SONGLIST FOR ROPIN' THE WIND
Against The Grain
Rodeo
What She's Doing Now
Burning Bridges
Papa Loved Mama
Shameless
Cold Shoulder
We Bury The Hatchet
In Lonesome Dove
The River

Against the Grain

Folks call me a maverick
Guess I ain't too diplomatic
I just never been the kind to go along
Just avoidin' confrontation
For the sake of conformation
And I'll admit I tend to sing a different song
But sometimes you just can't be afraid
To wear a different hat
If Columbus had complied
This old world might still be flat
Nothin' ventured, nothin' gained
Sometimes you've got to go against the grain

Well, I have been accused
Of makin' my own rules
There must be rebel blood
Just a-runnin' through my veins
But I ain't no hypocrite
What you see is what you get
And that's the only way I know
To play the game
Old Noah took much ridicule
For building his great ark
But after forty days and forty nights
He was lookin' pretty smart
Sometimes it's best to brave the wind and rain
By havin' strength to go against the grain

Well, there's more folks than a few
Who share my point of view
But they're worried
If they're gonna sink or swiim
They'd like to buck the system
But the deck is tacked against 'em
And they're a little scared
To go out on a limb
But if you're gonna leave your mark
You can't follow like a bunch of sheep
You got to listen to your heart
Go bustin' in like old John Wayne
Sometimes you got to go against the grain

Nothin' ventured, nothin' gained
Sometimes you've got to go against the grain

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Rodeo

His eyes are cold and restless
His wounds have almost healed
And she'd give half of Texas
Just to change the way he feels
She knows his love's in Tulsa
And she knows he's gonna go
Well, it ain't no woman, flesh and blood
It's that damned old rodeo.

(chorus)
Well, it's bulls and blood
It's dust and mud
It's the roar of a Sunday crowd
It's the white in his knuckles
The gold in the buckle
He'll win the next go 'round
It's boots and chaps
It's cowboy hats
It's spurs and latigo
It's the ropes and the reins
And the joy and the pain
And they call the thing rodeo.

She does her best to hold him
When his love comes to call
But his need for it controls him
And her back's against the wall
And it's "So long girl, I'll see you."
When it's time for him to go
You know the woman wants her cowboy
Like he wants his rodeo

*chorus*

It'll drive a cowboy crazy
It'll drive the man insane
And he'll sell off everything he owns
Just to pay to play her game
And a broken home and some broken bones
Is all he'll have to show
For all the years that he spent chasin'
This dream they call rodeo.

*chorus*

Well, it's bulls and blood
It's dust and mud
It's the roar of a Sunday crowd
It's the white in his knuckles
The gold in the buckle
He'll win the next go 'round
It's boots and chaps
It's cowboy hats
It's spurs and latigo
It's the ropes and the reins
And the joy and the pain
And they call the thing rodeo.
It's the broncs and the blood
It's the steers and the mud
And they call the thing rodeo

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What She's Doing Now

Last time I saw her it was turnin' colder
But that was years ago
Last I heard she had moved to Boulder
But where she's now, I don't know
But there's somethin' 'bout this time of year
That spins my head around
Takes me back, makes me wonder
What she's doin' now.

(chorus)
'Cause what she's doin' now is tearin' me apart
Fillin' up my mind and emptying my heart
I can hear her call each time the cold wind blows
And I wonder if she knows what she's doin' now.

Just for laughs, I dialed her old number
But no one knew her name
Hung up the phone, sat there and wondered
If she'd ever done the same
I took a walk in the evenin' wind
To clear my head somehow
But tonight I lie here thinkin'
What's she doin' now?

*chorus*

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Burning Bridges

Yesterday she thanked me
For oilin' that front door
This morning when she wakes
She won't be thankful anymore
She'll never know how much I cared
Just that I couldn't stay
And I'll never know the reason
Why I always run away.

(chorus)
Burning bridges one by one
What I'm doin' can't be undone
And I'm always hoping someday
I'm gonna stop this runnin' around
But every time the chance comes up
Another bridge goes down.

Last night we talked of old times
Families and home towns
Whe wondered if we'd both agree
On where we'd settle down
And I told her that we'd cross that bridge
Whenever it arrived
Now through the flames I see her
Standin' on the other side


*chorus*

Like ashes on the water
I drift away in sorrow
Knowing that the day
My lesson's finally learned
I'll be standing at a river
Staring out across tomorrow
And the bridge I need to get there
Will be a bridge that I have burned.

*chorus*

Another bridge goes down

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Papa Loved Mama

Papa drove a truck nearly all his life
You know it drove mama crazy being a trucker's wife
The part she couldn't handle was the being alone
I guess she needed more to hold than just a telephone
Papa called Mama each and every night
Just to ask her how she was and if us kids were alright
Mama would wait for that call to come in
When Daddy'd hang up she was gone again.

(chorus)
Mama was a looker
Lord, how she shined
Papa was a good'n
But the jealous kind
Papa loved Mama
Mama loved men
Mama's in the graveyard
Papa's in the pen.

Well, it was bound to happen and one night it did
Papa came home and it was just us kids
He had a dozen roses and a bottle of wine
If he was lookin' to surprise us, he was doin' fine
I heard him cry for Mama up and own the hall
Then I h heard a bottle break against the bedroom wall
That old diesel engine made an eerie sound
When Papa fired it up and headed into town.

Well, the picture in the paper showed the scene real well
Papa's rig was buried in the local motel
The desk clerk said he saw it all real clear
He never hit the brakes and he was shifting gears.

*chorus*



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Shameless

Well I'm shamemeless when it comes to loving you
I'll do anything you want me to
I'll do anything at all.

And I'm standing here for all the world to see
Oh baby, that's what's left of me
Don't have very far to fall

You know now I'm not a man who's ever been
Insecure about the world I've been living in
I don't break easy, I have my pride
But if you need to be satisfied

I'm shameless, oh honey, I don't have a prayer
Every time I see you standin' there
I go down upon my knees.

And I'm changing, swore I'd never compromise
Oh, but you convinced me otherwise
I'll do anything you please.

You see in all my life I've never found
What I couldn't resist, what I couldn't turn down
I could walk away from anyone I ever knew
But I can't walk away from you.

I have never let anything have this much control over me
I work too hard to call my life my own
I have never let anything have this much control over me
I work too hard to call my life my own
And I've made myself a world and it's worked so perfectly
But it's your world now, I can't refuse
I've never had so much to lose
Oh, I'm shameless.

You know it should be easy for a man who's strong
To say he's sorry or admit when he's wrong
I've never lost anything I've ever missed
But I've never been in love like this.

It's out of my hands.

I'm shameless, I don't have the power now
I don't want it anyhow
So I got to let it go.

Oh, I'm shameless, shameless as a man can be
You make a total fool of me
I just wanted to you to know.

Oh, I'm shameless, I just wanted you to know
Oh, I'm shameless, Oh, I'm down on my knees

shameless

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Cold Shoulder

There's a fire burning bright
At our house tonight
Slow music playing
And soft candlelight
On her lips I keep tasting
The warm red wine
I'm there in her arms
But it's all in my mind.

(chorus)
The snow is piled high on the highway tonight
I'm a ship lost at sea on this ocean of white
Eighteen wheels anchored somewhere out of Dover
I wish I could hold her
Instead of huggin' this old cold shoulder.

This old highway
Is like a woman sometimes
She can be your best friend
But she's the real jealous kind
She's the lady that leads me
To the life I dream of
She's the mistress that keeps me
From the ones that I love

*chorus*

God, I wish I could hold her
Instead of huggin' this old cold shoulder

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Hey, all the neighbors lights
Came on last night
Just like they do every time
We have a little fight
It's gettin' to the point
We can't get along
We're always fighting about things
That should be dead and gone.

(chorus)
We bury the hatchet
But leave the handle stickin' out
We're always diggin' up things
We should forget about
When it comes to forgettin'
Baby, there ain't no doubt
We bury the hatchet
But leave the handle sticking out.

Well, I was kissing on Cindy
Hey, that I won't deny
But that's a long time ago
I let a dead dog lie
But if you want to cut deep
How 'bout you and ol' Joe
I caught you down at the creek
Just ten years ago.

*chorus*

Hey, we got enough on each other
To wage a full scale war
If we could ever remember
What we were fightin' for

*chorus*

We bury the hatchet
But leave the handle stickin' out

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In Lonesome Dove

She was a girl on a wagon train
Headed west across the plains
The train got lost in a summer storm
They couldn't move west and they couldn't go home
Then she saw him ridin' through the rain
He took charge of the wagons and he saved the train
And she looked down and her heart was gone
The train went west but she stayed on
In Lonesome Dove.

A farmer's daughter with a gentle hand
A blooming rose in a bed of sand
She loved the man who wore a star
A Texas Ranger known near and far
So they got married and they had a child
But times were touch and the West was wild
So it was no surprise the day she learned
That her Texas man would not return
To Lonesome Dove.

(chorus)
Back to back with the Rio Grande
A Christian woman in the devil's land
She learned the language and she learned to fight
But she never learned how to beat the lonely nights
In Lonesome Dove, Lonesome Dove.

She watched her boy grow into a man
He had an angel's heart and the devil's hand
He wore his star for all to see
He was a Texas lawman legacy
The one day word blew into town
It seemed the men that shot his father down
Had robbed a bank in Cherico
The only thing 'tween them and Mexico
Was Lonesome Dove.

The shadows stretched across the land
As the shots rang out down the Rio Grande
And when the smoke had finally cleared the street
The men lay at the ranger's feet
But legend tells to this very day
That shots were comin' from an alleyway
Though no one knows who held the gun
There ain't no doubt if you ask someone
In Lonesome Dove.

*chorus*



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The River

You know a dream is like a river
Ever changin' as it flows
And a dreamer's just a vessel
That must follow where it goes
Trying to learn from what's behind you
And never knowing what's in store
Makes each day a constant battle
Just to stay between the shores.

(chorus)
And I will sail my vessel
'Til the river runs dry
Like a bird upon the wind
These waters are my sky
I'll never reach my destination
If I never try
So I will sail my vessel
'Til the river runs dry.

Too many times we stand aside
And let the waters slip away
'Til what we put off 'til tomorrow
Has now become today
So don't you sit upon the shoreline
And say you're satisfied
Choose to chance the rapids
And dare to dance the tide.

*chorus*

And there's bound to be rough waters
And I know I'll take some falls
But with the good Lord as my captain
I can make it through them all.

*chorus*

Yes, I will sail my vessel
'Til the river runs dry
'Til the river runs dry

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