Get all 6 Susan Werner releases available on Bandcamp and save 20%.
Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of Halfway to Houston, Lake of Stars, Halfway To Houston, Long Live (My Hometown), The Birds Of Florida, and An American In Havana.
1. |
Halfway to Houston
03:23
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she was
halfway to houston before i
saw her note
make your own damn coffee
thats all she wrote
halfway to houston
she left before dawn
halfway to houston
and three quarters gone
she was halfway to houston before she
took my call
picked up said goodbye
hung up, and that was all
halfway to houston
she was really mad
halfway to houston
and it was lookin bad
halfway to houston
there's not a lot to see
billboards and lifted Fords
and not a lot of me
she was
halfway to houston before she
let me speak
then she drove in silence
for what felt like a week
halfway to houston
i could hear the wheels
she was
halfway to houston and then she
just kept goin
good luck, she said
the line went dead
and i was on my own
halfway to houston
and i was history
and ever since that morning
its just
Folger's Instant
for me
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2. |
Lake of Stars
04:17
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i took I Ten East
from El Paso
then i turned south at Van Horn
i had never been to West Texas
but i bless the day i was born
just to see that sky at night
far from all the city lights
i pulled over near Alpine
where the air's cool and thin
i climbed on top of my car
took a breath and dove in
swimming in a lake of stars
out beyond the moon and mars
into the deepest blue
gliding through the galaxies
Andromeda and Pleiades
floating easy as you please
back to this world of ours
swimming in a lake of stars
i looked into the eyes of Orion
and saw mysterious things
didn't turn around til morning
when i touched Pegasus' wings
just before the light of day
my hair was full of Milky Way
my skin seemed to shimmer
with a silvery light
i know that all of my days
i will remember that night
swimming so light
swimming so easy
Aquarius above
and Pisces beneath me
i floated back to Earth
like the mortal i am
but damn
West Texas isn't kidding around
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3. |
TIny Texans
03:42
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to my tiny texans
i wish you love
lots and lots of love
to my tiny texans
i wish you love
big as the skies above
i wish you pony rides
and water slides
and dips at Dairy Queens
i wish you cowboy hats
and kitty cats
and
no AR-15s
i wish you fun and sun
in Galveston
and oh, those Marfa lights
I wish you Barton Springs
and all these things
and
reproductive rights
wish you those books (banned books)
they try to hide away
wish you the use
of him and her and
they
and any pronouns that you like
i wish you love
big as the skies above McDonald Observatory
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4. |
For the Love of Men
02:58
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Daddy told you you were useless
dumber than a barrel of hair
said you'd never come to nothin
and you'd never go nowhere
oh but Daddy watched the Oilers
every Sunday afternoon
so you learned to throw a spiral
like a rocket to the moon
- - - - -
and you started as a sophomore
you played every Friday night
me and Mama went and cheered you on
Daddy cheered his Lone Star Light
and sometimes you'd come home tired
and you'd sleep the whole next day
and sometimes you'd wear a funny look
that wouldn't go away
oh, for the love of men
and you won the 3A title
and a scholarship to Rice
and i saw you on the Jumbotron
and Daddy said, "that's nice"
thirty thousand people watched you
as your helmet hit the ground
and the roaring crowd got quiet
and the trainers gathered round
now you work for Hardin County
but you're not so good with names
and your wife, she says its better
if you just dont watch the games
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5. |
Welcome to Texas!
02:32
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we got the live oak and the Piney Woods
we got the horses and the tanned leather goods
we got the Brazos and the Rio Grande
we got the politics you can't understand
oil and gas
largemouth bass
Buc-ee's and the H.E.B.
Welcome to Texas!
where the skies are blue
if you dont mind the haze
over Houston most days
and you dont know what refineries do
Welcome to Texas!
welcome home.
we got the stockyards up in old Fort Worth
we got the barbecue to give you some girth
we got the Riverwalk in San Antone
we got the rattlesnakes you'd best leave alone
border walls
trucks with balls
Oklahoma hates us, too!
Welcome to Texas!
where the weather's fine
if you dont mind the heat
as it burns through your feet
and the smell of your huevos fryin'
Welcome to Texas!
Welcome home - home - home on the range
where we ain't afraid of nothin 'cept the notion of change
home - home - home of the saved
where Jesus is alive and well -
come
to Texas!
you're already here
fifteen hundred a day
movin in from L.A.
now you're marketing your homebrew beer
Welcome to Texas!
now -
go back home.
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6. |
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there's always one drunk girl at the bar
always that one girl takes it all too far
she sits outside beneath a lonely light
she holds her head 'cause she don't feel alright
her loyal best friend by her side
a few more hours she'll still be on this ride
always a soft spot in my heart
for that one drunk girl at the bar
she'd tried til half an hour ago
talking to guys she didn't like or know
turning in circles to fit in
until the faces all began to spin
too many whisky lemonades
now she's outside and riding out the waves
i know how life can hit you hard
when you're that drunk girl at the bar
because that drunk girl once was me
at least a time or two, or maybe three
wanting so badly to belong
she couldn't see yet how the whole scene fit her wrong
now she stands up, she lifts her head
next time around, won't be so easily led
i see the light of wisdom spark
inside that drunk girl at the bar
and as the crowd starts shuffling home
she starts to think about a life thats more her own
she and her friend, they talk awhile
they share a laugh, and now she finally smiles
i see a woman, sure and smart
inside that drunk girl at the bar
maybe the gold dust of a star
inside that girl
at the bar
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7. |
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back to back in the desert sand
that's how they sleep in the evening
two twin girls, grew up hand in hand
with their lives interweaving
one looks north and the other south
they share the blood of the river
one is lively but she is poor
takes what the rich one can give her
they share the same church
they sing the same songs
they count the same stars
and they will always belong
side by side in this storied land
of the cross and the lasso
sisters -
Juarez and El Paso
with the sun from their father's side
and the moon as their mother
bad men use them and break their hearts
what hurts one hurts the other
close as kin, close as souls can be
still something always divides them
cruel as fate and as hard as steel
it cannot break what's inside them
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8. |
Corpus
04:10
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i drove down from Dallas
with low expectations
to visit a friend
and some distant relations
i arrived late at night
in the mood for libations
made a bee-line for the rooftop bar
and i ordered a Shiner
and i poured it out slowly
all the lights of the city
all twinkling below me
i looked out at the water
all dark vast and knowing
'neath the party light strings of the stars
have you ever seen Corpus from the Omni Hotel
with the bay in the moonlight as it catches the swells
if you have, you might fall for this city as well
as i did
god forbid
but i did
in the morning the sun rose
above Mustang Island
and the breeze blew the sand
cross the bay half a mile and
i looked out my window
and i caught myself smiling
at this total surprise of a view
and the gulf wore a ballgown
all shimmering and seemless
all the wind turbines turning
like some great ballerinas
and my friend tried to tell me
they keep out the mosquitoes
but that wasn't entirely true
have you ever seen Corpus from the Omni Hotel
with the bay in the sunlight as it catches the swells -
have you ever seen Corpus from the Omni Hotel
with the daredevil kitesurfers riding the swells -
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9. |
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back when we were both young and when Austin was Austin
went to hear you sing live and each song i got lost in
we stood outside at the Cactus Cafe
as your crowd headed home
you said the shows were all great
but the road was exhausting
i said where'd you go next
you said up to Wildflower
i said yeah thats tomorrow
how bout the next hour
you laughed and said that's a pretty good line
well, cmon girl lets go
but i stepped back afraid of my own sudden power
as the midnight bells rang in the big campus tower
i shouldve followed through
wherever that night might lead
shouldve followed through
for something my heart might need
that something in your smile
as sweet as it was wild
and when i think of you
oh i shouldve followed through
with those baby blue eyes and that buffalo necklace
i was caught between being good and being reckless
you said its alright i know how it goes
i'll catch you next time around
look me up anytime that you're passing through Texas
me, i still like to think that that moment connects us
i shouldve followed through
followed through then and there
cause we had a moment where
we could have been more
than friends
and when i heard you were gone
oh, your music will always live on
and so will that night
that still thrills me the most
of feeling so much
of standing so close
oh, i shouldve followed through
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10. |
Jalapeño Cornbread
04:08
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she makes coffee for her girlfriend
she makes paintings for herself
she makes jalapeno cornbread for everybody else
and she makes it like her mother
and she makes it out of love
and she makes it because we, her friends,
just cannot get enough
of
one cup cornmeal
two cups grated cheese
baking powder, buttermilk
she always says its easy
one can creamed corn
half a cup of flour
salt and soda, oil and eggs
and bake for half an hour and
dont forget the jalapenos
take a woman out of Texas
can't take Texas out of her
and she'll tell you there are still some things
should stay the way they were
cause its hot out of the skillet
and it warms you to your soul
and it counters all the change in life
that you cannot control
she might add a little onion
just to see what that might do
but she never would add sugar
cause she's Texan through and through
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11. |
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to my tiny texans
i wish you love
lots and lots of love
to my tiny texans
i wish you love
big as the skies above
i wish you pony rides
and water slides
and dips at Dairy Queens
i wish you cowboy hats
and kitty cats
and
no AR-15s
i wish you fun and sun
in Galveston
and oh, those Marfa lights
I wish you Barton Springs
and all these things
and
reproductive rights
wish you those books (banned books)
they try to hide away
wish you the use
of him and her and
they
and any pronouns that you like
i wish you love
big as the skies above McDonald Observatory
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