TEXAS PART 1

A THICK SLICE OF TEXAS TOAST FOR MOTHER OF INVENTION
ELOCUTION LESSONS TO FOLLOW

COLD DOG SOUP
William Butler Yeats in jeans
Got up to play guitar and sing
In some join in Mission Beach last night
At the door sat Tom Waits
In a pork pie hat and silver skates
Jugglin' three collection plates ...Jesus Christ

Townes Van Zandt standin' at the bar
Skinnin' a Hollywood movie star
Can't remember where he parked his car
Or to whom he lost the keys
Full of angst and hillbilly haiku
What's a poor Ft. Worth boy to do
Go on rhyme somethin' for em' man
Show him how you really feel


Ain't no money in poetry
That's what sets the poet free
I've had all the freedom I can stand
Cold dog soup and rainbow pie
Is all it takes to get me by
Fool my belly till the day I die
Cold dog soup and rainbow pie

Ginsberg and Kerouac
Shootin' dice and playin' Ramblin' Jack's guitar
With the cowboy paintin' pickguard on it
And they sat in the back and drank for free
And rhymed orange with Rosalie
Now there's a pride of lions to draw to
FROM THE 1999 RELEASE "COLD DOG SOUP" BY GUY CLARK


Townes Van Zandt left a mark Deep in the Heart of Texas. Click on anything he wrote. I dare you; and if you can look at one and not look at another, there is something wrong with you.
No, there's nothin' wrong with anyone that 100 dollars won't fix.
We Texans have come a long way since "London Homesick Blues", the Original National Song of Texas, covered by everyone from William Shattner to The Muppets. I really like the Muppets version taped 'live' on Austin city limits in 1995.

LONDON HOMESICK BLUES
Well, when you're down on your luck,
and you ain't got a buck,
in London you're a goner.
Even London Bridge has fallen down,
and moved to Arizona,
now I know why.
And I'll substantiate the rumor
that the English sense of humor
is drier than the Texas sand.
You can put up your dukes,
and you can bet your boots,
that I'm leavin' just as fast as I can.

I wanna go home with the armadillo.
Good country music from Amarillo and Abilene.
The friendliest people and the prettiest women you've ever seen.

Well it's cold over here, and I swear,
I wish they'd turn the heat on.
And where in the world
is that English girl,
I promised I would meet on the third floor.
And of the whole damn lot,
the only friend I got,
is a smoke and a cheap guitar.
My mind keeps roamin',
my heart keeps longin'
to be home in a Texas bar.

I wanna go home with the armadillo.
Good country music from Amarillo and Abilene.
The friendliest people and the prettiest women you've ever seen.

Well, I decided that,
I'd get my cowboy hat
and go down to Marble Arch Station.
'Cause when a Texan fancies
he'll take his chances,
chances will be taken,
now that's for sure.
And them Limey eyes,
they were eyein' a prize,
that some people call manly footwear.
And they said you're from down South,
and when you open your mouth,
you always seem to put your foot there

I wanna go home with the armadillo.
Good country music from Amarillo and Abilene.
The friendliest people and the prettiest women you've ever seen

Gary Nunn