Subject: RE: Bill Staines Bridges LP
From:
GerryM
Date: 28 Feb 23 - 04:48 PM
One of the many fine songs on the Bridges recording is Walker Behind the Wheel. When I sang it at the recent Mudcat Worldwide Zoom Singaround, Joe Offer noted that the lyrics aren't available on Mudcat. We don't have a thread dedicated to Bill Staines' lyrics, so I thought this thread's as good a place as any for the lyrics. All verses sung, unless indicated otherwise at the start of the stanza.
Walker Behind the Wheel
Bill Staines
(spoken)
It was the middle of Montana on a cold October night
When our van pulled up outside the door
We'd been three months on the road, four-hundred miles that day;
We were tired, but we loaded our stuff out on the floor
There was Jack on the guitar and Bill on the bass
Tom on the lonesome steel
And I play the fiddle around the place
And there was Walker behind the wheel
(spoken)
Well, the crowd was with us that night; dancers stepped up high and around
And we played like we hadn't played in a while
At the end of the evening, you know, even the management was pleased
So afterwards we all hit the bar with a smile
When this guy full of whiskey comes over to me
And says with a look in his eye
I can see by your tags you're from Texas, boys
Brother, well so am I...
Tell me...
Do the bluebonnets carpet the fields in the spring?
Does the Brazos still run to the sea?
Does the sun still shine down on those Texas girls?
Once one gave her love to me
(spoken)
You see, son, there was a time when my song was just as sweet as yours
And I traveled and I worked with the best
But day after day got to be year after year
And the road gives you no time to rest
The runaway dreams put a rope to my soul
The nights took my company
Then the gin got the lyrics to most of my songs
And the age took my memory...
But tell me...
Do the bluebonnets carpet the fields in the spring?
Does the Brazos still run to the sea?
Does the sun still shine down on those Texas girls?
Once one gave her love to me
(spoken)
So I guess I see a lot of myself in you and your friends here
I see the poet, and I see the clown, sometimes the king
So just you take care of yourself and try not to end up like me
With a whole lot of empty dreams and no songs to sing
(spoken)
Well, I didn't mean to go preachin' to ya, let me buy you a beer
I guess I spend much too much time talkin' alone
You really are pretty good on that fiddle, from what I can hear
(sung)
And you paint me a picture of home...
Tell me...
Do the bluebonnets carpet the fields in the spring?
Does the Brazos still run to the sea?
Does the sun still shine down on those Texas girls?
Once one gave her love to me
Do the bluebonnets carpet the fields in the spring?
Does the Brazos still run to the sea?
Does the sun still shine down on those Texas girls?
Once one gave her love to me
Now it's Jack on the guitar and Bill on the bass
And Tom on the lonesome steel
And I play the fiddle around the place
And it's Walker behind the wheel
Bill Staines recording of Walker Behind the Wheel, on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-PFKMxNeDYk
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sj
