Lyr Req: I'm Not from Here (James McMurtry)

Subject: Lyr. Req.
From: Greg F.
Date: 09 Nov 98 - 09:56 PM

Song heard several years ago, probably of recent vintage- been rattling around in my head driving me nuts. Repeated lyric is "I'm not from here, I just live here" with a line about the locals saying "you should have seen it 'fore it got ruined by folks like me". Author/Lyric appreciated. Having moved into this rural community a scant 25 years ago, song pretty accurately describes my experience. Many Thanks!

Subject: Lyr Add: I'M NOT FROM HERE (James McMurtry)
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 01 Jan 07 - 08:24 PM

From James McMurtry's web site:

I'M NOT FROM HERE
James McMurtry

I'm not from here. I just live here.
Grew up somewhere far away.
Come here thinking I'd never stay long.
I'd be going back soon someday.

It's been a few years since I got here.
Seen 'em come and I've seen 'em go.
Crowds assemble, they hang out awhile,
Then they melt away like an early snow.

On to some bright future somewhere,
Down the road to points unknown,
Sending postcards when they get there,
Wherever it is they think they're goin'.

I'm not from here. I just live here.
Can't see that it matters much.
I read the papers and I watch the nightly news.
Who's to say I'm out of touch?

Nobody's from here. Most of us just live here.
Locals long since moved away.
Sold the played-out farms for parking lots,
Went off looking for a better way.

On to some bright future somewhere,
Better times on down the road.
Wonder if they ever got there,
Wherever it was they thought they'd go?

Hit my hometown a couple years back.
Hard to say just how it felt,
But it looked like so many towns I might've been through
On my way to somewhere else.

I'm not from here, but people tell me
It's not like it used to be.
They say I should have been here back about ten years
Before it got ruined by folks like me.

We can't help it. We just keep moving.
It's been that way since long ago,
Since the Stone Age, chasing the great herds.
We mostly go where we have to go.

On to some bright future somewhere,
Down the road to points unknown,
Sending post cards when we get there,
Wherever it is we think we'll go.

[Sung by James McMurtry on "Too Long in the Wasteland," 1989; and on "Live in Aught-Three," 2004.]