Rodney Crowell reflecting is as good as it gets. Try on these three masterpieces:
"I Don't Care Anymore" 2020 video from Crowell's "Close Ties" release
The lyrics:
"I used to pull my britches on with just one thing in mind
Make the girls believe that I'm the last one of my kind
Silver toe tips on my boots and a mullet head of hair
All designed to walk into a room and make somebody stare
I don't care anymore if I don't stand out in a crowd
I was better off before I tried to make my mother proud
I came to town a dreaming I could make my mark in spades
Forty odd years later all my best cards have been played
It's a hard knock situation when the accolades bestowed
On your every last creation cries out middle of the road
I don't care anymore about the fortune and the fame
I was better off before I tried to make myself a name
All the money that I blew through like some boot black off the farm
Could not have vanished quicker if I'd shot it in my arm
Some so and so says don't you know the limit is the sky
Next thing I remember I'm unlearning how to fly
I don't care anymore
All those party dolls and favors that I savored from day one
Add up to next to nothing after all is said and done
A real friend tried to tell me man with all respect it's true
The time to put away these things is long since overdue
If indeed I do get lonesome in my mansion on the hill
There's this neighbor's wife I covet for her beauty and her skill
The way she puts herself together sleek in vagabond couture
Makes each mailbox conversation one more heartache to endure
I don't care anymore who does what and why
I was better off before when I was just another guy
I've been lied on, spied on, cried on, tried on, taken for a ride you bet
Fracked, cracked, smacked jack, what you see is what you get
I've been spit at, hit at, quit at, shit at, shouldn't hurt a bit at, what I'm trying to get at
Fool me once shame on me, fool me twice and put the blame on
I don't care anymore"
and
"It Ain't Over Yet" 2017 video from Crowell's "Close Ties" release
The lyrics:
It's like I'm sitting at a bus stop waiting for a train
Exactly how I got here is hard to explain
My heart's in the right place, what's left of it I guess
My heart ain't the problem, it's my mind that's a total mess
With these rickety old legs and watery eyes
It's hard to believe that I could pass for anybody's prize
Here's what I know about the gifts that God gave
You can't take 'em with you when you go to the grave
It ain't over yet, ask someone who ought to know
Not so very long ago we were both hung out to dry
It ain't over yet, you can mark my word
I don't care what you think you heard, we're still learning how to fly
It ain't over yet
For fools like me who were built for the chase
Takes the right kind of woman to help you put it all in place
It only happened once in my life, but man you should have seen
Her hair two shades of foxtail red, her eyes some far out sea blue green
I got caught up making a name for myself, you know what that's about
One day your ship comes rolling in and the next day it rolls right back out
You can't take for granted none of this shit
The higher up you fly boys, the harder you get hit
It ain't over yet, I'll say this about that
You can get up off the mat or you can lay there till you die
It ain't over yet, here's the truth my friend
You can't pack it in and we both know why
It ain't over yet
Silly boys blind to get there first
Think of second chances as some kind of curse
I've known you forever and ever it's true
If you came by it easy, you wouldn't be you
Make me laugh, you make me cry, you make me forget myself
Back when down on my luck kept me up for days
You were there with the right word to help me crawl out of the maze
And when I almost convinced myself I was hipper than thou
You stepped up with a warning shot fired sweet and low across the bow
No you don't walk on water and your sarcasm stings
But the way you move through this old world sure makes a case for angel wings
I was halfway to the bottom when you threw me that line
I quote you now verbatim, "Get your head out of your own behind"
It ain't over yet, what you wanna bet
One more cigarette ain't gonna send you to the grave
It ain't over yet, I've seen your new girlfriend
Thinks you're the living end, great big old sparkle in her eye
It ain't over yet
and
The lyrics:
We don't all die young to save our spark
From the ravages of time
But the first and last to leave their mark
Someday become the traveling kind
In the wind are names of poets past
Some were friends of yours and mine
And to those unsung, we lift our glass
May their songs become the traveling kind
We were born to brave this tilted world
With our hearts laid on the line
Be it way-crossed boy or red dirt girl
The song becomes the traveling kind
There are mountains worth their weight in gold
Mere mortals dare not climb
Come ye tipsy, sainted, sinners both
And claim them for the traveling kind
When the music slowly starts to fade
Into the light's last soft decline
Let us lie down in that evening shade
And rest among the traveling kind
And the song goes on for the traveling kind
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