Steve Earle - Tom Ames' Prayer lyrics
[Steve Earle - Tom Ames' Prayer lyrics]
Everyone in Nacadoches knew Tom Ames
Would come to some bad end
Well the Sheriff had caught him
Stealing chickens and such
By the time that he was ten
And one day, his daddy took a ten dollar bill
And he tucked it in his hand
He said, "I can tell
You're headed for trouble, son
And your mama wouldn't understand"
So he took that money and
His brothers old bay
And he left without a word of thanks
Fell in with a crowd in some border town
Took to robbing banks
Well, outside the law your luck
Will run out fast
And a few years came and went
Until he's trapped in an alley in Abilene
With all but four shells spent
And he realized praying was the only thing
That he hadn't ever tried
Well, he wasn't sure he knew quite how
But he looked up to the sky
Said, "You don't owe me nothing and
As far as I know
Lord, don't owe nothing to You
And I ain't asking for a miracle, Lord
Just a little bit of luck will do
And You know I ain't never prayed before
But it always seemed to me
If praying is the same as begging, Lord
I don't take no charity"
Yeah, but right now, Lord
With my back to the wall
Can't help but recall
How they nearly hung me for stealing a horse
In Fort Smith, Arkansas
Judge Parker said, "Guilty!"
And the gavel came down just
Like a cannon shot and I went away quietly
And I began to file and plot
Well they sent the preacher down to my cell
He said, 'The Lord is your only hope
He's the only friend that you going to have
When you hit the end of Parker's rope'
Well, I guess he could have
Kept on preaching till Christmas
But he turned his back on me
I put a homemade blade to that golden throat
And asked the deputy for the key"
"Well, it ain't the first close
Call I ever had i'm sure you already know
I had some help from you, Lord
And the Devil himself
It's been strictly touch and go"
Yeah, but who in the hell am I talking to?
There ain't no one here but me
And then he cocked both his pistols
And he spit in the dirt
And he walked out in the street
Would come to some bad end
Well the Sheriff had caught him
Stealing chickens and such
By the time that he was ten
And one day, his daddy took a ten dollar bill
And he tucked it in his hand
He said, "I can tell
You're headed for trouble, son
And your mama wouldn't understand"
So he took that money and
His brothers old bay
And he left without a word of thanks
Fell in with a crowd in some border town
Took to robbing banks
Well, outside the law your luck
Will run out fast
And a few years came and went
Until he's trapped in an alley in Abilene
With all but four shells spent
And he realized praying was the only thing
That he hadn't ever tried
Well, he wasn't sure he knew quite how
But he looked up to the sky
Said, "You don't owe me nothing and
As far as I know
Lord, don't owe nothing to You
And I ain't asking for a miracle, Lord
Just a little bit of luck will do
And You know I ain't never prayed before
But it always seemed to me
If praying is the same as begging, Lord
I don't take no charity"
Yeah, but right now, Lord
With my back to the wall
Can't help but recall
How they nearly hung me for stealing a horse
In Fort Smith, Arkansas
Judge Parker said, "Guilty!"
And the gavel came down just
Like a cannon shot and I went away quietly
And I began to file and plot
Well they sent the preacher down to my cell
He said, 'The Lord is your only hope
He's the only friend that you going to have
When you hit the end of Parker's rope'
Well, I guess he could have
Kept on preaching till Christmas
But he turned his back on me
I put a homemade blade to that golden throat
And asked the deputy for the key"
"Well, it ain't the first close
Call I ever had i'm sure you already know
I had some help from you, Lord
And the Devil himself
It's been strictly touch and go"
Yeah, but who in the hell am I talking to?
There ain't no one here but me
And then he cocked both his pistols
And he spit in the dirt
And he walked out in the street