Saturday, March 4, 2017

Peter Dawson - It Ain't Texas

The Lone Star Republic was born on March 2, 1836 which quite frankly is a darn good excuse to celebrate.  It's certainly a party in Texas, and will be seen in the 49 lesser states as well.

Texas is unique among the states in that it established its own independence before joining the Union a decade later.  That conflict forged a sense of identity that is qualitatively different than you find in other States - to this day if you visit San Antonio you can go to the Alamo: the Shrine of Texas Independence (so says the sign; it also requests that Gentlemen remove their hats).

So wear your Tony Lamas and hoist a Shiner Bock.  That will take you home to Texas, at least in spirit.



It Ain't Texas (Songwriter: unknown)
Well take me home to Texas,
It’s where I’m meant to be
like a cowboy on the prarie wild and free
where the Grand Ole Oprey is a dancehall down in Gruene
Well take me home to Texas, it’s where I’m meant to be

I’ve been up and down this highway,
a hundred times before,
but i don’t recall it ever being quite this long.
One night to go on a two week run of one night stands,
till I get to take some time off for the road.
I can see that Lonestar guiding me back home,

Nashville's nice, it ain’t Austin Texas,
the Tennesee river's nothin’ like the Rio Grande.
The sunset on the Smokeys is quite a sight to see,
but nothin’ like blue bonnetts in the spring.
To tell the truth, I like both places.
Tennessee's nice, but it ain’t Texas.


I like the Memphis blues and the big ole hills of Knoxville,
but my heart’s around New Braunfels and ole Gruene Hall.
I got the pedal to that floor board, just to see how far it'll go.
I gotta keep these wheels a turnin, til they carry me back home.

5 comments:

Old NFO said...

Yep, few people actually know that... :-)

Jeffrey Smith said...

Not quite unique. California and Hawaii can say the same, as can a certain group of thirteen states on the Atlantic seaboard. Texas's uniqueness lies only in the fact that it went directly from independent country to statehood, with no intervening status.

Fred Mallison said...

Vermont was also a sovereign republic before it joined the US.

Anonymous said...

@Jeffrey- Some Californians declared independence from Mexico (after the US had already declared war on Mexico), and 26 days later was occupied by the US Army. Did the Mexicans even know that the Bear Flag Republic was a thing?

Hawaii OTOH was a real life independent kingdom, then republic, prior to annexation.

Michael said...

I think the real question is which state will regain its independence first!