What’s the Matter - James McMurtry

I know you wanna dance with me But you know what's the matter with me I Can't keep myself close to you But you know what's the matters with me (Oh-ohh-ohhh) You got me in there (Yeah yeah han) But I can't let you go (No) Lighting up a Belmont on my way Going home alone 4am (Fuck) Crusing down the valley It took me some time to realize That I know your eyes will never lie To me

Oooh What's the matter? What's the matter with you lately? What's the matter? What's the matter with you lately? Oh, your love Is never good enough Oh, your love is lost on me You don't know You don't know Oh, your love is lost on me Oooh What's the matter? What's the matter with you lately? What's the matter? What's the matter with you? Oh, your love Is never good enough Oh, your love is lost on me You don't know You don't know Oh, your love is lost on me What's the matter? What's the matter with you lately? What's the matter? What's the matter with you lately? Dreamer, you will waste your time Do you ever wonder why We go on and on and on? Love is gone and gone and gone What's the matter? What's the matter with you lately?

I was thinkin' 'bout you crossin' southern Alberta Canola fields on a July day About the same chartreuse as that '69 Bug You used to drive around San Jose Never knew where my old white Lincoln might take me Party on wheels with suicide doors Bring the kids and the dogs and your grandma, too We always had room for more 'Til that white-knuckle ride back from Santa Cruz Second-best surfer on the Central Coast Had you wrapped up all the way back to Los Gatos And I coulda cut his throat And it wasn't like we were an item to start with It had no basis in fact But the whiskey could push me to sudden extremes I don't want to think about that I don't want to think about that Take my hand, Marie Take a death grip on some part of me Keep me from driftin' far out to sea Or I'll be lost out there We all filtered away with the days gettin' shorter Seekin' our place in the greater scheme Kids and careers and a vague sense of order A-bustin' apart at the seams I heard you switched coasts, moved in with your sister I doubt you'd have called it "familial bliss" We met up in Brooklyn before it went hipster You carried your keys in your fist In a way-back corner of a cross-town bus We were hidin' out under my hat Cashin' in on a thirty-year crush You can't be young and do that You can't be young and do that Take my hand, Marie Take a death grip on some part of me Keep me from driftin' far out to sea Or I'll be lost out there Or I'll be lost out there I was thinkin' 'bout you crossin' southern Alberta Canola fields at harvest time Looked like tumbleweeds all raked up into rows In brown rusty contour lines And there's not much movin' on the romance radar Not that I'm cravin' it all that much But I still need to feel every once in a while The warmth of a smile and a touch In a way-back corner of a cross-town bus We were hidin' out under my hat Cashin' in on a thirty-year crush You can't be young and do that You can't be young and do that You can't be young and do that You can't be young and do that Take my hand, Marie Take a death grip on some part of me Keep me from driftin' far out to sea Or I'll be lost out there Or I'll be lost out there I'll be lost out there

The in-laws are waiting the games have begun The cell phone keeps ringing

I've had enough of this small town bullshit I'm not stayin' in school I'm makin' good dough workin' with my brother Cleanin' out pools I'm going out to California And man it won't be long As soon as I get my license Color me gone Oh knock it off Johnny Man, your livin' in your head You ain't even got a car And those chicks don't believe a word ya said But you're doin' all the talkin' So I just keep quiet And this'll probably go no where But I can't blame ya for tryin' It's just us kids hangin' round the park at night Hangin' round 'neath the vapor light We got no drugs and we got no guns Not even botherin' anyone I don't have to wear a necktie I don't have to punch a clock I started up a dot com company And man it rocks Won't you come with me down to Mexico In the winter with some friends? My divorce will be final Along about then Meanwhile I got a gram and a real good ride And don't you know I hurt way down inside? Just us kids in the parking lot Out here givin' it all we got We don't want to get old and die And there ain't nothing we wouldn't try Ya know we could really have it all Our kid's gonna graduate next fall I could take retirement in 10 years It's a damn short movie How'd we ever get here? [Repeat x2] Just us kids hangin' out today Watchin' our long hair turnin' gray Not so skinny maybe not so free Not so many as we used to be [Repeat x3] Not so skinny maybe not so free Not so many as we used to be

The hurricane party's windin' down And we're all waitin' for the end And I don't want another drink I only want that last one again He gave me such a fine glow, smokin' slow Now I should probably be homeward-bound There's just no one to talk to when the lines go down I guess that in the morning I'll go Lookin' for my grey-striped cat My old house can take the weather So I'm not too concerned about that It was built to take the wind back in nineteen-and-ten When this was one damned fine town But now there's no one to talk to when the lines go down Candles flickered on the back bar And the building was shakin' with the wind I bought a whiskey for the gypsy And she turned my leather back into skin Just a fleeting sense of that rare suspense I once thought made the world go round But now there's no one to talk to when the lines go down Open up your back screen door Let me see your face once more My hands are cold and my feet so sore And I can't go on this way And the thoughts come too fast And too many to keep count Best just to let 'em on through Now I'm breaking those ol' glass insulators with my old 22 Off the telephone polls as a half dollar rolls Across the knuckles of a rodeo clown There's just no one to talk to when the lines go down My one great love, my God, I can feel her still She ran off to California and now she's living In those Hollywood hills With some bullfrog prince I've not seen her since Though she calls when he's out of town And there's no one to talk to when the lines go down Open up your back screen door Let me in your space once more I was looking for an easy score But it just don't work that way Some insurance man biker Is yellin' out for one more beer But a part-time pirate just can't get Much respect around here We got our problems too Man we'll get to you In just a minute, sit your drunk ass down Yeah, there's no one to talk to when the lines go down Now there's water up past the wheel wells of my Ford And I don't guess that it'll run But I left a pack of Winston's on the dash Could you fetch 'em for me son? The morning's first cigarette, that's as good as it gets All day, I should know by now That there's no one to talk to when the lines go down