The Nationals:
Natty Moss-Bond - vocals
Walt Bucklin - bass, guitar, vocals
Steve Connelly - guitar, mandolin, bass, pedal steel
Harry Hayward - drums, guitar, clarinet, vocals
Ted Lucas - vocals
Liza Wakeman - violin
Nina Wegman - accordian
Ronny Elliott - vocals, guitar, mandolin, bass

Produced by Walt Bucklin, Steve Connelly & Ronny Elliott

It's also the title of Ronny's new CD on Blue Heart Records. With a release date of 1/1/00, the release marks the beginning of Ronny's thirty-seventh year, his fifth decade and his second century in rock'n'roll!

With able backing, as usual, from his eccentric band, the Nationals, the new record is a further twist down a familiar path of tall tales and autobiographical bull!

This one's not likely to threaten Garth's chart position or move Shania off the cover of PEOPLE, but it seems to be pretty much what he has in mind. As another hillbilly was once quoted, "I don't sound like nobody, sir!"

Blue Heart Records
179 Baltic Circle
Tampa, Florida 33606

www.ronnyelliott.com

They Don't Rob The Trains Any More

He rode into town two or three times a year.
He'd kill a cowboy or two, then he'd go home.
The sheriff of Silver City didn't think of him as much of an outlaw.
The town folks cleared a path for  crazy, old Jerome.
And that old pistol that had belonged to his pop was big and it was rusty.
Jersey looked more Iike a mule than a stallion on any given day.
Voices in his head told Jerome that he was a bad man.
He thought of Jesse James and tried to live his life
that way.

(chorus)

They don't rob the trains any more.
They don't rob the trains any more.
It's a new century in New Mexico
and they don't rob the trains any more.

Living alone gives time and rhyme to ghosts of the heart.
In a stream of stars old Jerome lay his plans of crime.
He wondered if Jesus thought of him as a killer or just a bandit
living here in the wrong time.
His sister, Louise, had tried to teach him good morals and manners
after his ma had left them for a full moon downtown.
He broke her neck and buried her out behind the outhouse
after he dressed her up in an indian wedding gown.
 
 

South By So What

We flew half way cross the country to shake and to rattle
and I was ready to roll when we got to Liberty Lunch.
Trying to be hip for the press was more than half of the battIe.
Those jerks from No Depression are an arrogant bunch.

It's south by so what in the city of Austin.
I've never been to Texas and I said so.
It's forty minutes on stage and back to the hotel.
Somebody tell Sir Doug I said hello.

Bought a little Mexican skeleton marionette somewhere downtown
and spent hours trying to teach him to dance at the Holiday Inn.
Stayed at the hotel bar too long for a 7-Up and Crown
and missed all the parties and the cool acts again.

It's south by so what in the city of Austin.
I ranted and raved and fell to my knees for the show.
That Texas crowd seemed really warm and friendly.
Somebody tell Sir Doug I said hello.

All I  new about the state I had learned from my grandmother.
"Texas, it even sounds country," is what she always said.
I can't tell one record company executive from another,
but before I kiss your ass I'd rather he dead.

It's south by so what in the city of Austin.
We had a lot of fun and I really did hate to go.
I'm not sure we made much of an impression.
Somebody tell Sir Doug I said hello.

Yeah, it's south by so what in the city of Austin, Texas.
I'll never be famous, Darrell Anderson told me so.
I'll make more of these records and I'll try to sell them.
Somebody tell Sir Doug I said hello.
 
 
 

My Nerves Are Bad Tonight

Harry's gonna have to eat his words, the girl was a
Midnighter. I've seen pictures of her in a tight skin up
on the stage.
It's gin and sin and reciprocal motion in the backfield
left over from the days when romance was all the rage.
In a shok to the system Little Ricky grew up to be a
beatnik. All the sirens in the Hollywood hills remember
the day when the artists and the angels and the models
danced the mambo and they lead the handcuffed
arnachist away.
(chorus)
"My nerves are bad tonight," I heard the poet sing.
"I'm rhyming verbs and trying to learn how to swing."

We had a dream all the karma in the world could be
bought with Budha's money. All the laptop, flip flop girl
groups sang the song of the gay caballero and his lovely
lesbian countespart and the ventrilliquist's red-headed
daughter who could do no wrong.
I've got a fire in my mind and I really can't be confined
here. There's a bomb in a boat anchored on the edge of
Havana Bay. I've got the red China blues and maybe a
touch of vertigo and a life up to it's neck in disarray.
With the wheel of time mired in the muddle of ecstasy
and the quest for glory not leaving room enough, it's
sticks and stones and seeds and bones and Blue Caps.
That's the price you pay for playing a game too rough.
 
 

She Sold The Silver

Heartbreak finds fools wherever they're hid and I don't run from romance.
I never did. I've spent my share of time and money chasing love.
Until my heart's been broken, it's never enough.
(chorus)
She sold the silver. She sold the silver. She sold the silver and it finally cost me my soul.

It's a classic story of two fooIs in love. Breaking hearts like beer bottle glass when push
comes to shove. There's a price to be paid for going where you shouldn't go, and I'm
taught my lesson again about reaping what you sew.
Some people play to win, some don't see it that way. I seem to play to lose. you break it
you pay.
They say passion makes a fool out of you. It's not a game you'll win.
I play rougher than most and I'm losing it again. I've done my time crawling on my
knees. Choking passion out of love once more, watching hearts break and freeze.
 
 
 

How Many Stars

I'm waiting on Mercury, I'm living on lead, aces and eights fill my dreams.
From the shadows of dark places and a hunt in my heart, nothing's quite as badl as it seems.
Horses with short noses and cards that were good, but never quite good enough.
I've lied with the best when put to the test, but I never could learn how to bluff
(chorus)
How many stars in the sky? How many stars in the sky?
All I really want to know...how many stars in the sky?

Masterpieces from the East and the West and a '54 Esquire out of tune.
News from the border, the phone's out of order with songs from a Tex Avery cartoon.
I woke up dreaming that Knocky was back and he was burning up the key board.
He was stinking of gin, looking crazy again. He played in waltz time and pretty music flowed.
Counting stars, closing bars, I do what I can for the soul.
All the rage on the wrong side of the water, working for Hooch close to home.
Burning both ends, counting on friends, I'm not walking on water alone.
 
 

The Doors Of Havana

Adios Havana. ola USA. Muchos gracias for your hospitality, but I didn't come here to stay.
I Iove your people and your countryside. I love your music and your rum.
If they had told me of your pain and misery, I never would have come.
(chorus)
I feel bad for the Cuban people without enough to get by,
but it's the dogs in Havana, that make me want to cry.

I'm not a member of high society. I'm not part of the ruling class,
But Fidel is a hypocrite and Strom Thurmond can kiss my ass.
I know your kids could use some medicine.
I see your buildings' peeling paint.
I condemn this damned embargo and the cold war's patron saint.

Here's to your dreams and fantasies. Here's to your memories of Che.
I raise a toast to your day of freedom and your joy of yesterday.

Let your mountains and your beaches shine with happiness once more.
Let the people of our countries live in peace forevermore.
 

Tahitian Inn

I must have smoked a millon cigarettes last night in that hotel, one for every time I thought of you.
Thinking about where we've been and how did we get here, fighting the urge to call and fighting off the tears.
(chorus)
You know I Iove you, darling, and I always will. If you're hungry for love, just send me the biII.

Thought I'd get my fortune read by that gypsy down the highway, but I didn't have the nerve to ring the bell.
So I went back to my room and locked myself away. Watched tv and tried to break your spell.
When the sun comes up tomorrow. I'll open op the door. I'll come back and try this all again.
 
 

Same Three Chords

When I was just a kid in Birmingham and Uncle Murray turned on the radio
Hank Williams' music was the only thing they played.
I found WLAC and late at night Muddy Waters would sing to me
And those same three chords still ring in my heart today.
It's the samc three chords and the joy they bring,
It's not black or white, that doesn't mean a thing.
It's the hillbilly music and the blues they play,
It's the same three chords I'm playing today.
Then I found Elvis and it changed my life
and I saw Bo Diddley at the armory.
I talked my mother into buying my first electric guitar.
I sat alone in my room at night and tried to make the damned thing sound alright.
I thought those three chords were gonna make me a star.

Then the Beatles turned my head around
and Ike and Tina Turner set my soul on fire.
I promised myself a life as a music man.
I played the blues, at least I thought I did,
but John R. wasn't gonna spin any hillbilly kid.

It's back to those same three chords in a rock'n roII band.
It's the same three chords and the joy they bring,
It's not black or white that doesn't mean a thing.
It's the rockabilly music the rhythm n' blues they play,
It's the same three chords I m playing today.
 
 

Talking To The Man In The Moon

I'm talking to myself 'cause I can't talk to you.
I'm getting funny looks from people I see.
I know this feeling is nothing new,
but it's sure got a headlock on me.
When you look at me,
I really feel my confidence slipping away.
I can't tell anyone I'm working on a deal.
If anybody heard me they'd say
(chorus)
I'm sitting here crazy as a loon.
I'm talking to the man in the moon.

My big old friend hasn't been much help to me,
But then again, he sure has listened patiently.

When I that the nerve to tell you how I feel,
to tell you what I'm dreaming
One look in my eyes will tell you that it's real.
Just ask my friend up above.
 
 
 

Hotel Room In Jacksonville

Just rolled into town today, I'm lonesome, tired and hot,
I'd like to get a bite to eat and a couple of drinks, but 4 bucks is all I've got.
I'm playing a bar somewhere downtown, doing 5 long sets.
I've got a new set of strings, a couple of new songs and very few regrets.
(chorus)
Hotel room in Jacksonville, just like any other town
Hotel room in Jacksonville, sure gonna get me down

I'm leaving here for Birmingham, from there to New Orleans.
It's a long ride back home again for some of mama's good turnip greens.
I pawned my spare in Spartanburg, my license plate's expired.
I'd check out of here and make Atlanta by dawn but I'm too damned tired.
 
 
 

Best I can do

I'm not the kind of guy to make you worry. I'm not the kind of guy that's gonna drag you down.
I'm just the kind of guy that feels pretty lucky whenever you drop around.
I'm not the kind of guy that's born a hero. I'm not the kind who ever looks real sharp.
I'm just the kind of guy who knows when he's missing just a little piece of his heart.
(chorus)
I, I, well I'm sure some day there's more that I might do.
I, I, now I'm loving you and that's the best that I can do.

I'm not the kind of guy that your girl friends fall for.
I'm not the kind they'd love to steal away.
I'm just the kind of guy who tends to hold onto every little thing that you say.
I'm not the kind of guy that lives life easy.
I'm not the kind that always fits your plans.
I'm just the kind of guy who needs some reminders, baby I'm just your man.
 
 
 

Heroes

The poor want gold and the rich want heaven.
The rest of us are looking for a little peace of mind.
The words passed down always sound familiar.
Be nice and work for peace for all mankind.

I believe in Jesus. I believe in Elvis. I believe in Mother Teresa.
I believe in James Dean. I believe in Budha. Believe in Amelia Earhart.
I believe in Martin Luther King, Jr. and all the good guys in between.
For everything we do without love in our heart
and for all the hurt the world's ever known.
Mark the calendar today for a new start.
We'll fight the fight once we've been shown.

I believe in Gandhi, St, Francis of Assissi, theVirgin Mary,
Eleanor Roosevelt, Frida Kahlo, Confucius, Mary Magdalene,
Kaptain Kangaroo, Hank Williams, Captain Paul Watson,
Anwar Sadat, Jane Goodall, Jimmy Carter, Josephine Baker,
The Virgin Mary, Johnny Cash, Rumi, Albert Einstein, Grandma,
Mohammed, JFK, Clairabel, John Lennon, Joan of Arc,
Vincent Van Gogh, Alan Watts, Bill Haley, Buckminster Fuller;
Henry Miller; Lillian HeIlman & Marvelous Marvin.