in the headlights. It’s blue just on the outside
It moves to deeper shades of blue
With nothing in the taillights. Just shadows and crimson
Like most things I usually do
Cause the only thing to count on at the end of the day
Is just the end of the day and then the morning
And then another day waiting for the end of the day
So I’ll be gone when the morning comes
Yes I’ll be gone when the morning comes

Just give me one good excuse or one lame reason
A gas pump every couple of miles
Four firing pistons down a four-lane highway
I’ll find a hymn in the hum of the tires

Down that yellow paint blacktop
The blacktop and yellow paint
Down that yellow paint blacktop
That blacktop and yellow paint

I gotta get out of this town
Yes I gotta get up and go
I know just outside that city limits
There’s a road that run around the world
There’s a road that run around the world
I gotta get out of this town
Yes I gotta get up and go
I know once you start moving that broken yellow line
Will keep your time like a metronome
Will keep your time like a metronome

I just need one little skip in my heart
Or just one little catch in my breath
One green light, one big highway
And a wheel at my fingertips
Yeah, that’s the world at my fingertips

Down that yellow paint blacktop
The blacktop and yellow paint
Down that yellow paint blacktop
That blacktop and yellow paint

I’ll take a pair of black shiny shoes for my funeral day
I leave behind me some old work boots and trade
And I will lay smiling in my grave
In my new pair of black shiny shoes

‘Cause it’s a long walk to the grave full of long hard days
Back-breaking, feet aching, sweat and toil and shame
And tired and awake it means the same thing
‘Cause we all lost in the hammers that swing

‘Cause it is work to eat. It is work to breathe
And it is work to live on this Earth, yes it is.
So when I leave it will be such relief
And I shall look my best

In my black shiny shoes for my funeral day
I leave behind me some old work boots and trade
And I will lay smiling in my grave
In my new pair of black shiny shoes

Don’t lay no box around me when you lay me ‘neath the bounds
Don’t wrap me up in no burial shroud
I’ll take a suit ‘tween dirt and skin whenever you lay me in
I want it feel it when I lay in the ground

Don’t lay no stone at my head. No roses laying dead
Just lay a little bit of dirt across my chest
Oh yeah. And if you please don’t dig more than you need
Just get me a little dirty before I rest

In my black shiny shoes for my funeral day
I leave behind me some old work boots and trade
And I will lay smiling in my grave
In my new pair of black shiny shoes
In my new pair of black shiny shoes

Here we go

When a woman put on a party dress
Hair all done up, her lips all painted
She going ‘round town to shake it all down
To make a big old mess
Yeah, when a woman got a party dress on
Yeah, a man with any sense would run

I say “Run!”
I say “Run!”
I say “Run, boy! Run, boy! Run!”
I say “Run!”

When a woman put on her dancing shoes
You know, man, she gonna walk all over you
She put a mighty hurting just by a little flirting
Gonna make you pay your due
Yeah, when a woman got her dancing shoes on
Lord, a man with any sense would run

I say “Run!”
I say “Run!”
I say “Run, boy! Run, boy! Run!
Run, run, run, run!”

When a woman wanna have a good time
You know a man been shuffled off to side
A woman wanna go out there ain’t nothing left to talk about
Yeah, when a woman wanna have a good time
There’s a good chance a man gonna cry

“Cry!”
I say “Cry!”
I say “Cry, boy! Cry, boy! Cry!”

When the little mouth bite you the devil done got you on the run
I say “Run!”
Yeah, when a woman wanna have a good time
There’s a good chance a man gonna cry
I say “Cry!”

Cause a powerful creature is a woman
And you know it as soon as you been hurt by one
She got the love and care
With a wild fire that’ll burn you like the sun
When a woman got her light on
Lord, a man with any sense would run

I say “Run!”
I say “Run!”
I say “Run, boy! Run, boy! Run, boy, Run! Run! Run!”

When a woman got on a party dress
You know, man, she ain’t nothing to be messing with
She going ‘round town to shake it all down
To make a big old mess

Yeah, when a woman got a party dress on
Yeah, a man with any sense would run

“Run! Run! Run, boy! Run, boy! Run! Run! Run! Run! Run!
Run, boy, run!”