Abilene

The stars up here don’t burn as bright
Nothin seems the same
I wake up to the same old place
It don’t ever change

I can see those night we used to watch
The fireflies dancin round
If I close my eyes in no time at all
I’m back in that old town

In my heart I’m in Abilene
Where life don’t treat you quite so mean
It’s you and me on a front porch swing
Watchin the sun go down
Can’t you feel the summer breeze
Blowin through the grass so green
Though I’m sittin here in Tennessee
In my heart I’m in Abilene

It’s about time, I can’t wait any longer
Got a winter-long thirst for where the sun is stronger
I got nothin’ to do
We’ll talk about the days of old
And we’ll sit around and drink beer that’s cold
We both know there’s nothin’ better to do
No more workin’ all day, nothin’ making us stay
Except it’s better here now than it was yesterday

It’s alright as long as you don’t mind a good time on a Friday night and it’s
Robert Keen, he’s floatin’ on a breeze through the cedar trees
And it’s all I need to set me free

I head out for old Mexico, because I ain’t got no where else to go
I’m beat up and broke down and tired of life, but I keep on ridin’ in spite of my strife
In a little cantina down by Monterrey vaqueros drink and mariachis play
And tequila keeps coming to keep my old memories down

I see her lookin’ over my way, as we dance together she tells me her name
“Esperanza” she whispers and it’s then that I know she’s stolen my heart with no intent to let go
I’m feelin’ better than I have in a while but there’s still pain down beneath this smile
And tequila keeps comin’ to keep my old memories down

The days go by and our love is well, but there’s a passion that burns in her eyes I can tell
She says she must go away for a while, so off to the little cantina I ride
I ain’t been there long when I hear from a friend, he’s seen Esperanza outside with a man
And tequila keeps comin’ to keep me from hurtin’ again

I walk outside and there they both stand, the stranger turns ‘round to see my gun in my hand
He ducks away but my bullet has gone straight for Esperanza, I can only look on
Her eyes lock with mine as I rush to her side, I fall to my knees on the street and I cry
And tequila keeps comin’ to keep all this pain off my mind

He's been workin' for two years down the street at HEB
Just so he can pay his rent and take classes at ACC
Now he ain't old but he's done more livin' than his twenty years might suggest
He's done some drinkin' in his lifetime but he ain't even legal yet

And it's a long way to Mexico
And there ain't nothing to do around here
I guess close don't count for nothin'
But no one around here seems to care

He's friends with the sheriff's daughter, you know ol' sheriff thinks he's alright
He'll even buy him beer and give him advice on his love life
But on a Monday night with nothing to do man a six pack sure sounds nice
But there ain't no way it's gonna happen today 'cause the timing just ain't right

That same moon that we watched so many nights
Still hangs in the August sky
My rear view mirror is still slanted to the side
From when I could look in it and see your eyes

Everything just keeps on driftin’ by
Like a tube on that river, you and I
And the only thing that I can’t clearly see
Is why you left Texas and me

Every time that I play this old guitar
I wish I was still playin’ it for you
I still can’t think about that dusty hill country
Without feelin’ just a little blue

Hey Wade, ain’t that a fine barbecue cooker?
Hey Wade, ain’t that a fine barbecue cooker?
A quarter inch plate of blackened steel, that son of a gun must be for real
I’d love to have a taste of what’s inside, there’s lots of room for lots of meat to hide

Hey Wade, ain’t that a fine barbecue cooker?
Hey Wade, ain’t that a fine barbecue cooker?
A tandem-axle grillin’ machine, stolen form a fat kid’s dream
Smokestack must be ten feet tall, smoker’s paradise, entice us all

Hey Wade, ain’t that a fine barbecue cooker?
Hey Wade, ain’t that a fine barbecue cooker?
Brisket that don’t take a knife, oh my those beans are very nice
I think I’m gonna need some cold ice tea, and another bowl of chili if you please

Hey Wade, ain’t that a fine barbecue cooker?
Hey Wade, ain’t that a fine barbecue cooker?
Takes a mighty big truck to pull that thing, but the taste is worth the gasoline
If the devil’s really into stealin’ souls he oughta box this up and offer it to go

Half a million dollars in hundred dollar bills
Neatly bound together, straight out of the mill
Hundred dollar bills

In a burlap bag marked fresh pecans they sit
In the back seat of my brand new corvette
My new corvette

Speedometer reads ninety, gas gauge says half full
Nothin’ out in front of me, no tellin’ where I’ll go
Where I’ll go

In the mirror behind me lights still flashin’ on
They’ve been followin’ me since back in San Antone
Back in San Antone

I ain’t never broke the law, least not until today
But when I did, I did it the right way

Back in San Antonio was a life I couldn’t keep
More loss and heartache than a soul should have to see
A soul should see

It was there that I resolved to turn my life around
Thanks to old Col. Frost I’m committed to it now
Committed now

Up ahead’s a check point, they’re throwin’ spike strips down
Tires don’t take kindly, throwin’ sparks up off the ground

Talk to me and tell me what you think of all these stars
I know it’s hard for you to find the time to come this far
But I’m glad that you do and I’m glad that I do too
Because I know I’ll feel fine when I’m with you

Tell me once again, just how long has it been?
It’s alright ‘cause we got time right now
To sit and talk and dream and walk to wherever our path begins
And I know that I’ll see you again
because with us there’s no end

You and I have had good times that no one can erase
I can’t recall a time that we found hard to face
You tell me that the stars are nice but they’re not what’s in your heart
It’s for the people that you love that you come this far

I have been a lot of places
But no where else can compare
They ain’t got no Texas women
They ain’t got no Lone Star Beer
I’m as free as any man can be
But I ain’t goin’ nowhere

Just keepin’ it ‘tween the lines, in the land of barbecue and pecan pie
Give me rivers and dancehalls and open skies
From the Red to the Rio Grande, New Mexico to Louisian(a)
Just keepin’ it ‘tween the lines

Sittin’ on the Guadalupe
Summer breeze blowin’ in my hair
Think I’ll float on down to Gruene Hall
I know they got good music there
Ain’t no good times you can’t find
Livin’ in a Lone Star state of mind

Sleepin’ on the Rio Bravo
Campin’ under Marfa lights
Got some friends up in San Angelo
They won’t leave me lonely tonight
If you don’t think I’ll stay here all my life
You just count the days and nights

A young girl with a bottle of wine
Is no place for a heart like mine to call home
A little wild when the sun ain’t around
She got no one to hold her down, she’s on her own
But there’s a few things she don’t know
Like how she makes me want her so when she says

Hey do you wanna dance?
Hey baby will you take that chance?
You know you can’t give me too much love
So come on and give me one more dance
Give me one more dance

Down by the river on a Sunday night
Skinny dippin’ in the broad moonlight, ain’t it fine
She sings the song of old Mexico
Says its someplace we will go sometime
But I don’t know if I can wait that long
Seems to me I can’t go wrong when she says

Su sonrisa
Su mirada
Me estoy volviendo loco
Cada vez que dice

Ay, ay, quierés bailar?
Hey baby will you take that chance?
You know you can’t give me too much love
Vén y baíla una vez mas
Give me one more dance

I’ve known love like I may never know again
She had long dark hair, coffee eyes and light brown skin
Now I’m gone but I couldn’t tell you why
I left her all alone, the tears in her eyes

I’ve gotta keep the hammer down
There’s many a lonely road I’ve yet to see
Somewhere down a dusty trail
On the wandering winds I will sail
I’ll keep moving ‘till the moving buries me
I’ll keep moving ‘till the moving buries me

Smell of rain rollin’ in on the wind
But no amount of falling water could wash away my sins
Beyond the hills where the lechuguilla grows
You’ll find me where the wind always blows

This barren land has nothing I desire
But that won’t keep the caliche off my tires
Maybe time will settle down my pace
But until then my friend, I wish you never in my place