Album Notes

Political, emotional, spiritual, edgy, hopeful, spirited, inspired, mystical, thought-provoking, a living contradiction, Americana, consisting of styles using shades of country/rock/folk/blues and gospel.

The Mystic Cowboys is an eclectic group of various artists spanning a couple of decades and always led by the tunesmith, Dan Johnson. If you like most of what's playing endlessly on the current radio charts, you'll probably hate this original stuff.

Following are the lyrics for this CD:

***It’s Hard To Be An Executive
He touched on the north side of the alley
He was flying extra low today
In a black BMW with vanity plates
He slept the rest of his birthday away

Sometimes it’s hard to be an executive
Them purple shades don’t fit him like they should
That whiskey was surely 90 proof
But that cocaine wasn’t any good

Sugar plum ladies and sales quotas
Took 99 percent of his attention
There used to be a good dad looking back from the mirror
Now a party boy owned that reflection

Sometimes it’s hard to be an executive
Them purple shades don’t fit him like they should
That whiskey was surely 90 proof
But that cocaine wasn’t any good

Sharon please come out and wake him gently
Tell him if he goes to treatment you might let him come back home

Sometimes it’s hard to be an executive
Them purple shades don’t fit him like they should

***So Tell Me Father
I saw a bright light while sleeping
My eyes were closed tight
But we only see 5 percent
Of all available light

So tell me Father
When you see your Son
Are you sometimes amazed
At the things that he’s done?

Of course I was crying
Slight crystalline tears
We don't know where we come from
Before the traveled light years

So tell me Father
When you see your Son
Are you somehow amazed
At the things that he’s done?

Look yonder those candles
There forever burn the sky
They’re gone brothers and sisters
Of both you and I

I’ll ride forever
When my blaze is spent
I’ll gather in darkness
And retrieve where I went

So tell me Father
When you see your Son
Are you sometimes amazed
At the things that he’s done?

What I was feelin’
I’ve tried hard to explain
Something electric
Stepped inside of my brain

Let me rephrase this
I know as a father
We retrieve where we’ve went
And I'll ride forever
When my blaze is spent

So tell me Father
When you see your Son
Are you sometimes amazed
At the things that he’s done?

***She’s Purple
I’m certain that she’s hurtin’
I hear what she won’t talk
I’m color blind but from what I see
She’s purple

She envies how the yellow finches fly
She feeds them as she walks
I’m color blind but from what I see
She’s purple

Give her a rainbow
Drive the clouds away
Give her a rainbow
I’m color blind but from what I see
She’s purple

Heat waves rise near the water
She’s brown from the sun
I’m color blind but from what I see
She’s purple

Give her a rainbow
Drive the clouds away
Give her a rainbow
Hell I’m color blind but from what I see
She’s purple

Hell I’m color blind but from what I see
She’s purple

***Ben Had A Bad Morning
It’s a blue sky and a blue day
Sometimes we all get swept away
He was getting ready with his bloody Stein
We all thought that he was doing fine
Ready to do his time

But Ben he had a bad morning
Ben he had a bad morning
Ben had a bad morning
So he went home
He went home
He went home

His husky had one grey eye and one that’s blue
That dog can sleep the whole day through
For a man that seems too long to rest
Some days we’re just not at our best
When we get put to the test

And Ben he had a bad morning
Ben he had a bad morning
Yes Ben had a bad morning
So he went home
He went home
He went home

Yes Ben he had a bad morning
Ben he had a bad morning
Ben had a bad morning
So he went home

***Morning in a Minor Key
Diesel smoke from a backhoe
The tin sounds from a dobro
And a barking dog
Up the street
They all compete
With the south wind
This morning
This morning
In a minor key

And there’s business emails
That don’t mean much
Blame the people that have lost their human touch
And a barking dog
Down the street
They all compete
With the south wind
This morning
This morning
Is in a minor key

I’ve been distracted
By noise
In my ears
Between my ears
But this morning
I hear it clear
I hear it clear in a minor key
This morning
This morning
Is in a minor key

***Joey’s Drunk But . . .
From the missions and soup kitchens
To the alleys down the street
Someone is laughing while someone is getting beat
And it don’t take much to get ‘em high anymore

There’s always someone preaching and there’s always someone bent
There’s always a single mother that’s hooking to pay the rent
And it don’t take much to get ‘em high anymore

Joey’s drunk but he thinks he sees an angel
Who am I to argue with that man?
He’s on his knees in a makeshift alley altar
He says he’s part of the good Lord’s master plan

The drunk tanks and holding cells are full beyond relief
There’s weekend johns and pedophiles and a couple of common thieves
And it don’t take much to get ‘em high anymore

There’s a God for the homeless and a God for the drunks
God for the junkies and God for the punks
And it don’t take much to get ‘em high anymore

Hey Joey’s drunk but he thinks he sees an angel
Who am I to argue with that man?
He’s on his knees in a makeshift alley altar
He says he’s part of the good Lord’s master plan

***She Did Cartwheels
As a young girl she did cartwheels
Now she’s ready for high heels
But she’s worried she’ll grow too tall

She used to wonder
When she was younger
At the birds flying south in the fall

One cold winter day
She froze her fingers
Oh how that memory lingers

As a young girl she did cartwheels
Now she knows how mom feels
Cause she’s held babies close to her breast

When she was younger
She used to wonder
What good can come from algebra tests?

One cold winter day
She froze her fingers
Oh how those memories linger

As a young girl she did cartwheels
Now she’s ready for high heels

As a young girl she did cartwheels
Now she’s ready for high heels

***Big Rooster
You don’t know that you’re ragged
Or know that you’re haggard ‘til it hits you
And if you slow down some reaper or a clown will get you
And the red in the sky and red in your eye means danger

Hey Tonto split and you’re running like some crazy Lone Ranger
You’ve circled a wagon and burned up all your provisions
You smoked a peace pipe and you had you some pretty good visions

Tell me big rooster why is it you’re still clucking
I think buckshot is headed your way and you should be ducking

So tell me big rooster why is it you’re still clucking
I think buckshot’s headed your way and you should be ducking

Tell me big rooster why is it you’re still clucking
I think buckshot’s headed your way and you should be ducking

***New Compromise
The grey settled in on a new compromise
Took all the color from a sad girl’s eyes
A train passing by crumbled all the sound
Took all the music from the merry-go-round
Brought a new compromise
To a sad girl’s eyes

She fed a stray cat
She scratched behind his ears
Loaded up her clothes and counted out her fears
A crack of moonlight put some yellow in the grey
A small reprieve at the end of her dark day
Brought a new compromise
To a sad girl’s eyes

There’s a new compromise
In a sad girl’s eyes

***Wedding By The Water
For this wedding by the water
We gathered this fine day
We come as sons and daughters
To give our love away

For this wedding by the water
We pray for lasting love
May this wedding by the water
Be blessed from above

And we’ll dance
We might even cry
We’ll call our angels down
From the sky

For this wedding by the water
We gather this fine day
We call his sons and daughters
To give our love away

For this wedding by the water
We pray for lasting love
May this wedding by the water
Be blessed from above

***A Little Beer And . . .
Well I’m a self-medicated
Slightly over rated
Guitar man

And my ambition
Is to do more fishing
I’m a river man

I’m an old ballplayer
And my knees
Hell they’re shot

So I drink a little beer
And I smoke a little pot

I love family ladies
Kittens and babies
And big sunsets

And I don’t say never
I believe in forever
And few regrets

I’m grateful as hell
But I’ve earned what I got

So I drink a little beer
And I smoke a little pot

Now I’m slow go-getter
But a damn good babysitter
I don’t like liars
That’s one thing I’m not

So I drink a little beer
And I smoke a little pot

So I drink a little beer
Smoke a little pot

I learned that from Roger Miller

***Rain Was Comin’
That rain was comin’
I could almost hear it
The rain was comin’
And I needed it
The rain was comin’
To wash away regret
Rain was comin’

Let’s tie off across the river
In those great grey cottonwoods
That have been standing
Standing with their toes up in high water

That rain was comin’
The swallows took flight
Rain was comin’
Weightless clouds could no longer hold what dropped all night
Rain was comin’
I could feel it
Wash away regret
Rain was comin’

***To Get Me Through
This week has been kinda long
Sitting here strummin’ on a song to get me through
Song to get me through
My toes should be in the sand
My bosslady wouldn’t understand
If I went south
If I went south

I’m just watching the sun go down
Sitting here grooving to my guitar sound
Today went by just a little too fast
So I’ll just sit and smoke a little grass
To get me through
To get me through
To get me through
To get me through

Tomorrow morning I’m gonna be all right
I’ll be up and at ‘em at first morning light
I’ll be clucking like that big rooster
Clucking like that big rooster I am

I’m just watching the sun go down
Sitting here grooving to my guitar sound
Today went by just a little too fast
So I’ll just sit and smoke a little grass
To get me through
To get me through

I said I’m just watching that old sun go down
Sitting here grooving to my guitar sound
Today went by just a little too fast
So I’ll just sit and smoke a little grass
To get me through
To get me through
What else am I gonna do
To get me through

***We Can Heal Ourselves
You were there
And you were hurtin’
I was flying
But I felt so certain
That we could heal ourselves
We held hands
Faces I don’t recall
We were certain
That we could heal ourselves

I said come on in
I’ve had my sleep
In this dusty life
Where I retreat
I know that we can heal ourselves
I know I’ve learned that we can heal ourselves

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