The Songs
Virg's latest five-song cd Ashes & Diamonds
with his band
Comfort of the State
Buy the Music CD for £5,plus £1.50 P&P -.worldwide
Pay securely with any major credit or debit card through PayPal!
And I said - Hey Senorita
And I said - Mmh Rosalita
Want to ride along with me?
Cos I’m travelling wild and free
You know the road ahead’s an ever open door.Parked behind a liquor store and drank some wine
She told me ’bout her life, and then I told her mine
She left her home at seventeen
Couldn’t stand her folks no more
She’d been making out along the borderlineAnd I said - Hey Senorita
And I said - Mmh Rosalita
You know, running from the past
Just gets you no place fast
Got a feelin’ we could git along just fine.(Break )
Chorus:
And I said - Hey Senorita
And I said - Mmh Rosalita
Running from the past
Just gets you no place fast
Got a feelin’ we could git along just fine.Fifty dollar motel room down San Anton
Midnight heard her whispering on the telephone
Dreamed of driving down the road of life
Rosalita by my side
But when morning comes I’m laying all aloneAnd I said - Hey Senorita
And I said - Mmh Rosalita
I smell your perfume on the air
But Rosalita you ain’t there
You left me nothin’ in my pocket but a stone
And I said -Hey SenoritaAnd I said - Mmh Rosalita…. etc
Track 2 - San Anton
If I could have my days again
I’d go to San Anton
On a certain summer’s evening in July
Well we’d stroll our way down Main Street
Watch those pretty girls pass by
And drink some beers in Kelly’s bar
Drive home beneath God’s good sky.And when I was alone again
There’s a place that calls me still
Where the road leads past the Mission of San Juan
Where those Mexicali ladies
With their dusky legs so bare
Smile at you from the shadows
Winding roses in their hair.Chorus
San Anton I hear you calling
Calling softly through my tears
In San Anton a girl keep calling to me
Across the lonely valley of the years.Break
Back to Chorus…
San Anton ….etc…And everyone would know me there
And call me by my name
We’d eat and drink at a table in the square
Someone would fetch a mandolin
And play so sweet and low
While the children danced in circles
Singing songs of long ago.And as the moon climbed up that sky
I’d knock upon her door
And she’d look down and see me standing there
And I’d tell her since we broke up
I’d been so all alone
There could only be one Rose for me
The Rose of San Anton.Chorus
San Anton I hear you callin’….etc
Sang in a café
Poor side of town
She painted the years out
Had wine stains on her gown
Sang for hearts that were broken
She sang songs of regret
She remembered a past life
She’d sooner forget.She sang
Ashes and diamonds
Jewels in the dust
When you give all your love babe
To a man you just can’t trust.
Ashes and Diamonds etc…Had a boy down in Parchment
Serving time on the Farm
And a daughter in Venice
Put needles in her arm.
Saw husbands and lovers
Stretching back down the years
Drank the past from a bottle
That tasted like her tearsShe sang ….
Ashes and diamonds etcWhen she looked in the mirror
Saw a girl just eighteen
With a smile like a promise
Bluest eyes you’ve ever seen.
She saw herself runnin’
Through fields bright and green
To a place in her heart called-
What might have been.Ashes and Diamonds etc
Drove out of town with the dawning light
To catch that early morning flight
Saw empty streets and dreams and memories fade from sight
He thought of her calling out his name
Hoping the note was just a game
And that the door he’d closed would one day open up again.
And the rain it started falling
And he found himself recalling
The day that Julie changed his life:Julie the only one
Where did our lives go wrong?
Where did our love go wrong?Solo…………………..
And the rain it started falling
And he found himself recalling
The day that Julie changed his life:
Julie the only one
Where did our lives go wrong?
Where did our love go wrong?He watched a black and white film on a motel TV
About a private eye who solved a mystery
And a girl selling dreams
To a million men she could not see
Picked up phone beside bed
Tried to say again what he’d left said unsaid
He heard a voce he knew
Break up before the line went dead
He knew oh too much about her
To live or live without her
Without Julie
Who one day changed his life:Julie the only one
Where did our lives go wrong?
Where did our love go wrong?Julie the only one ………(And fade)
I got your snake skin boots from a catalogue
And a picture of your car
I got your comic books, pack o’ Lucky Strike
Some gum and a Hershey Bar
I brung the picture you said you liked o’ me
Took the day that we got wed…..
And six new strings for your old guitar and yer tapes of the grateful dead.I got a good luck card from yer sister Blanche
Got a call from your brother Jim
Well the sickness sure have changed his voice
I hardly knowed it was him
But one thang I could not get for you
An’ I pray that it ain’t too late
I got no phone call from the governor
I got no pardon from the State…
She said:What we gonna tell him
So he don’t grow up to hate
Tell him Daddy dies in the governor’s chair
In the comfort of the state.I got yer boxer shorts from the ANP
Deck o’ cards from your cousin Mike
An’ a cherry pie that your Momma made
Baked just the way you like…
I got some fancy decals and a western shirt
With your name picked out in gold
I brought a boy to meet his daddy
Who ain’t but five days old.Then heard her man say:
I killed a man in Venice Beach
He said with a heavy sigh
Well I shot him down for loving you
Now they say that I have to die
It’s been a hard old road that I’ve travelled down
But tonight I’m a gonna be free
So I’m begging you babe
Don’t you let that boy grow up to be like me…And he said:
What we gonna tell him….
The warder stood in the prison door
The priest was by his side
And when he blessed the two of them
The girl broke up and she cried
Well the priest he took her by the hand
Said, It’s best if you don’t stay
Just take your leaves for the very last time
And say what you gotta say…Well, they looked into each other’s eyes
And they felt the moments pass
Then he wrote the words, I love you babe-
With his finger on the glass.
Then I heard him cry out for the very last time
Oh babe say it ain’t too late
For that phone call from the governor
For that pardon from the State…And they both said:
What we gonna tell him
So he don’t grow…..etc
Words & Music copyright (c) Gareth Owen. May 2008
--------------------------------------------------------------
Songs featured in the Movie - Old Country
Buy the CD for £9.99
Right click to download the free song or Left click to play.
Full Song
I’m a Long Tall Cowboy
Well I was down Missouri once
Just passing the time of day
I stopped for a shave in a barber’s shop
That I passed along the way.
Well, the barber he was a small man
Personality was Grey
Most memorable thing about him was
You’d forget his face next day.
He said himself, ‘I’m a small town man
Ain’t nothin’ special ‘bout me
I never done nothing with my life,’
Well I just had to agree.
‘I lived in Clay County all my life,’
He said with a kind of sigh,
‘I was born and bred in this two-bit shack
And this is where I’ll die.
My life don’t amount to a handful of dust
But I’m proud and I’ll tell you why-
‘Cos I once met a man
Who talked with a man
Who saw Jesse James riding by.
Yes I once met a man
Who talked with a man
Who saw Jesse James riding by.I’m a nobody man
From a nowhere town
Lead a nothing kind of life
Got three second-rate kids
And a second-hand car
And a plain kinda second-hand wife.
We once broke up Jolene and me
We was worse of living apart
And I’ve cut out beer and cigarettes
Since they put this valve in my heart.
I watch the weather on t.v.
I read about Sport and Crime
I watch life walking past my door
But nobody watches mine.
Now the life of a man should grow like a tree
And so I’ve often been told
So I watch my face in the mirror
But all I grow is old.
But though my life don’t amount to much
I’ll be happy when I die-
‘Cos I once met a man
Who talked with a man
Who saw Jesse James riding by.
Yeah I once met a man
Who talked with a man
Who saw Jesse James rising by.I was raised by Ma most on her own
Had no kin I could rightly call mine
‘Cept a half kind of brother
By an outside dude
Died of fever when he was nine.
And my Pa sold brushes door to door
Drifted in on a passing train
Spent and hour with Ma in a cheap motel
Then drifted on out again.
And I lost my faith in religion
When I saw my Momma die
Though the preacher told me I loved her
I just couldn’t make myself cry.
When I look at Jolene as she sleeps some nights
Why love seems to me like a stone
You can lay with a woman all your life
And still sleep all alone.
Sometimes I can see myself dyin’
I can see it clear as day
See the blinds pulled down
On an empty room
While the world looks the other way
But with the last breath in my body
Be sure you’ll hear me cry-
That I once met a man
Who talked with a man
Who saw Jesse James riding by
Yeah I once met a man
Who talked with a man
Who saw Jesse James riding by.**********
20 Second Extract
Sing an Old Country Song
I was riding in my car when I was twenty
The sweetest girl I knew was by my side
Her name was Laura Lee
And she was pure as driven snow
Next Saturday she’d be my blushing bride.I’d loved that girl since I was only seven
Her hair was like the sun and three yards long
And when she caught it in the wheel and she got dragged out and caught her heel in the bumper,why, she broke her back, her teeth fell out and I sat down and thought, whatever can I do…Sing her an old Country song
Sing her an old Country song
When times get hard and the roof falls in
The whole damn world seems full of sin
Why, sing an old country song.My Pa give me a puppy for my birthday
(Loved that hound dog)
Whenever I was bad or in disgrace
Well, that dog would cover me in puppy kisses
And lick the salty tears right offa my face.Well, he saved my life one evening down in Memphis
When a diseased, half-breed hooker tempted me
(Was a real dirty girl)
She would have kissed me on the lips
Dog got in first and started frothing at the mouth.Lay on his back with his paws in the air,
why he was the first dog in Tennessee to die of herpes and I thought,
whatever can I do…Sing him an old Country Song… etc
My life has been a story of disasters
Nothing that I did would work out right
Till I hit a seam of gold one day in Dawson
(That’s prospectin’ country there)
And went to blow it out with dynamite.Well I saw the mountain falling down upon me
I saw my body travellin’ different ways
The next thing that I knew about there was angels singin’ and I was standing in front of these here Pearly Gates and St. Peter he looked down at my poor broken body and I thought, whatever can I do…Sing him an old Country song …etc…
That’s what you have to do folks, when it seems like the whole world is sitting there, right on your shoulders just get your guitar out and get to strummin’ You better believe. Yes sir.
***********
20 Second Extract
Why did God give Lucinda such a Beautiful Ass
Lived my life in Kansas
Working on the land
For Mr Jobley’s stud farm
And I played in a Country band
Been married now for fifteen years
And I love my family
Got five boys, two girls and a dog
Mean the whole wide world to me.Why did God give Lucinda such a beautiful ass?
How could he do this to me?
I feel week when Lucinda walks past
That ass will be the ruin of me.When I first come here Lucinda you weren’t but five years old, took you to church honey but you got growed and your ass growed too
Why did God give Lucinda such a beatiful ass?
That ass will be the ruin of me.Always read the Bible
And I lived religiously
I never left God’s narrow path
When the devil he tempted me
‘Till Mr Jobley’s daughter
Lucinda she passed my door
She wore the tightest pants in Kansas City
And a look that promised more.Why did God give….etc
Had to tell somebody, told my wife Ellie Mae. We knelt by the bed and we prayed. Here’s what we prayed: Why did God give Lucinda such a beautiful ass
That ass will be the ruin of me.Why did God give Lucinda…etc I go to bed nights try real hard to dream good things but all I see is but, but but…
Why did God give Lucinda such a beautiful ass
That ass will be the ruin of me.Went to see the Preacher
When temptation it grew too great
I was being pulled to Hell by
That fifteen year old jail bate
I couldn’t believe that Preacher
In confession after Mass
Why, he closed his eyes in prayer and said,
‘Ain’t Lucinda got some ass!’Why did God give Lucinda…etc
Tried real hard walkin’ round with my eyes shut, ain’t no good. I see this vision;
Heaven in denim with a life of its own- rotatin’ rotatin’ and moving away That ass will be the ruin of me.*********
20 Second Extract
Jesse James and the Barber
Well I was down Missouri once
Just passing the time of day
I stopped for a shave in a barber’s shop
That I passed along the way.
Well, the barber he was a small man
Personality was Grey
Most memorable thing about him was
You’d forget his face next day.
He said himself, ‘I’m a small town man
Ain’t nothin’ special ‘bout me
I never done nothing with my life,’
Well I just had to agree.
‘I lived in Clay County all my life,’
He said with a kind of sigh,
‘I was born and bred in this two-bit shack
And this is where I’ll die.
My life don’t amount to a handful of dust
But I’m proud and I’ll tell you why-
‘Cos I once met a man
Who talked with a man
Who saw Jesse James riding by.
Yes I once met a man
Who talked with a man
Who saw Jesse James riding by.I’m a nobody man
From a nowhere town
Lead a nothing kind of life
Got three second-rate kids
And a second-hand car
And a plain kinda second-hand wife.
We once broke up Jolene and me
We was worse of living apart
And I’ve cut out beer and cigarettes
Since they put this valve in my heart.
I watch the weather on t.v.
I read about Sport and Crime
I watch life walking past my door
But nobody watches mine.
Now the life of a man should grow like a tree
And so I’ve often been told
So I watch my face in the mirror
But all I grow is old.
But though my life don’t amount to much
I’ll be happy when I die-
‘Cos I once met a man
Who talked with a man
Who saw Jesse James riding by.
Yeah I once met a man
Who talked with a man
Who saw Jesse James rising by.I was raised by Ma most on her own
Had no kin I could rightly call mine
‘Cept a half kind of brother
By an outside dude
Died of fever when he was nine.
And my Pa sold brushes door to door
Drifted in on a passing train
Spent and hour with Ma in a cheap motel
Then drifted on out again.
And I lost my faith in religion
When I saw my Momma die
Though the preacher told me I loved her
I just couldn’t make myself cry.
When I look at Jolene as she sleeps some nights
Why love seems to me like a stone
You can lay with a woman all your life
And still sleep all alone.
Sometimes I can see myself dyin’
I can see it clear as day
See the blinds pulled down
On an empty room
While the world looks the other way
But with the last breath in my body
Be sure you’ll hear me cry-
That I once met a man
Who talked with a man
Who saw Jesse James riding by
Yeah I once met a man
Who talked with a man
Who saw Jesse James riding by.********
20 Second Extract
Ballad of Jesse James
Jesse James we understand
Had killed many a man
He robbed the Union Train
But history does record
That Bob and Charlie Ford
Had laid Jesse James in his grave.It was on a Saturday night
All the stars were shining bright
They robbed that Glendale train
It was one of the younger Fords
That gathered in the spoils
And carried that money away.Now Jesse had a wife
To mourn for his life
Three children they were brave
But that dirty little coward
He shot Mr Howard
And laid Jesse James in his grave.In that small house unawares
A straightening pictures there
He thought he heard a noise
And as he turned his head
A bullet struck him dead
Fired by Bob or one of the Fords.Now Jesse had a wife…etc and out.
(Traditional arranged Clenthills)
***********
20 Second Extract
The Waltzin’ Kid
A young girl’s eyes searching
The hills far away
For a man who once loved her
And left her one day
Three kids with no daddy
And the stream runnin’ dry
And the bed cold beside her
And her heart asking why.Chorus
Why do you waltz
Sweet Waltzin’ Kid
Why do you keep your love hid?
She will forgive
Whatever you did
‘Cos she loves you sweet Waltzin’ Kid.He rode out one morning
And his gun told her why
With the morning sun pouring
From that great Texas sky
She asked, ‘Why must you go kid
When you know my love is true?’
He said, ‘A man has to do
What a man has to do.’Chorus
Why do you waltz…etcThere was part of his story
From her he kept hid
She never suspected
That her man was the kid
Though she’d noticed when dreaming
How his lips they whistled low
And how his feet in the bed clothes
Danced slow-quick-quick-slow.Chorus
Why do you waltz…etc and out***********
20 Second Extract
Can you Hear that Sound?
Can you hear that sound?
That’s my heart bursting
Bursting over you
’Cos your love has gone.
Your eyes alone
Can find the pieces
Put your glasses on
And walk around looking down.Can you hear that sound?
That’s my lungs calling
Calling out to you
To come back to me.Do your cheeks feel wet?
That’s my tears a-falling
Out of my eyes
And all over you.
My stomach can’t eat
Can’t eat my breakfast
Can’t eat my lunch
Can’t eat my dinner
Can’t eat at home
Can’t eat in restaurants
Can’t eat packed lunch
Can’t eat fast food.Can you hear that sound?
That’s my heart bursting
Bursting over you
’Cos your love has gone.*******
20 Second Extract
If my House was as Big as my Heart
The clock on the wall ticks the seconds
And sixty ticks the minutes away
Takes sixty more minutes
To make up one hourNow seven of those days
Makes up one week
Four weeks makes a month so they say
Takes twelve of those months
And that makes one year
And that’s how your life drifts awaySo the clock on the wall ticks the seconds
Tells me that the time has come to part
Well I’d love to take you home with me
If my house was as big as my heart.As my heart …etc and out
*********
20 Second Extract
Stone drunk Again
Driving down the highway
On a medicine show
Selling pills and sweet religion
Down in Boise Idaho
I was sat on Momma’s knee
Sister Mae was singing hymns
Pa was drinking moonshine gin
Momma shouted, ‘It’s a sin
There’s your daddy look at him-
Stone drunk again!’Pa he laughed right back at Ma
One thing he did not know
Both of them was riding to
The last Rodeo.
When he saw them cows a coming
There was nothing he could do
When Mamma screamed, she screamed too late
When the god Lord wants you he won’t wait
And Daddy drove through Heaven’s Gate-
Stone drunk again.Chorus
Stone drunk again
Stone drunk again
Daddy can you hear me
In your bar room in the sky?
Well I sometimes get to wondering if’n
I’m a lot like him
I guess I’m closest to you Daddy
When I’m stone drunk again.There’s a tree out in the desert
Two names carved on the wood
And dust falls on the road that once
Ran thick with tears and blood
I can see my daddy sometimes
In that everlasting night
Trying to shelter from the rain
Liquored up to kill the pain
Singing songs and raising Cain
Stone drunk again.-Chorus
Stone drunk again…etc and out(recorded at Virgil’s home on an old recorder-but we thought you’d like to hear it.)
Words & Music copyright (c) Gareth Owen. 1984
