Lyle Lovett - Texas Trilogy

texas trilogy ( steven fromholz )
performed by lyle lovett on “step inside this house”
originally submitted by mark albert markalbert@pipeline . com
tweaked and formatted by mirthmgr

texas trilogy : daybreak

verse 1
Dm Em F Em
six o’clock silence of a new day beginning
Dm G A
is heard in the small texas town
Dm Em F Em
like a signal from nowhere the people who live there
Dm G A
are up and they’re moving around

chorus
D7 G7
’cause there’s bacon to fry and there’s biscuits to bake
D7 G7
on the stove that the salvation army won’t take
D7 G7
and you open the windows and you turn on the fan
A A/G A/F A/E
’cause it’s hotter than hell when the sun hits the land

verse 2
walter and fanny , well they own the grocery
that sells most all that you need
they’ve been up and working since early this morning
they’ve got the whole village to feed
they put out fresh eggs , throw bad ones away
that rotted because of the heat yesterday
the store’s all dark so you can’t see the flies
that settle on round steak and last monday’s pies

verse 3
sleepy hill’s drugstore and the cafe they’re open
the coffee is bubbling hot
and all the folks that ain’t working gonna sit there ’till sundown
and talk about what they ain’t got
someone just threw a clutch in the old pickup truck
it seems like they been riding on a streak of bad luck
the doctors bills came and the well has gone dry
seems their grown kids don’t care whether they live or die

coda : G
– – – – – – – – – –
texas trilogy : train ride

verse 1
G F
well , the last time i remember that train stoppin at the depot
C G
was when me and my aunt veta came riding back from waco
G F
i remember i was wearing my long pants and we was sharing
C G
conversation with a man who sold ball – point pens and paper
F C G
and the train stopped once in clifton where my aunt bought me some ice cream
F C G
and my mom was there to meet us when the train pulled into kopperl

chorus
F C G
but now kids at night break window lights
F C G
and the sound of trains only remains
F C G
in the memory of the ones like me
F C G
who have turned their backs on the splintered cracks
F C G
in the walls that stand on the railroad land
F C G
where we used to play and then run away
C
from the depot man

verse 2
i remember me and brother used to run down to the depot
just to listen to the whistle blow when the train pulled into kopperl
and the engine’s big and shiny black as coal that fed the fire
and the engineer he’d smile and say , “howdy , how you fellows?”
and the people by the windows playing cards and reading papers
seemed as far away to us as next summer’s school vacation

chorus
– – – – – – – – – –
texas trilogy : bosque country romance

verse 1
C F G C
mary martin was a schoolgirl just seventeen or so
C F D G
when she married billy archer about fourteen years ago
F G C F
not even out of high school folks said it wouldn’t last
D G
but when you grow up in the country , you grow up mighty fast
C F G v
they married in a hurry in march when school was out
C F D G
folks said that she was pregnant , “you just wait and you’ll find out . ”
F G C F
it came about that winter , one gray november morn
C G C
the first of many more to come , a baby boy was born

chorus
C F
and cattle is their game , and archer is the name
D G
they give to the acres that they own
F G C F
if the brazos don’t run dry and the newborn calves they don’t die
C Am
another year from mary will have flown
C G C
another year from mary will have flown

verse 2
now billy kept what cattle his Daddy could afford
as he went bouncing across the cactus in A 1950 ford
but the cows were sick and skinny and the weeds was all that grew
but billy kept the place alive the only thing he knew
and mary cooked the supper and mary scrubbed the clothes
and mary busted horses and blew the baby’s nose
and mary and a shotgun kept the rattlesnakes away
and how she kept on smiling no one could ever say

( chorus )

verse 3
now the drought of ’57 was a curse upon the land
no one in bosque county could give ol’ bill a helping hand
the ground was cracked and broken and the truck was out of gas
and cows can’t feed on prickly pear instead of growing grass
well the weather got the water and a snake bite took a child
and a fire in the old barn took the hay that bill had piled
the mortgage got the money and the screw worm got the cows
the years have come for mary; she’s waiting for them now

( chorus )

coda ( repeat daybreak verse 1 in Am )