Dead End Town
Let’s pack up the car
Let’s wake up tomorrow
Where no one knows my face
I don’t care
It could be anywhere
But this dead end town
This is a dead end town
This dead end town
There’s no job in this town
That don’t make you bow down
To some bullying boss
Or some corporate clown
They make you feel small
And like you never quite fit
They make you feel scared
Of what you’ll lose if you quit
This is a dead end town
This is a dead end town
No use hanging around
In this dead end town
There’s nowhere to go
We haven’t already gone
Nothing to do
We haven’t already done
No song we can sing
That don’t make us feel old
No story to tell
We haven’t already told
About this dead end town
This is a dead end town
No use hanging around
This dead end town
And I’m getting out!
Let’s pack up the car
And get out of this place
Let’s wake up tomorrow
Where no one knows my face
This is a dead end town
This is a dead end town
No use hanging around
In a dead end town
This is a dead end town
They ought to burn it down
This is a dead end town
And I’m getting out!
© words and music by Jim Patton, Steve Brooks, and Jeff Talmadge
Big Red Gibson
I was painting Mama’s front porch
When I heard the Rolling Stones
Sing a song about revival
And it shook me to my bones
I bought a big red Gibson
I taught myself to play
I thought I’d found a calling
I swore that I’d obey
Now I wonder where the time goes
And I think about what might have been
I just can’t seem to let go
That big red Gibson in my hands
Big red Gibson
I moved to Music City
Didn’t work out like I’d planned
I ran into some bad luck
That’s the year I broke my hand
Then I fell in love with Rita
I moved back to Baltimore
I was tired of being lonely
I wasn’t lonely anymore
Now I wonder where the time goes
And I think about what might have been
I just can’t seem to let go
That big red Gibson in my hands
Big red Gibson
I started a new day job
Just to make it through the year
Yesterday it was a stopgap
Today it’s my career
I pour myself a tall one
And I walk out in the yard
I stare at the horizon
I pick up my guitar
Rita sits beside me
I play a little song
It’s one we both remember
So Rita sings along
Now I wonder where the time goes
And I think about what might have been
I just can’t seem to let go
That big red Gibson in my hands
Big red Gibson in my hands
Big red Gibson in my hands
Big red Gibson
© words and music by Jim Patton and Jeff Talmadge
A Road That I Never Go Down
I was born a wanderer
Always on my way
You’re the only one
Who ever made me want to stay
Some people think about
What might have been
But that’s a road that I never go down
That’s a road that I never go down
Older and wiser
I don’t know if that’s true
But I’m a better man now
Than I ever was with you
I don’t think about
What I had back then
That’s a road that I never go down
That’s a road that I never go down
So forget about me
You know you should
I’d forget about you
If I only could
I’d let it all disappear
Around the bend
Of a road that I never go down
A road that I never go down
Yeah take that wedding album
Burn it up
Put the ashes in that vase
That your mom gave us
Bury it down at the deep dark end
Of a road that I never go down
That’s a road that I’ll never go down
That I’ll never go down
© words & music by Jim Patton & Frank Mirenzi
Devil’s Highway
He put all his possessions
On a Greyhound bus
Left his family
In that small town dust
Goodbye to his friends;
Goodbye to his past
Destination:
Nowhere fast
Decent folks
Got outta his way
He had a one-way ticket
On the Devil’s Highway
He built his world
On thrills and spills,
Alcohol, white powder,
And pills
Invincible
And immortal too
The kind of guy
You can’t tell what to do
Nobody thought
He’d be alive today
Once he made his choice
On the Devil’s Highway
The Devil’s Highway
Is a downhill slide
You got no brakes
And you got no guide
Late at night
Hellhounds bay
Sirens in the dark
On the Devil’s Highway
Now he lives near Austin
Down on his luck
Life came at him
Like a pickup truck
He looks in the mirror
Doesn’t know the man
With the Halloween eyes
And the midnight tan
Maybe tomorrow he’ll change his ways
But tonight he’ll ride
On the Devil’s Highway
The Devil’s Highway
Is a downhill slide
You got no brakes
And you got no guide
Late at night
He hears hellhounds bay
Sirens in the dark
On the Devil’s Highway
He put all his possessions
On a Greyhound bus
Left his family
In that small town dust
©words and music by Jim Patton, Steve Brooks, Jeff Talmadge
Here’s To My Friends
Here’s to my friends
The ones who sing the songs
And the ones who listen
When they’ve gone away
You know I really miss ’em
So here’s to my friends
Here’s to my friends
Even when they screw up
And disappoint themselves again
Even when they break
Because they refuse to bend
Here’s to my friends
They have open minds
And open hearts
They find hope in tragedy
Over the years some faces have changed
But they’re still surrounding me
And that’s where I want them to be
Here’s to my friends
The truth is I like just
Hanging out with them
Wasting time ain’t wasted
When it helps me to mend
So here’s to my friends
Here’s to my friends
© words and music by Jim Patton
Pretty Dark World
It’s a Stephen King novel
And we wandered in
Hope we’re the heroes
Alive at the end
I’m staring out the window
Cause it’s a pretty dark world
That we live in
It’s a pretty dark world
A scary place
It’s a pretty dark world
Unforgiving
I’m looking for a sign
Of better days
It’s good vs. evil
In a classic duel
Angels and devils
Wise men and fools
They never prepared me
For this at school
Cause it’s a pretty dark world
That we live in
It’s a pretty dark world
A scary place
It’s a pretty dark world
Unforgiving
I’m looking for a sign
Of better days
Don’t go in the basement
Or the mansion on the hill
Cause something’s in there waiting
And they say the monster’s real
There’s a cross-eyed jester
And a madman king
And a plague that threatens
Everything
And somewhere
A lone voice starts to sing
Cause it’s a pretty dark world
That we live in
It’s a pretty dark world
A scary place
It’s a pretty dark world
Unforgiving
I’m looking for a sign
Of better days
But it’s a pretty dark world
A pretty dark world
A pretty dark world
It’s our pretty dark world
© Words and Music by Jim Patton and Jeff Talmadge
My Heart’s Turned to Stone
Don’t send me letters
Don’t call on the phone
Don’t knock on my door
There’s nobody home
Don’t ask how I’m doing
Just leave me alone
We’re over and done with
My heart’s turned to stone
Don’t tell me you’re sorry
Don’t try to explain
They know you’re to blame
‘Cause you went too far this time
Now everyone knows
We’re over and done with
My heart’s turned to stone
I won’t talk about you
I won’t mention your name
I’ll forget that I knew you
If you just go away
Don’t ask forgiveness
Some wounds don’t heal
I don’t care at all
About the way that you feel
We once were close friends
Long long ago
Now we’re over and done with
My heart’s turned to stone
We’re over and done with
My heart’s turned to stone
©words and music by Jim Patton
Janey Has a Locket
Janey has a locket
She wears on her chest
With a picture of the one
She loved the best
A drunken mistake;
Now her life is a mess
Janey has a locket
She wears on her chest
Janey has a locket
So she’ll never forget
Janey has a locket
She wears round her neck
It reminds her of a time
When she wasn’t a wreck
Before the drugs and the drink
And the lost self respect
Janey has a locket
She wears round her neck
Janey has a locket
So she’ll never forget
Janey has a locket
Janey has a locket
Janey has a locket
So she’ll never forget
And once in a while
She thinks about him
But she never decides to call
She knows she hurt him
And that’s all he’d remember
If he thinks about her at all
Janey keeps her locket
Near her bed at night
It’s the last thing she sees
When she turns out the light
And sometimes she prays
With all of her might
Janey keeps her locket
Near her bed at night
And sometimes she prays
When she turns out the light
Janey has a locket
Janey has a locket
Janey has a locket
So she’ll never forget
Janey has a locket
Janey has a locket
Janey has a locket
So she’ll never forget
Janey has a locket
She wears round her neck
© words and music by Jim Patton
Wild, Dumb, and Unsatisfied
Here’s what he had in his pockets:
A ticket from 8×10
Just saw the Paradise Rockers
Wanted to be just like them
He had the keys to his apartment
He had the keys to his car
He had a name on a napkin
Some girl he met in a bar
But he wasn’t really crazy, mama
He was just restless deep inside
He wasn’t looking for trouble
He was wild, dumb, and unsatisfied
He had some homegrown he’d hidden
Inside a Marlboro pack
He had a couple of dollars
He really meant to pay back
He had a Rolling Rock bottle cap
He had a blue flair pen
And he had one of those condoms
The kind they make with real skin
But he wasn’t really crazy, mama
He was just restless deep inside
He wasn’t looking for trouble
He was just wild, dumb, and unsatisfied
Here’s what he had in his pockets:
A pawn ticket from God
Yesterday’s lottery numbers
Not worth the paper they’re on
He had some Fender guitar picks
A dream he’d recently sold
He had a cross on a gold chain
In case he never got old
But he wasn’t really crazy, mama
He was just restless deep inside
He wasn’t looking for trouble
He was just wild, dumb, and unsatisfied
He was wild, dumb, and unsatisfied
He was wild, dumb, and unsatisfied
Wild, dumb, and unsatisfied
He was wild, dumb, and unsatisfied
He was wild, dumb, and unsatisfied
He was wild, dumb, and unsatisfied
© words & music by Jim Patton
Promises to Keep
Most folks I know our age
Don’t act the way we do
It’s scary out here on the edge
But it’s such a splendid view
So we’re not slowing down quite yet
It’s when we’re dead we’ll sleep
We’ve still got a couple of miles to go
And promises to keep
I swore I’d be an honest man
I swore that I’d stay true
And mostly I have done the work
That I set out to do
I turned my hand to what I love
I tried hard to be free
I’ve still got a couple of miles to go
And promises to keep
I’m going out tonight with friends
Our chosen family
Good folks, kind hearts, still trying hard
To be all they can be
Faced with disappointment
And missed opportunities
They’ve still got a couple of miles to go
And promises to keep
Cause we’re not slowing down quite yet
It’s when we’re dead we’ll sleep
We’ve still got a couple of miles to go
And promises to keep
© words and music by Jim Patton
I Still Believe in You
When this old world
Starts spinning so fast
It’s too much for me to take
When the walls start closing in
And I feel like my life’s
One big mistake
Well I look at you beside me
Standing tall
With the grace and power of the moon
When I don’t believe in nothin’
I still believe in you
When I look into the mirror
I see my past and my future
Jumbled upside down
And I try to run away
But I get no further
Than the stoplight
In my hometown
You’re waiting at the window
When I come home
Full of regret for things I did not do
When I don’t believe in nothin’
I still believe in you
Somewhere there’s a lonesome highway
That siren song begins to moan
And something calls me toward that darkness
But something stronger calls me home
Sometimes you look at me
And say: “I love you”
Like you discovered something new
When I don’t believe in nothin’
When I don’t believe in nothin’
When I don’t believe in nothin’
I still believe in you
I still believe in you
Baby, you know that it’s true
I still believe in you
© words and music by Jim Patton
Jim Patton & Sherry Brokus 