Favorite Country Album Tracks, Part 5

After a prolonged pause, it's time for another 10 pack of favorite country songs that were never released as singles. In each post, I have provided the song title followed by the recording artist, the songwriters (in parenthesis), part of the lyric, the album title, year of release and maybe a comment.

A Room Without a View - Doug Stone (Gary Burr & Doug Stone)

The 9th of 10 tracks on Doug Stone's 8th album, released in 1999, "Make Up in Love". The only singles released from the album were the title track and a cover of "Take a Letter Maria" which was originally written and recorded by R.B. Greaves in 1969.

 

"I need a room without a view
So nothing I see will remind me of you
Just four grey walls
To keep out the light of day

 

Must be a place that I can go   (requirements)
Where I can't look outside and know
That I'm the fool
That let you slip away

 

Closing my eyes won't do
I need a room without a view"

 

Stone - Ashley McBryde ( Nicolette Hayford & Ashley McBryde) from her sophomore album "Never Will", released in 2020. (about the death of her older brother by suicide)

"You sat as still as one at the dinner table
With nothin' to say after grace
You were hard as one 'cause you had to be
Yeah, the oldest ones turn out that way

 

And if I had me one for every time you let me down
I'd build a wall
I guess I did
Yeah, you taught me all about
Which ones sank, and which ones skipped"

Pawn Shop - Brandy Clark (Brandy Clark & Troy Verges), from her 3rd album  "Your Life Is a Record", released in 2020

[Chorus]
"But it ain't stolen, it ain't hot
Someone told me it cost a lot
Man, ain't that the truth
I thought I'd wear it my whole life
It never even crossed my mind
Back when it was new
It'd end up in a pawn shop on Charlotte Avenue"

Matthew -  John Denver (John Denver) (love the banjo beginning at a little past the minute mark of the song) from "An Evening with John Denver" released in 1975.

"So, I wrote this down for Matthew
And it's for him the song is sung
Ridin' on his Daddy's shoulders
Behind a view beneath the sun

 

Yes, and joy was just the thing that he was raised on
Love is just the way to live and die
Gold is just a windy Kansas wheat field
And blue is just a Kansas summer sky"

33, 45, 78   Kathy Mattea (Steve Keys) from her "Lonesome Standard Time" album from 1992.

"I'm spinning like an old turn table
Three speeds going nowhere fast
I hesitate at the door to the future
Holding on to my bitter-sweet past

Me and all of the percolators
Me and all of the rotary phones
Me and all of my vinyl records
Warped and scratched and out of date
33,45,78 goodbye"

 

Something Up My Sleeve - Suzy Bogguss & Billy Dean (Suzi Ragsdale & Verlon Thompson) perfect true duet from her "Something Up My Sleeve" album in 1993.

(Suzy)

"I can't go on, the feelin's gone, I don't know where

I reach down deep inside of my heart, there's nothing there

I know I can't stay with him, still I don't want to leave

I wish I had something up my sleeve.

 

(Billy)

I can't give in, and I can't win 'cause she won't fight

She tells me there's nothing wrong but nothing's right

No matter what I offer, it's never what she needs

I wish I had something up my sleeve.

 

(Both - Suzy & Billy alternate lines)

I can't pretend  (SB)

(She's sorry, I can tell)  (BD)

I wish I could

(I know the feeling well)

It's just no good

It looks like the spell is broken.

 

My magic words

(It's not working anymore)

My slight of hand

(We've been through it all before)

My song and dance

If I can make it through the door, it's over."

 

Faster Than Angels Fly - Big & Rich (Dobo Phillips & Billy Henderson) from their 2007 album "Between Raising  Hell and Amazing Grace".

"A modern day Romeo and Juliet
American Tragedy
Low rent, high-rise lovers who met at the end of
Coronado Street
Crucifixes made in California gold
Two worlds bought to collide
Heaven can't help you if you go
Faster than angels fly

[Chorus:]
Well they burn the candle at both ends
As they danced into the flame
Making love and making plans
Driving Mother Mary insane
Strong as the beads of a rosary
Never too young to die
Some souls only know one speed
Faster than angels fly"

 

Drinking for Two - Kree Harrison (Kree Harrison, Benjy Davis & Mike Walker ) from her debut 2016 "This Old Thing" cd.

"Bartender please don't mind me
Here take my keys, I ain't driving
Just keep this drink full for a fool
Cause I feel about as empty as that stool
So I'm drinking for two

This seat here, I've been saving
Two hours now I've been waiting
Starting to think you changed your mind"

 

The Only Explanation - Cleve Francis  (David Malloy & Randy Sharp) from his 1994 album "You've Got Me Now". (Couldn't find any lyrics on-line so I listened and wrote, again and again. hope i got it right.)

"Officer, Officer, Help me if you would

I'm afraid that someone has been up to no good

When I got home tonight I noticed all her things were gone

But for some odd reason they left all mine alone

 

one thing i can't understand is just what kind of fools

would empty out her closets and leave all my power tools

strange as it may sound it must have been a gang of fools

liked to go out on the town dressed up in women's clothes

 

that's the only explanation what else could it be

i hope you're not thinking that she ran out on me

cause that's not the way it happened if it was i wouldn't have called

that's the only explanation that makes no sense at all,

 

officer officer why do you hesitate,

you better send somebody out here to investigate

now on top of everything she's long over due

so while i've got you on the phone give me missing persons too

 

that's the only explanation ....

 

where a family bible used to sit i found a note

i could tell she did not mean a word of what she wrote

it said she never loved me but i know she loves me still

someone must have made her say those things against her will

 

that's the only explanation ...."

 

Who Am I Foolin' - Cheryl Wheeler (Cheryl Wheeler) from her 1999 Sylvia Hotel cd

"I can go through the motions, sometimes I swear I'm ok
Sure I miss you, but I've been really movin', really turnin' away
But just when I thought the heartache was gone
It's tapping me on the shoulder
Saying who are you foolin'?
Some things you just don't get over

I could write you a letter, and I always do in my head
Just to tell you I'm better and this lonely didn't kill me I guess
But just when I know I've finally let go
I dream you are so much closer
Oh who am I foolin?
Some things you just don't get over

I'm wearin' a new face, a little insane
And here in the old place nothin's the same

I'm waiting for winter, it always seems warmer somehow
It's the sun on the snowfall and the silence I am longing for now
But with one backward glance, I won't stand a chance
So I'll wave goodbye over my shoulder
Yeah who am I foolin?
Somethings you just don't get over"

 

Related posts:

Favorite Country Album Tracks:

Part 4 - 5/18/20

Part 3 - 3/26/20

Part 2 - 2/28/20

Part 1 - 1/3/20