- 1. Roll Over Bessie
- 2. Run That Rabbit Down
- 3. Little Red Train
- 4. The Krog Street Strut
- 5. Swannanoa
- 6. It’s All Over Now
- 7. It Don’t Have To Rain
- 8. Lock That Door
- 9. I Love You That’s All
- 10. Krog Street Revisited
- 11. State Hotel
Roll Over Bessie
Oh Bessie please
Just come down cause I need you
I’ve been sitting here and singing your song
I put your records on
And I drink till dawn
I’m as lonely as the night is long
I’ve got the blues too
So roll it over for me again
So many years so many pounds apart
Roll it over for me
I might be skinny but you stole my heart
I’ve been out talking to these other dames
I’m coming home to you all the same
You can hear me coming walking down the hall
I was riding on the wagon but the wheel fell off
I’m low on sugar but I’m high on gin
You gotta roll it over for me again
Some things about me you would understand
Roll it over for
You’ll get to know me I’m a real strange man
In the ballroom we can stomp on the boards
Or kick the dust up dancing on a bare dirt floor
You’re heavier than heaven but you’re horny as hell
Just put your big leg over me and I’ll start ringing your bell
I’m low on sugar but I’m high on gin you gotta roll it over for me again
I know you’re looking for a hustling man
Come down and see me anytime you can
After you’ve gone I ain’t got nobody here
Just the juice joint blues and a bottle of beer
You can hear me coming walking down the hall
I was riding on the wagon but the wheel broke off
Now I’m low on sugar but I’m high on gin
You gotta roll it over for me again
Run That Rabbit Down
Come on get moving lets move along
Time won’t wait, it’ll soon be gone
You gotta run, run, run, run
Run that race cause it won’t be long
So much waiting on the other side
A pretty young girl with a curtain prize
Could be the man of the century
Cover of a magazine and never get a minute just to (panting sound)
Breathe in breathe out gotta get the lead out
Someones gonna pass if your heads not in the game now
Get back on the track before you have a heart attach and lose the race
Feet don’t fail me now
I’m going to run that rabbit down
So get your tips, turn in your slips cause
When the clock starts ticking your going to see me hit and run by
Why you all waiting for the light to change
Better leave from the gate hit the passing lane
You gotta move, move, move, move
Get in that race
One step ahead and one behind
Everybody waits just to get in line
You might get yours but till I get mine I won’t stop
Come on get moving lets move along
Time won’t wait, it’ll soon be gone
You gotta run, run, run, run
Run that race cause it won’t be long
So much waiting on the other side
A pretty young girl with a curtain prize
Could be the man of the century
Cover of a magazine and never get a minute just to (panting sound)
Breathe in breathe out gotta get the lead out
Someones gonna pass if your heads not in the game now
Get back on the track before you have a heart attach and lose the race
Feet don’t fail me now
I’m going to run that rabbit down
So take this tip, turn in your slip
When the track gets hot my heart won’t stop
You gonna see me hit and run by
Little Red Train
Chorus:
Ohh Ohh Ohh
here comes my little red train “let me ride!”
in your little red train “let me ride!”
in your little red train coming on down the line
Please please please
my little red train
“let me ride!”
in your little red train “let me ride!”
in your little red train coming on down the line
Verse I
She’s the best little train that I’ve ever known
and I love the way she sounds when I’m driving her home
making me hot down to my soul
makes a man sweat like shoveling coal
feel the steam gathering on my brow
I hear the little train cause she’s coming now
It’s my little red train and she’s coming now
She’s my little red train and she’s coming on down the line
Verse II
Didn’t need a ticket just slipped inside
I’m just a stowaway hitching a ride
Sitting in the boxcar way out back
And I love the way it sounds when I’m slapping the tracks
All the brakemen waiting for that haul
Hear her coming in like a fireball
And they never seen a little red train like that before Awww no!
The Krog Street Strut
Here in this town
There is a cloud overhead
It shadows our gardens
It rains in our beds
A paralyzed loneliness lies here along with the dead
And the living like me
Fear remains with me and guilt never leaves
At night from my window all I ever see
Is a view of that bridge that leads somewhere where I’ll never be
Though I long to go
From under that bridge I hear melodies roar
Light flickers my windows
Drums rattles my doors
The preacher says they are all sinners and whores
Their laughter is torturing me
So one night out of weakness and a thirst in my throat
I ran to that bridge I swore I’d never go
At the end of the tunnel
I saw a firey light
I walked in hanging my head and cried
Came out strutting on the other side
Oh now I feel so
Like I got somewhere to go
I’m going to strut back through that sad old town
And show them all that theres a new man around
I got a spring in my step fire in my bones
The world turns a way I never knew before
Tell the preacher amen while he pays the bill
Leave the devil outside till he makes a deal
No I never believed that
Anything would have changes
And the walls that surround me would always remain
Come tomorrow morning I might just feel the same
But I’ll walk back down to that old bridge and I’ll come right back out strutting again
Oh mama, now don’t you cry
I got to play for the winning side
I’ve just lost so many days I gotta roll that dice gotta play the game
Now more clearly I can see I ain’t got no need to leave cause I laugh with the sinners that I used to hear and dance with the devils that I used to fear!
Swannanoa
In Swannanoa
People like to go a
Floating down the river all day
Getting lazy gets a little hazey
Just washing all your troubles away
You wanna meet me
Baby what a treat it’d be to love you while we lie in the grass
Sleep under the big mountain sun and let the day go past
You come from the city
Babe it’s such a pity gonna show you some place you’ve never been
Just put your toes in the water
Bet you never gonna ever think about the city again
We’ll have some home made wine while the full moon shines
I’ll be your honey babe if you’ll be mine
Just get to Swannanoa
Come on over whistle with me
Everyone you meet is a friend
Waving as you go round the bend
Only thing that matter is you ended up here
Ain’t nobody give a care where you been
So leave the big city behind
The lights are going to make you go blind
Get here on the river you can open your eyes and see life
Just drifting by
We’ll have some home made wine while the full moon shines
I’ll be your honey babe if you’ll be mine
Just get to Swannanoa
Come on over sing it with me
It’s All Over Now
I use to live for more than just the weekend
And I’d spend my money every night
Me and the boys would go hit the town
Live it up until the sun goes down
That was all before I met my gal and
It’s all over now
I used to dance when the band was playing rhythm
Take a chance with every girl in sight
With all the fish out in the sea
One could never be enough for me
But that was all before I met my gal and
It’s all over now
You could say I really put up a fight
When she came and tried to change my life
But all she had to do is bat those eyes
I went ahead and said my goodbyes
To cars and bars and fancy scenes
Now they really don’t mean a thing
Cause that was all before I met my gal and
It’s all over now
All the little girls that I use to kiss
It’s all over now
My little black book is now a honey do list
It’s all over now
Every single night trying to find another lover
It’s all over now
Now I’m spending all my night just fighting over covers
It’s all over now!
I don’t think about the things that I
Might be missing on a Friday night
I can leave anytime I like
As long as my gal says alright
I used to like those fancy things
I sold them all for a diamond ring
That was all before I met my gal and
It’s all over now
It Don’t Have To Rain
The sun is shining bright in the sky
Onto my face but all these tears they won’t dry
People walk by and they wave
How do you do but I’ve got nothing to say
Cause it don’t have to rain
To be a rainy day
The birds are singing up in the trees
But their songs ain’t doing nothing for me
Well you’re in the pink
But I’m feeling so grey
Just try to dance
I’ll just roll in my grave
Cause it don’t have to rain
To be a rainy day
Everything in your life is just fine
I got something that ain’t right with my mind
Why don’t you try to get right with the lord?
Or get that girl that I know I can’t afford
You can drink yourself onto the floor
But when I wake it’s raining worse than before
You can fix it with a shot in the arm
That kills the pain but it could do me more harm
Or you could work till the end of your days
I’d take my money, spend it all in one place
Why don’t sail off and live on the sea
cause all the while I’d be out stuck there with me
It’s seems that nothings going to turn you around
So I’ll keep walking with my head to the ground
When will you get your weather to change
Bring your umbrella and expect more of the same
Cause it don’t have to rain
to be a rainy day
Lock That Door
Chorus:
Lock that Door (repeat) Alright
Get it real tight
Cause all night
I hear that knocking again
For sure
Gotta let it go
When the candyman comes
Sweets and treat taste so like
All the colors of the sunset
But so soon that darkness will fall
Oh Yeah
You gotta Lock Door
When the candyman comes
I’ve been waiting
For so long
For my baby to
Come back home
When I hear knocking
I run to see
If my girl has come back to me
But it’s just a man selling something sweet
And it taste just like my honey bee
So I locked the door and I threw the key
Now I sweat through the cold and heat
Sweets and treat taste so like
All the colors of the rainbow
But so soon that darkness will fall
Oh No
You gotta Lock Door
When the candyman comes
I Love You That’s All
I don’t need
A silver screen
To show me all those hopes and dreams
I can see those kind of things in your eyes
I don’t need a book of love
To tell me who I’m thinking of
I’ll just write my own
Because you’re mine
Other guys sit on the fence
Take their time
To comprehense
But for your love darling I’m convinced
I’m falling for you hard
I don’t need a reason
I love you that’s all
I don’t need
A deck of cards
To see the hand that holds my heart
Take it girl it’s clearly yours
I never even had a choice
And this game
No I won’t bother
The night grows so much longer
I want only to be with you
I won’t try to complicate
Shake my head or cogitate
Place my bets or speculate
I’ve falling for you hard
I don’t need a reason
I love you that’s all
Other guys sit on the fence
Take their time
To comprehense
But for your love darling I’m defenseless
I’m falling for you hard
I don’t need a reason
I love you that’s all
State Hotel
Busting out in Harlem
Taking in a gambling raid
The bus took me from Memphis
heading back to New Orleans
The sun shined down in the distance
on a building made of stone and steel
The warden called behind us
Welcome to the state hotel
I checked my bags with the door man
Nothing but a stolen guitar
He took my watch said you won’t need that man
Time ain’t moving where you are
The guests all in line as we moved on in
Rhythm from the shuffle of shoes
and the bars and keys were clanking
playing me a twelve bar blues
Chorus
Everyone’s and innocent
they sit collecting dust
No use in trying to change here
cause nobody ever does
Verse II
Bed down in the evening
No window in my room tonight
The guest next door is screaming
every time they turn out the lights
If you need me I’ll still be waiting here
Ain’t nobody posted my bail
Just sending postcards out to nowhere
Staying in the State Hotel
Chorus