The Prairie Scholars

Meet The Prairie Scholars:

 

I grew up in west Texas, that’s the flattest land there could be

I grew up in west Texas, that’s the flattest land there could be

You could drive a country mile, you could look back and see a puddle of pee

 

The prairie land in Texas stretches out as far as you can see

The prairie land in Texas stretches out as far as you can see

You could stand up on a chair, you could see into the next county

 

Back in west Texas the sky can fill itself with grit

Back in west Texas the sky can fill itself with grit

And everywhere you go you can either smell the oil or the bullshit

 

Back on them high plains it’s forty miles to any town

Back on them high plains it’s forty miles to any town

And even if you get there you’re going to find there ain’t no one around

 

I grew up on them flatlands, I got that dirt in my veins

I grew up on them flatlands, I got that dirt in my veins

There ain’t no kind of dirty like dirty out on them south plains

 

 

 

 

I Feel You:

 

I am intrinsically flawed

I don’t see the good in the world

I shut myself off

For hours I stay alone in the dark

 

Now I feel you more than I have felt anyone

You break through

You shatter the night

You are my morning sun

 

I medicate

Try to forget what caused my pain

I lose touch

But you keep me grounded in your love

 

Now I feel you more than I have felt anyone

You break through

You shatter the night

You are my morning sun

 

Horse Thief:

 

The horse thief came riding out across those painted plains

He rode steady on that stolen mare through the winds and through the rains

cause they were gaining ground behind him, shit-hot on his trail

They were loading up their six guns, going to send his ass to hell

 

They’re going to send him to hell, that’s what they’re going to do

They’re going to send him to hell, and take that horse back too

 

He rode on with his head down tearing through the night

The ranch girl that he’d gone to see was now miles out of sight

Cause her daddy who had caught them had gone to fetch his gun

And the lover boy in his rush to leave became a horse thief on the run

 

They’re going to send him to hell, that’s what they’re going to do

They’re going to send him to hell, and take that horse back too

 

He hid out in the canyon praying for his life

He had tried to tell the rancher that he would make that girl his wife

But the posse had surrounded the horse thief in the night

And the muzzle blasts from their many guns made an awful wicked light

 

They’re going to send him to hell, that’s what they’re going to do

They’re going to send him to hell, and take that horse back too

 

 

 

Twenty-Six Grand a Year:

 

I can’t afford a new car or even gasoline

I don’t have the funds for them kind of things

But I don’t need to go on vacation

Cause all I need is a fresh libation

And everything will be alright

 

You know I don’t make too much money

It comes out to about twenty -six grand a year

All I want to do is dance with you honey

And I can still afford one more beer

 

I look at people around me and I see

Someone’s always worse or better off than me

And lately I’ve been doing some thinking

We’d all be feeling better if we did more drinking

Maybe everything will just be alright

 

You know I don’t make too much money

It comes out to about twenty -six grand a year

All I want to do is dance with you honey

And I can still afford one more beer

 

 

If I Were a Demon:

 

If I were a demon, I’d be a loyal one

I’d be a royal one, I’d be the favorite son

If I were a demon, I’d be a loyal one

 

If I were a tumor, I’d be a benign one

I’d be a divine one, burned off by the sun

If I were a tumor, I’d be a benign one

 

And I think that I would die if you never knew I

Could have been anything and always stayed the same

Lovin’ you like I do

 

If I were a mountain, I’d be a lonely one

I’d be a smoky one, I’d be a jagged one

If I were a mountain, I’d be a lonely one

 

If I were a garden, I’d be a hidden one

An overridden one, a long forbidden one

If I were a garden, I’d be a hidden one

 

And I think that I would die if you never knew I

Could have been anything and always stayed the same

Lovin’ you like I do

 

 

This Guitar:

 

Waking up in the morning, my guitar beside me she never runs off when I doze

We were out last night drinking and we went to bed thinking ‘bout how we would wake up nose to nose

And now here we are waking up nose to nose

 

We were gigging one weekend up in south Amarillo

Down at Burberry’s Island Cuisine

It was two in the morning and without any warning, my little baby was nowhere to be seen

My little guitar nowhere to be seen

 

Me and this guitar, we have both seen far down the roads of a county or two

Now she ain’t much for looking and she ain’t into hooking

But I would know her by the light of the moon

 

For two months I gone rambling, to where the dealing and gambling went down at the local pawn store

Quick cash in the pocket, I knew they would hawk it, and she was hanging there by the door

She’s just hanging there by the door

 

She looked tired and lonely, but she seemed like the only guitar in the whole world to me

And for $200 I just up and bought her when love is the price what’s the fee?

No never you mind ‘bout the fee

 

Me and this guitar, we have both seen far down the roads of a county or two

Now she ain’t much for looking and she ain’t into hooking

But I would know here by the light of the moon

 

 

 

More Than a Lover:

 

 

In the dark and cold November the leaves fall from our tree

Reminding me of all my former dignity

That you took from me, my love

Now the tree stand bare, it reminds me of

 

Back when you were more than a lover

Back when you were still my friend

Oh, how did you think I’d not discover

Where you had been?

 

Now the leaves lay all around me, broken dreams in the dark

I had always warned you, dear, how fragile we all are

But you lied to me with her

Now you both lie here in the frozen dirt

 

Back when you were more than a lover

Back when you were still my friend

Oh, how did you think I’d not discover

Where you had been?

 

 

 

Flatland Farmers:

 

He wakes up early morning to that cell phone chiming, time to wake up face another day

They buried all their money in a flatland farm, now the rain won’t come and the sun won’t go away

 

They’ve never been to California or much past Oklahoma, they just stayed at home and worked away their days

It’s a miracle she still loves him and that they are together, they haven’t gone on their separate ways

 

On a flatland farm you have to gamble with your life with your hard earned pay burning in the sun

The hard dry land doesn’t care or understand that the banker man has got you on the run

 

They jumped in their old pickup cause it still turns over, more faithful than those mindless stars above

They drove it through the prairie to the sanctuary, the First Baptist Church of Jesus’ Love

They walked right down the isle on the blessed Sunday side by side with rifles in their hands

They said they’d given money for ‘bout fifteen years now they need it back, hope Jesus understands

 

On a flatland farm you have to gamble with your life with your hard earned pay burning in the sun

The hard dry land doesn’t care or understand that the banker man has got you on the run

 

And when they left they took no more than they were due

Police men might be waiting at home for them for all they knew

 

On a flatland farm you have to gamble with your life with your hard earned pay burning in the sun

The hard dry land doesn’t care or understand that the banker man has got you on the run

 

 

 

Damage:

 

We give ourselves to you

We are sucked dry ‘til not even a tear is left in our eyes

And if you refuse to listen, we’re going to stop trying

 

We are tired and poor and hungry and we are weak

And we work ourselves to death, with no promise of a feast

Staying alive is half the battle and I sense defeat

 

This is what we’re made of and this is what we’ll always be

But deprive yourself of air and the damage will be plain to see

 

We are used but we allow it

We forget so soon the cost of a faceless lover

We could crawl back into her arms, we could run for cover

 

This is what we’re made of and this is what we’ll always be

But deprive yourself of air and the damage will be plain to see

 

 

So Cold:

 

Babe you’re so cold I don’t know why I try to hold on

While you run you run you run

Babe you’re so cold I don’t know why I try to hold on

While you run you run you run

 

Just like the fall leaves falling off the trees

I fell for you on that clear blue day

But I know you’ll go away, though you say you’ll stay

We both know you’ll leave, come winter’s eve

 

Babe you’re so cold I don’t know why I try to hold on

While you run you run you run

Babe you’re so cold I don’t know why I try to hold on

While you run you run you run

 

Started out so sweet, I could feel the heat

You were all good things, but now you’re a bad taste in my mouth

The light is going out, the sun is going down

And you are not around, just like I knew you wouldn’t be

 

Babe you’re so cold I don’t know why I try to hold on

While you run you run you run

Babe you’re so cold I don’t know why I try to hold on

While you run you run you run

 

 

This is the End:

 

Everyone is saying that this is the end

Go pack your belongings, say goodbye to your friends

Cause it’s missiles or it’s Jesus or it’s bonfires

It’s shifting poles or solar flares blazing from the sun

 

Everyone is saying there’s work to be done

They say the mission’s duties fall to everyone

Cause it’s warming or it’s virus or it’s black holes

It’s frozen bits of asteroid careening toward the sun

 

We only have so much time

We run out so fast, we run out so fast

We only make so much love

Life is leaving fast, it’s leaving us so fast

 

Some people are saying these are the final days

They say to come repent cause they know the only way

But the truth is that we’re all afraid of dying

And all of us have to face it somewhere along the line

 

We only have so much time

We run out so fast, we run out so fast

We only make so much love

Life is leaving fast, it’s leaving us so fast

 

Some people are saying the world is ending too

They say that it could happen in just a year or two

But the truth is that it’s all going to end sometime

And it wouldn’t make a difference tonight for you and I

 

We only have so much time

We run out so fast, we run out so fast

We only make so much love

Life is leaving fast, it’s leaving us so fast

 

It’s leaving us so fast