Saturday, January 26, 2019

Terry Allen - Amarillo Highway

Real Country music isn't dead in this day and age of Nashville crossover pop-rock.  You just have to look around for it.  "Texas Country Music" is a genre of Country music from (duh) Texas that is still true to its red dirt roots.  Terry Allen is from Lubbock, son of a Texas League coach.  He began writing songs in High School and had an album by 1975 - one that Rolling Stone called an "outlaw classic".

This is maybe his most famous song, and Robert Earl Keen's rendition may be the most well known.  But lots of big names have covered his songs, including Willie Nelson, Little Feat, and David Byrne.  But the roots go deep in west Texas.  Country Music is alive and well, and if you look around you can still find it.



Amarillo Highway (Songwriter: Terry Allen)
I'm a high straight in Plainview
A side bet in Idalou
An' a fresh deck in New Deal
Yeah some call me high hand
And some call me low hand
But I'm holding what I am the wheel
'Cause I'm panhandlin' manhanlin'
Post holin' high rollin' dust bowlin' Daddy
I ain't got no blood in my veins
I just got them four lanes
Of hard Amarillo Highway 
I don't wear no Stetson
But I'm willin' to bet son
That I'm big a Texan as you are
There's a girl in her bare feet
Asleep on the back seat
And that trunk's full of Pear beer and Lone Star 
'Cause I'm panhandlin' manhanlin'
Post holin' high rollin' dust bowlin' Daddy
I ain't got no blood in my veins
I just got them four lanes
Of hard Amarillo Highway 
Gonna hop outta bed
Pop a pill in my head
Bust the hub for the Golden Spread
Under Blue Skies
Gonna stuff my hide
Behind some Power Glide
Get some southern friend
Back in my hide 
'Cause I'm panhandlin' manhanlin'
Post holin' high rollin' dust bowlin' Daddy
I ain't got no blood in my veins
I just got them four lanes
Of hard Amarillo Highway 
As close as I'll ever get to Heaven
Is makin' speed up old eighty-seven
Of that hard Amarillo Highway

5 comments:

  1. UK HoustonJanuary 26, 2019 at 10:59 AM

    "Southern friend back in my hide" What does that even mean?

    Here's a better source for lyrics. At least one with fewer obvious errors:
    http://www.songlyrics.com/robert-earl-keen/amarillo-highway-lyrics/

    ReplyDelete
  2. Old NFOJanuary 26, 2019 at 12:22 PM

    Should be trunk's full of Pearl beer and Lone Star

    ReplyDelete
  3. KenJanuary 27, 2019 at 3:25 PM

    Good song. Until I look it up and find out for sure, I'm gonna say Cindy Cashdollar played acoustic slide on this track, 'cause I like Cindy Cashdollar. :-)

    First, though, I think I'll put on that Jerry Jeff Walker compilation I got from a friend of mine back in Cleveland.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Tom LindsayJanuary 28, 2019 at 2:02 PM

    UK Houston, that's a mis-heard writing - he's sang that he's getting some "Southern fried" back in his hide. Food.

    If he's talking about US 60 between Amarillo and Pampa, or I-27 to Lubbock, I've been there.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Kate VaughnFebruary 14, 2022 at 12:18 AM

    Have yet to find lyrics done perfectly. Guess ya have to be same generation & location. God bless Terry Allen-was such pleasure to see him on ACL That's what it's meant to be.

    ReplyDelete

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