From http://www.virtualubbock.com


Terry Allen
Smokin'...


1.The Heart of California
(for Lowell George)

Runnin hard an runnin mean
Down the ... San Joaquin
Diamond Reo with Your Crazy rollin wheels
There’s a moon shinin bright
Like a big eye in the night
Yeah throw’d her light down on that road to
Bakersfield
Yeah the heart of California’s
Haulin ... hard times again
And the highway ... she does not make amends
That diesel's got to howl
But the devil's on the prowl
An that white line gone
It won't come along again
Runnin wired an runnin fast
Runnin out of gas
Diamond Reo knows what empty means
An Jesus Christ on the dash
Won't keep it from the crash
If ever curve is just your nerves ... closin
in
Yeah the heart of California's
Haulin ... hard times again
And the highway ... she does not make amends
Your name’s out on the door
An your toots down on the floor
But that white line down
It won't come around again
Yeah the Reo's comin down
Outside of town
Strung-out ‘tween the asphalt and the wheel
And LA she waits
Like a poisonous snake
Coiled up with her diamonds in the hills
Yeah the heart of California's
Haulin ... hard times again
And the highway ... she does not make amends
That road you're runnin on's
Hell bent for Babylon
An that white line down
It won't come around again
An that white line down
Will not be found ... again



2.Whatever Happened to Jesus
(and Maybellene)?

Tell me whatever happened to Jesus
Ahhh where did that good old boy go
Did you leave him behind back in Texas
Or did he just hide
In the devil's disguise
Somewhere in your soul
And
Tell me whatever happened to Mary
Whatever happened to her sweet dreams
Did she leave them behind with her
Childhood
Or just trade em in
On a tube
Of Maybellene ... ahhh
Maybellene, why can't you be true
Yeah Maybellene, why can't you be true
You done started back doin them thangs you
used
to do...
You done started back doin them thangs you
used
to do

Maybellene by Chuck Berry, Arc Music



3. Helena Montana

Hey he stumbled from
Some derelicts bar
Throw’d out his hands
An leaned on a car
An pretty soon this girl
Come up to him
Said "hey how bout some fun
now, Slim"
Yeah he stuck his hand
In his pocket
An he pulled out a bill
he said "I don't need no fun, little girl
but I sure could use some pills"
cause ... I been broke
An I been throw’d
I been bought
An I been sold
An Helena Montana
Beats hell-in-a-city ... gone cold
An Calgary's like Calvary to me
An Ft. Worth... it ain't worth a damn
An Cheyenne... hell, she ain't shy at all
But I'm damned sure gonna take my ride
Before I fall
yi yi yi whoppi ti e yi
yi yi yi whoppi ti e yi e oh
There's a Montana midnight
Under a moonlight ... tonight
An a Montana girl in the bed ... a’waitin
For this tore down old body
That ain't at all ... all right
But she knows he'll be back
Sooner or later
Cause I been broke
An I been throw’d
I been learned
Damned ... I should've knowed
That Helena Montana
Beats hell-in-a-city ... gone cold
yi yi yi whoppi ti e yi
yi yi yi whoppi ti e yi e oh



4. Texas Tears

I been wrong for so long
Accusing you of wrongness
But tonight ... you broke
And you made me right
Cause I just saw you inside
This Texas tavern
By his side ... smiling smiles
I never seen
So I just straightened up
And walked in on that bar room
Just as you reached out and kissed
His curling mouth
But when you saw me your eyes died
Somewhere deep inside you
It tore me down ... I turned around
And ran back on out

 Chorus:
 With Texas tears failing down
 Washing my life right out on the
 ground
 Texas tears they're falling down
 Running out ... on you running
 around

I went home all alone
Sit down by the telephone
When it rang ... I knew it was you
Was on the line
You said
"Baby, please don't mistake
What you seen for a backstreet date
Now ... I was just havin a drink
With a friend of mine"
I said
"Damn you ... you lyin Texas woman
You got the lips of an angel
But the devil, he's suckin your tongue
Yeah damn you ... you lyin Texas woman
Me an you an that devil too
Just done had our run"
Chorus



5. Feelin Easy

Well I'm feelin easy baby
Breezin through the blues
Bout half-sleazy baby
But who's to pick-n-choose
I got the tattoos
A pierced ear
A bottle of that rot-gut booze
Yeah I ain't Pat Boone
But I sure just as soon
Have me a pair
A’his white buck dancin shoes
We go dancin into the darkness
With the headlights on the trees
You don't have to be up-town
To get low-down with me
Cause I'm feelin easy baby Ain't got nothin
I ain't proud to show
Hair's a little greasy baby
But it's slick-back ... under control
Out on the boulevards
In the bright lights
In your Coup de Ville
Yeah I ain't no Cadillac buyer
But I sure do admire
Your long lean chrome line
Laid back luxury ... automobile
We go drivin into the darkness
With the headlights on the trees
You don't have to be up-town
to get low-down with me
Repeat



6. The Night Café

Yeah the truck drivin man
He gonna understand
When he pulls into the night café
He gonna walk right in
Where there's too many men
Wantin hamburgers right away
When he finally finds a booth
He calls to waitress "Ruth"
He says "Gimme the special ah the day"
Hot beef
Yeah but Ruth gets goosed
At the opposite booth
An she runs off the other way
But he don’t care cause...

 Chorus:
 That old jukebox is playing his love
 song
 An the coffee is hot ... In the cup
 And there's a light in the night
 That spells 'Cafe'
 Where the big trucks are all ...
 pullin up

Yeah truck drivin man
He got a mouth full of sin
But his heart looks the other way
An though they hot-eye Ruth
Well they know the truth
Is ‘sweet gal’ down the way
So they cuss an they grin
They fill their thermos again
And they listen to the music
Play
They got a heavy load
Waitin out on the road
An a home still two days away
But they can wait for it
Cause...
Chorus
Yeah the truck drivin man
He gonna understand
When he leaves that night café
He gonna dance a jig
Out beside his rig
Just to shake the cold away
He gonna slam the door
An let the diesel roar
Down the dark highway
But he has no fears
While he's shiftin gears
To that next ... night cafe
Cause he knows glowin there
Like a diamond in the tar pit
Chorus

(for Terry O'Shea)



7. Roll Truck Roll

 Chorus:
 Yeah roll truck roll
 Yeah roll truck roll
 Better get on down the highway
 You better get on ... down the
 Road

Yeah I work for a trucking
Company
And my forearms big as beef
If it wasn't for the highway
My family'd be on relief
Chorus
Yeah lonely heart wreck hitch hike truckstop
Ahhh sad cafe where the people never care
Yeah you think you ordered a big hot beef
Sandwich
But you're the one that's gonna get eatin in
there
Chorus
Yeah the waitress smile is like some witch's
womb
(WOO)
An her black dress moves like water through
the
room
An flowers die ... twisted across your table
An the menu reads like a tattoo on your tomb
Chorus



8. Red Bird

I.
Ho down down
Ho down dee
Red bird dancin
In custody
Goin down
New Orleans
Red bird dancin
An a red bird sing
Red bird sing
Red bird do
New Orleans
An a red bird blue
I been born
An I'm gonna die
Blood red wing
You gonna make me fly
Goin in
A red bird den
Ain't gonna
Come out again
Ho down down
Ho down dee
Red bird dancin
In custody

II.
Ho down down
Ho down dee
Red bird dance
A penitentiary
A jailer stoned
An he barred the door
Red bird gone... yeah
To fly no more
Black crow see
Black crow knew
New Orleans is where
The red bird flew
I been born
An I'm gonna die
Blood red wing
You gonna make me cry
Rusty wing
A daed dark thing
Crows too loud now
When the red bird sing
Ho down down
Ho down dee
Red bird dance
A penitentiary



9. The Lubbock Tornado

Well it come In from the southwest
In the middle of the night
Hey loomed over Lubbock
What a gawd awmighty sight
Yeah it dipped down into the darkness
All crazy out of control
Hey throwed around that panhandle town
Till ft couldn't throw ft around no more
Yeah some blamed secret government
Projects
Some blamed it on the president
Some blamed wind from the wings of Jesus
Just flappin round heaven sent
Yeah but I don’t know (he don't know)
But I don't know (he don't know)
They don't know ... huh huh
But when a high pressure zone...
Hits a low
Somethin gotta give ... yeah somethin
Gotta go
An like a vampire over the broadway
It showed no moral code
It'd lake out a mighty church of gawd
And leave a honky tonk by the road
And tiny creatures went flying
Right out of prairie dog town
Smack up against the great plains life
Little bones in the rain failin down
Yeah some blamed communist sabotage
Some blamed rednecks on the right
Some blamed teenage restlessness
Rock n roll gone berserk in the night
Yeah but I don't know (it's a UFO)
But I don't know (it's a UFO)
They don't know ... huh
But when a high pressure zone...
Hits a low
Somethin gotta give ... yeah somethin
Gotta go
Well this hub-bub on the hub
Laid a city to its knees
Sweet memories beneath the rubble
Shattered glass and broken dreams
Yeah but in that wake of destruction
This dazed and battered town
Pulled its ass up out of the debris
And put its feet back up on the ground
Yeah some said it was the ghost of
Buddy
Some said the ghost of Cain
Some said the soul of the prodigal son
Is just stumblin back home again
Yeah but I don't know (Its a tornado)
But I don't know (it's a tornado)
Maybe so, huh
But when a high pressure zone...
Hits a low
Some gotta give ahhhh...
Some gotta go

copyright 2000
Chris Oglesby D/B/A "Good Cheap Art"
All rights reserved
virtualubbock@netscape.net