One More Song That I Find Haunting

I've read about it, but some of this song sure makes you think and just has a real haunting quality to it. And of course, that's the purpose of the lyrics isn't it — and it's done SO well in this song. What's weird is that Garth Brooks won't let his stuff be on iTunes... so I bought a version by Dan Roberts (one of the composers of the song). Guess what, I think I like Dan Robert's version better :-0

This is not the first time Mr. Brooks has done something like this... he was one of the movers trying to make it so artists got a cut off of USED CD's >:-( I'm all for artist's rights, but come on... if I buy a used car, Ford shouldn't get a cut! He'd get more sympathy in his battles (as most of HATE the record labels for Killing Napster) if he'd realize his fans are not his enemies.

The Beaches of Cheyenne

They packed up all his buckles
And shipped his saddle to his dad
And by the way the house looked
She must have took it bad
The workers come on Monday
To fix the door and patch the wall
They say she just went crazy
The night she got the call

He was up in Wyoming
And drew a bull no man could ride
He promised her he'd turn out
Well it turned out that he lied
And their dreams that they'd been livin'
In the California sand
Died right there beside him in Cheyenne

They she just went crazy
Screamin' out his name
She ran out into the ocean
And to this day they claim
That if you go down by the water
You'll see her footprints in the sand
'Cause every night she walks the beaches of Cheyenne

They never found her body
Just her diary by her bed
It told about the fight they had
And the words that she had said
When he told her he was ridin'
She said then I don't give a damn
If you never come back from Cheyenne

They she just went crazy
Screamin' out his name
She ran out into the ocean
And to this day they claim
That you can go down by the water
And see her footprints in the sand
'Cause every night she walks the beaches of Cheyenne

Nobody can explain it
Some say she's still alive
They even claim they've seen her
On the shoreline late at night
So if you go down by the water
You'll see her footprints in the sand
'Cause every night she walks the beaches of Cheyenne

Yes every night she walks the beaches of Cheyenne

A song fer ma life

This ALWAYS struck a chord with me

Guitar Town
(Steve Earle)

Hey pretty baby are you ready for me
It's your good rockin' daddy down from Tennessee
I'm just out of Austin bound for San Antone
With the radio blastin' and the bird dog on
There's a speed trap up ahead in Selma Town
But no local yokel gonna shut me down
'Cause me and my boys got this rig unwound
And we've come a thousand miles from a Guitar Town

Nothin' ever happened 'round my hometown
And I ain't the kind to just hang around
But I heard someone callin' my name one day
And I followed that voice down the lost highway
Everybody told me you can't get far
On thirty-seven dollars and a jap guitar
Now I'm smokin' into Texas with the hammer down
And a rockin' little combo from the Guitar Town

Hey pretty baby don't you know it ain't my fault
I love to hear the steel belts hummin' on the asphalt
Wake up in the middle of the night in a truck stop
Stumble in the restaurant wonderin' why I don't stop

Gotta keep rockin' why I still can
I gotta two pack habit and a motel tan
But when my boots hit the boards I'm a brand new man
With my back to the riser I make my stand
And hey pretty baby won't you hold me tight
We're loadin' up and rollin' out of here tonight
One of these days I'm gonna settle down
And take you back with me to the Guitar Town

A Nice Club...

What, yer askin' is that fat bastard babbling about this time!? Well, I am now a member of Flannery's Beer Club — this thanks to my brother Kent, who bought me a membership. They've now stopped accepting memberships for a while (much to Wee's irritation) but... as a member, you get your own marked stein, an embroidered golf shirt, a t-shirt and discounts on beer and food at Flannery's Tavern on the Square. It's so worth it!

Why??
Why, youz is thinkin' would that be that great? Well, for one, they have GREAT food. For another, I find I am enjoying having a beer (or three) in a congenial place such as this. The people that work there are great, the people I have met there are great! What more can you ask for? Okay, Kent lives close by, if I get tanked, he doesn't fear driving and so I can pass out at his place :-) Is that good enough?

Something Missing
I think that this is something we miss in America, the pub life they have in the UK and other Commonwealth places. A social place to unwind, to talk, to discuss things from politics to sports to life. We all need such a thing. I miss it in my life nowadays. My Mom used to have a great bar called the Bohemian Tavern in Cottage Grove, Oregon and I liked it too... no problems, a good time. This is what I want in life... Oh, I am so into a Disney ending... not some damn art-geek ending where everyone gets wiped out and even the dog gets killed... oh, I'm so shallow, aren't I?
Ende!

A Song

Now when I was a young man I carried me pack
And I lived the free life of the rover.
From the Murray's green basin to the dusty outback,
Well, I waltzed my Matilda all over.
Then in 1915, my country said, "Son,
It's time you stop ramblin', there's work to be done."
So they gave me a tin hat, and they gave me a gun,
And they marched me away to the war.

And the band played "Waltzing Matilda,"
As the ship pulled away from the quay,
And amidst all the cheers, the flag waving, and tears,
We sailed off for Gallipoli.

And how well I remember that terrible day,
How our blood stained the sand and the water;
And of how in that hell that they call Suvla Bay
We were butchered like lambs at the slaughter.
Johnny Turk, he was waitin', he primed himself well;
He showered us with bullets, and he rained us with shell --
And in five minutes flat, he'd blown us all to hell,
Nearly blew us right back to Australia.

But the band played "Waltzing Matilda,"
When we stopped to bury our slain,
Well, we buried ours, and the Turks buried theirs,
Then we started all over again.

And those that were left, well, we tried to survive
In that mad world of blood, death and fire.
And for ten weary weeks I kept myself alive
Though around me the corpses piled higher.
Then a big Turkish shell knocked me arse over head,
And when I woke up in me hospital bed
And saw what it had done, well, I wished I was dead --
Never knew there was worse things than dying.

For I'll go no more "Waltzing Matilda,"
All around the green bush far and free --
To hump tents and pegs, a man needs both legs,
No more "Waltzing Matilda" for me.

So they gathered the crippled, the wounded, the maimed,
And they shipped us back home to Australia.
The armless, the legless, the blind, the insane,
Those proud wounded heroes of Suvla.
And as our ship sailed into Circular Quay,
I looked at the place where me legs used to be,
And thanked Christ there was nobody waiting for me,
To grieve, to mourn and to pity.

But the band played "Waltzing Matilda,"
As they carried us down the gangway,
But nobody cheered, they just stood and stared,
Then they turned all their faces away.

And so now every April, I sit on my porch
And I watch the parade pass before me.
And I see my old comrades, how proudly they march,
Reviving old dreams of past glory,
And the old men march slowly, all bones stiff and sore,
They're tired old heroes from a forgotten war
And the young people ask "What are they marching for?"
And I ask meself the same question.

But the band plays "Waltzing Matilda,"
And the old men still answer the call,
But as year follows year, more old men disappear
Someday, no one will march there at all.

Waltzing Matilda, waltzing Matilda.
Who'll come a-waltzing Matilda with me?
And their ghosts may be heard as they march by the billabong,
Who'll come a-Waltzing Matilda with me?

A bit of political hillarity

Okay, THIS is funny. Yes, I know, it is "evyil" because it has "Heetler" in it. I know, how DARE I defame Hillary Clinton or promote someone else doing so :-0 I do it because it'd frigging HILARIOUS!! Kudos to the genius who made it!!

And the Band played on...

Wow! No matter which side of something I take, it seems people get bent. My recent blog about my friend who did the "suspension" thing has honked some off. My brother says I'm a "liberal" and I have to laugh at that. As far as the friend goes, I just can't talk to them now — I know I'll give in and they don't need that. Hey, maybe I'm wrong here, I don't know. I'm not the fount of all knowledge — I only know I have to go where my conscious takes me.

On Other Fronts
Thanks to one of our webmasters donating some money for it, we now have a good, updated copy of the gallery program for the site. Hopefully, we can get it to do everything we need it to do. Seems better and more stable than the version we had. I was just using that anyway until we could afford the real thing.

Rain
I like rain and it's been giving me what I like. Alas, sure makes the grass grow and that's $35. a pop... no, I can't do it myself. It takes at LEAST 3-4 hours to do and it's getting dark when I get home. Besides, the guy who does my lawn can do it in like 20 minutes. I know, you probably think I'm a lazy bastard.

I hurt, I'm tired (along with something neat)

Too much time at the keyboard, getting nothing else done :-( Yeah, I got the Frontier area moved over to the Portal, but crikey, it took like 2-3 hours. I'm so procrastinating moving the WW2 section as I KNOW it will take the better part of a DAY :-( Ack! So, I do the other time areas and sort of side-step WW2. Yes, I know, I'll have to get to it, but dammit, not right now.

Civil War needs to happen soon — so does 1600-1800! :-0 I'll get it... a little bit at a time. Right now, they're hooked together w/ a kludgy fix using links at the top and bottom — something to fix one of these days. I don't really know how to do it, but a friend does. Soon.

Something(s) neat!
I got an e-mail from Lats & Atts about their online radio station and it IS kewl! Go here and enjoy!! I love it... I can listen to this music in the background and it helps sooth my mind.

Another kewl thing that I found out about today (on my high school alumni list) was freecycle.org a site that has all these yahoogroup lists that allow people to GIVE stuff they no longer need, away to someone who DOES need it. Kind of like a barter system w/ out the barter. Can you tell I like barter and things like this :-) The government steals enough money from me already... I think!