Hangin' Ground

I'm on my hanging ground.
I'm on my hanging ground.
I've travelled this wide world around.
Now I guess he's gonna hang around.

There's a man glad to see me go.
There's a man glad to see me go.
Another says he loves me so
that he'll follow.
But I don't know where I'll go.

Was my last dollar I'd played.
I pulled my gun when he pulled a straight.
I laid him in his cold, cold grave.
I laid him in his lonley grave.

Guns they don't tell no lies.
Guns they don't tell no lies.
I can't help but cry.
'Cause I'm bound to die.
And I'm on my hanging ground.

I almost got away,
hopped on a West bound train
to where no one knew my name.
Sherriff got me anyway.
Now I'm on my hanging ground.

I'm on my hanging ground.
I'm on my hanging ground.
I've travelled this wide world 'round.
Now I guess I'm gonna hang around.

The Wayfairing Stranger

I am a poor, wayfairing stranger,
a-wanderin' through this world of woe;
a world of trouble, a world of danger;
nowhere to run, nowhere to go.

My heart's a desert, the sun a shadow,
for all the blaze of brighter fire.
I have seen angels. They're always weeping
while men on wings try to climb higher.

I am a poor, wayfairing stranger,
gone far away from all I know.
I'm only going over Jordan.
I'm only going over home.

And now dark clouds, they gather 'round me
And now my waking is a sleep.
The moon is black. The sky is dying.
While silent stars still vigil keep.

I am a poor, wayfairing stranger,
a-wandering through this world of woe.
I'm only going over Jordan.
I'm only going over home.

Here's to You

We're both far away from who and where we were then.
Time one of us said we knew the other when.
Now here I am doin' what I always wanted to.
Guess it should be here's to me but golly gee, here's to you.

Nothin' in life's ever like what it was before.
Except that funny feelin' someone might walk through a door.
You and your face are far away from this place, well good for you.
I finally see it's good for me but golly gee, here's to you.

Here's to the fun.
To all we've said and done.
Here's to the fightin' too.
Here's to it all.
Had a ball after all. Here's to you.

Lets have another round for all I've found to be true.
Lets have one more for all I knows a lie now too.
For all I know, don't or won't, you're what I am most glad I knew.
here's to everything, every song I sing, it's here's to you.

Here's to your eyes,
even the tears they cried.
Here's to your smile too.
Raise a glass to the past,
after it all it's still a blast, here's to you.

For all I know, don't or won't, you're what I am most glad I knew.
Here's to everything, every song I sing, it's here's to you.

Wandering William

Uncle William wandered all over the place
'till he fell in love, then he stayed.
A baby on the way, he tried to settle down.

Maybe he didn't know what he wanted,
didn't know by what, just knew he was haunted,
maybe it had to do with reasons he'd first gone.

Or maybe a wanderin' man just keeps movin on.

It might have been another life.
It might have been the farm, the baby, the wife.
It might have killed him.
He needed to be free, Wandering William.

He stayed on 'till the baby was born.
I guess he didn't want to leave his wife alone.
He only left on Saturday's to go to the general store.
One day when Uncle William walked out the door,
he knew he'd never again walk back in any more.

Great-Grand-Daddy came by later on.
He saw the buggy and the mule, saw Uncle William was gone.
He saw the mule needed feedin' so he walked to the tobacco barn.
Uncle William had left his baby and wife.
What was left of him slumped over a furnace pipe.
A gun in his hand, William wandered on.

I guess a wandrin' man just keeps movin' on.

It might have been another life etc.

Stagger Lee

A lot of people have told you about old Stagger Lee.
I think it's time you heard it from me.
He was mean and he was hard.
He met the Devil in a Voodoo graveyard.

Devil gave him a banjo, Devil gave him a hat.
He said, "Even I can't get you if you're wearing that."
He was bad, he'd do you wrong.
You know he shot his own wife for cooking eggs too long.

He had a woman so fine just lookin' made you holler.
Best gambler in town, they called her Stack O' Dollars.
They never lost a game in the underground mine
place run by that fool boy Billy de Lyon's.

'Till Stag started losin' one cold, stormy night.
He and Billy, Lord, they had a fight.
Billy shot a seven, Stack O' Dollars said she'd pass.
Stag said to him, "You done shot your last."

They each had 'em a .44. Stack stood lookin' at the door.
She said, "What would you do if that Devil walked in here?"
de Lyon's tried to act like he won't scared.
Then, Boom! Boom! Boom! With the .44
there was de Lyon's lyin' dyin' on the floor.

The Sherrif was there gamblin', the Deputy was too.
Billy said to them in the last breath he blew,
"Deputy, Sherriff, why it be
you arrest everybody but Stag Lee?"

They took their badges and laid them on a shelf.
They said, "If you want to get him, go get him yourself.
Go wait for him in Hell. He ain't gonna stay in jail.
Devil's posted Stagger Lee's ever-lasting bail.

Billy had a pretty widow, once he was in the ground,
it won't too long before old Stag came around.
He took off his black boots, took off his black tie,
wouldn't take off his black hat 'cause he won't about to die.
Till that de Lyon's woman took that hat right off his head.
She snuggled up with a Gatlin' gun and shot him dead.

He went down to the Devil and the Devil, he smiled.
He said, "Boy, you lost your hat. You're going to fry awhile.
"And stuck to you like a shadow, morning, noon and night
is gonna be de Lyon's cryin' took my life won't take my wife."

Steady Theme

It's a steady theme. Lately I can't seem
to get you off my mind but I don't mind.
I'm frightened by the dream of you and I.
It seems we're in a bind. I've lost my mind.

I'm dazed, dizzy, distressed, delighted.
Don't know what's come over me.
I'm foolish, at a loss, excited.
No telling to what degree you've changed me.

Strange to see my face in it's usual place
in the morning time. Strange you're not mine.
Nothing can replace you. I try to trace you in each line.
Where's my mind?

It must be just like flying.
The way you've come over me.
But there's no denying
I should no better do you see
what you do to me?

It's a steady theme. I'm lost. I'm off my beam.
What do you propose? Oh, heaven knows.
I'm jealous of the dream. Can you tell me what it means?
How the next part goes in this steady theme?

A Hundred Years

It's all gone wrong. I've been up so long
it's long past dawn.
You're fast asleep, I can't keep
from taking you in my arms.
I have to go. We both know that it's all gone to far.
You're running away. I wish you would stay.
Wish you would stay for a hundred years.

There's so much to say it would take all day,
we don't have that anymore.
No matter how I tried, I know your eyes
wouldn't look at me like before.
But when we first kissed I felt like I'd missed you,
like I'd never missed anyone more.
Felt like it had been a hundred years.

If I knew I had a hundred years to do what I wanted to.
I would spend a hundred years waking up with you.
Things don't always work out the way that I would like them to.
You're running away and I wish you would stay.

Guess this is good-bye. I can't say I won't cry
but I guess I'll be o.k.
I won't forget it and I won't regret it.
I'm not that way.
But it's going to take more than a lifetime to stop wishing you had stayed.
It's going to take more than a hundred years.

If I knew I had etc.