Fresh Horses lyrics

Oh I said a little prayer tonight
Before I came on stage
As I came walkin' past the drivers and the locals on the union wage
I asked the dear Lord up in heaven
Let me treat the music right
Then I prayed that Detroit
Goes wild tonight

Seven pickers and all our gear in a rental van
Playin' music never sleepin' and workin' on a neon tan
We played The Barn down in Sanford Florida

On the eighth day God noticed a problem
For there below Him stood a cowboy alone
Stubborn and proud, reckless and loud
God knew he'd never make it on his own
So God looked out all over creation
And listened as that cowboy prayed
God took passion and thunder
Patience and wonder then He sent down
The best thing that God ever made

Cowboys and angels leather and lace

He's got a split finger wrap
And his rope's pulled way to tight
He's got a lunatic smile
'Cause he's really drawn deep tonight

He's got a fever, fever, fever, fever
Grab a hold of anything and hold on tight
It hits you like the venom from a rattle snake bite
We're all here 'cause he's not all there tonight

He takes one last breath
And time turns inside out

She dropped her boy at school on time
One less worry on her mind
Now it's off to work and on the radio
Come's an old familiar song
And then the D.J.'s voice comes on
And say's he's back in town tonight for one last show

Her eyes well up with tears
God could it be it's been ten years
Since that Autumn night outside the county fair
When two strangers shared a night

She was born to a mother trucker
Raised behind the wheel
So you can blame it on the highway
For the way she can't sit still
She says life is like a windshield
It ain't no rear view mirror
The only way to get where you're goin'
Is find that higher gear
And keep it

Rollin'
Life's gonna run you over if you don't get goin'
She said I wanna fell the earth move under me

One hand
Reaches out
And pulls a lost soul from harm
While a thousand more go unspoken for
They say what good have you done
By saving just this one
It's like whispering a prayer
In the fury of a storm

And I hear them saying you'll never change things
And no matter what you do it's still the same thing
But it's not the world that I am changing
I do this so this world will know

They packed up all his buckles
And shipped his saddle to his dad
And by the way the house looked
She must have took it bad
The workers come on Monday
To fix the door and patch the wall
They say she just went crazy
The night she got the call

He was up in Wyoming
And drew a bull no man could ride
He promised her he'd turn out
Well it turned out that he lied

When the rain is blowing in your face
And the whole world is on your case
I could offer you a warm embrace
To make you feel my love

When evening shadows and the stars appear
And there is no one to dry your tears
I could hold you for a million years
To make you fell my love

I know you haven't made your mind up yet
And I would never do you wrong

It's midnight Cinderella but don't you worry none
'Cause I'm Peter Peter the Pumpkin Eater
And the party's just begun

I guess your prince charming
Wasn't after all
'Cause he sure seemed different right after the ball
I guess more than horses are turnin' into rats
And by the way he's walkin'
I can guess where your slipper's at

It's midnight Cinderella time that you should know

They say mother earth is breathing
With each wave that finds the shore
Her soul rises in the evening
For to open twilights door
Her eyes are the stars in heaven
Watching o'er us all the while
And her heart it is in Ireland
Deep within the Emerald Isle

We are forty against hundreds
In someone else's bloody war
We know not why were fighting
Or what we're dying for

She's sun and rain, she's fire and ice
A little crazy but it's nice
And when she gets mad, you best leave her alone
'Cause she'll rage just like a river
Then she'll beg you to forgive her
She's every woman that I've ever known

She's so New York and then L.A.
And every town along the way
She's every place that I've never been
She's makin love on rainy nights

Sometimes late at night
I lie awake and watch her sleeping
She's lost in peaceful dreams
So I turn out the lights and lay there in the dark
And the thought crosses my mind
If I never wake up in the morning
Would she ever doubt the way I feel
About her in my heart

If tomorrow never comes
Will she know how much I loved her
Did I try in every way to show her every day

This ol' highway's getting longer
Seems there ain't no end in sight
To sleep would be best, but I just can't afford to rest
I've got to ride in Denver tomorrow night

I called the house but no one answered
For the last two weeks no one's been home
I guess she's through with me, to tell the truth I just can't see
What's kept the woman holding on this long

Looking back on the memory of
The dance we shared 'neath the stars alone
For a moment all the world was right
How could I have known that you'd ever say goodbye

And now I'm glad I didn't know
The way it all would end the way it all would go
Our lives are better left to chance I could have missed the pain
But I'd of had to miss the dance

Holding you I held everything

Three thirty in the morning
Not a soul insight
The city's lookin' like a ghost town
On a moonless summer night
Raindrops on the windshield
There's a storm moving in
He's headin' back from somewhere
That he never should have been
And the thunder rolls
And the thunder rolls

Every light is burnin'
In a house across town
She's pacin' by the telephone
In her faded flannel gown

Yes, she's my lady luck
Hey, I'm her wild card man
Together we're buildin' up a real hot hand
We live out in the country
Hey, she's my little queen of the South
Yea, we're two of a kind
Workin' on a full house

She wakes me every mornin'
With a smile and a kiss
Her strong country lovin' is hard to resist
She's my easy lovin' woman
I'm her hard-workin' man, no doubt

Blame it all on my roots
I showed up in boots
And ruined your black tie affair
The last one to know
The last one to show
I was the last one
You thought you'd see there
And I saw the surprise
And the fear in his eyes
When I took his glass of champagne
And I toasted you
Said, honey, we may be through
But you'll never hear me complain

'Cause I've got friends in low places

Just the other night a hometown football game
My wife and I ran into my old high school flame
And as I introduced them the past came back to me
And I couldn't help but think of the way things used to be

She was the one that I'd wanted for all times
And each night I'd spend prayin' that God would make her mine
And if he'd only grant me this wish I wished back then

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

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

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

'Cause what she's doin' now is tearin' me apart
Fillin' up my mind and emptying my heart

Well I'm shameless 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

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.. and

I will sail my vessel
'Til the river runs dry
Like a bird upon the wind
These waters are my sky

This ain't comin' from no prophet
Just an ordinary man
When I close my eyes I see
The way this world shall be
When we all walk hand in hand

When the last child cries for a crust of bread
When the last man dies for just words that he said
When there's shelter over the poorest head
We shall be free

When the last thing we notice is the color of skin

I went to work for her that summer
A teenage kid so far from home
She was a lonely widow woman
Hell-bent to make it on her own
We were a thousand miles from nowhere
Wheat fields as far as I could see
Both needing something from each other
Not knowing yet what that might be

'Til she came to me one evening
Hot cup of coffee and a smile
In a dress that I was certain

We call them cool
Those hearts that have no scars to show
The ones that never do let go
And risk the tables being turned

We call them fools
Who have to dance within the flame
Who chance the sorrow and the shame
That always comes with getting burned

But you've got to be tough when consumed by desire
'Cause it's not enough just to stand outside the fire

We call them strong

If your paycheck depends on
The weather and the clock
If your conversation calls for
A little more than a coffee pot
If you need to pour your heart out
And try to rectify some situation
That you're facing
Contact your American Honky-Tonk Bar Association

When Uncle Sam dips in your pocket
For most things you don't mind
But when your dollar goes to all of those

Six o'clock on Friday evening
Momma doesn' t know she's leaving
'Til she hears the screen door slamming
Rubber squealin', gears a-jamming
Local country station just a blaring on the radio
Pick him up at seven and they're headin' to the rodeo
Momma's on the front porch screamin' out her warning
Girl you better get your red head
Back in bed before the morning

I spent last night in the arms
Of a girl in Louisiana
And though I'm out on the highway
My thoughts are still with her
Such a strange combination of a woman and a child
Such a strange situation stoppin' every hundred miles
Callin' Baton Rouge

A replay of last night's events
Roll through my mind
Except a scene or two
Erased by sweet red wine
And I see a truck stop sign ahead