Until I met you
I never understood
What was to be gained, from the rain
That ran like blood
Out of every orifice
Watching the clouds frown
Like outlaws on the run, under the gun
We run through this town
I can imagine us
Running with nothing to lose
The rain’s forever falling, we’re forever calling
And I’m falling for you
Just like the rain.
Now I understand what I had to do
That through the pain, what you had to gain
I never liked the rain til I was with you
The rain no matter how it comes
Isn’t something to be feared
It’s just like all the rest of God’s creations
It’s something that has to be adhered
Respected, for its presence
We know it will come again
So we might as well laugh, a baptism, a bath
Holding hands in the rain.

Honey there’s a lot of things I’ll drink to
Because a lot of things seem the same
But I know when I’m in trouble
Because you call me by my name

I’m not much of a sun bather
More a fighting man instead
And when you get on my fighting side
I’d rather stay home in bed

Staring up at the ceiling
Praying that I don’t die
Or worse you’ll catch me first
Instead of staring at the sky

And topping up your tan
Please don’t think it’s a shame
It’s the life I love to live
Drinking by other people’s names

You can call me D or Hinton
Or maybe something a little more out of choice
It’s all the same really to me
It’s only words put together by a voice


But darling when your voice gets angry
Whether we be drinking or playing cards
That’s when your voice really hits me
And the words come down oh so hard

I could deal with you never calling me
I’m just an outlaw you couldn’t tame
But this lion turns into a mouse
When I hear you call my name

I just have this inkling, that the only time
I’ll hear Daniel Stuart Hinton, per se
Is when Jesus has his glorious
Final judgement day

Because you never ever call me
And I really think I could deal with the pain
But I know I’ve done something wrong
When you call me by my name.

It’s been twelve years
Since I refused to sell my soul
To the devil
Not for all the wealth
Not for all the gold
He slid a piece of paper in front of me
Eyes bulging He said,
Boy if you want to make it here
You better listen to what I say
What others say matters
It’s the word on the ground
Do you need that wife
Do you need your friends around?
And I said:  no, that’s not me
I can only give so much
I am who I am
I’d never sell myself
To please someone
Who can never be pleased.
My friends have always been there
My family laid down for this land
I’m not going to be what you want
I’m not going to whiten my teeth
Or lose a couple of pounds
Because a country boy is all I’ll ever be
A rattlesnake in the grass
Saying: ‘don’t you tread on me’

It really is so very foolish
And we really should have let go
To things that we hold on to
Things that hurt us so

I should have let go of you by now
I should have said it’s getting old
But why do I worry so much
That you make yourself so hard to hold?

It’s because I still care for you girl,
Not in the romantic sort of way
But the undying sort where
It doesn’t matter if you’re straight or gay

It doesn’t matter for which side your batting
Or which side you butter your bread
I just want us two to talk
And put this thing to bed.

That doesn’t mean I want to go to bed with you
Believe me, that feeling went long ago
But I still look at you in awe
And think there’s a girl I’d like to know

If only she would open up a little
And let these things ride
If only she could see how sorry I am
And let those comments slide

We both should know by now
That nobody wins a fight
It’s no longer a question
Of who’s wrong, who’s right?

I am too tired to fight it
But I’m never too tired to give up on you
But when you hurt me so bad
Honey what in the world am I meant to do?

I’m no longer thinking of myself
I hope deep down you didn’t forget
That night I saw you in the club
I didn’t want it to be a night to regret

For you, as drunk as you were
For one moment you dropped your guard
It could have been so easy for some boy
But I didn’t want you getting harmed

I didn’t want some boy to take advantage of you
So I guided you to the door
Your perfumed hair slipped against me
Before you dropped to the floor
And sat on the steps
And you began a crying
EVERYONE JUST LEAVE ME ALONE
And that’s when I began a dying

There must be some reasons why you don’t give forgiveness
You must be dragging round a boulder
Upon your soul, no more shackles please
No more looking over your shoulder.

I know you’ve had it tough in the past
Who you once were and what was done
But look now, you’re a beauty
Those days are long gone

I know that we can change physically but not emotionally
We cannot change the past
But looking you’ve grown
Into a fine work of art

You’re an inspiration for other women
You’re an inspiration to me
So don’t you know it hurts me when you say
You wouldn’t have liked what I used to be

That’s not for you to say
You could be black or white, rich or poor,
Skinny of fat the fact is this
As a friend I couldn’t love you any more

I hadn’t seen you for quite a few days
And instead of ringing up the search party
I called you up on the phone;
Hoping you’d chased your dreams
And would come back and
Realise how much I loved you.
You whispered sweet nothings
Down the phoneline
You told me,
Quite frankly
Bitter-sweetly,
I could go to Hell
But honey, why would you want
Me to go down to the fires down below?
With the Hell I’m living here on Earth.
I hung up the receiver
And saw shadows of your humour
Firstly on the fridge door;
A post-it read:
I’m having the house and the cat
Your favourites, lychees
Are on the top shelf.
I didn’t want them.
They’re so bitter, so sweet.

Hey girl where you going?
I’m very much a talker
Cos I can’t dance good
And I never been a stalker
Where you off to my l’il lady?
Hop in my left seat for a ride
Wind it up or slow it right down –
I can get you to the other side
I’m just a country boy
And I can take you up city streets, country roads
Just a poor l’il redneck
But I’m sure I can get you to where you want to go
I got a full tank of gas
I got an all-terrain SUV
You sure do look good
Buckled up next to me
I can take you up the fast lane
I can drive you round the cones
I can take you slow through the forests
I can take you fast through 30 zones
I got air conditioning in here
Chamois leather seats as soft as babys butts
I can take you across the smooth asphalt
I can take you through the deep ruts
Putting on my aviators
Just let me know if we’re getting close
We can slip on out
Or we can take the main roads.
Just listen to the music
And i can listen to you if you like
I can rev the V8 and take you there
Be it day or be it night
I got fully automated
And a nice little gear change
I got super beam headlights
With a three hundred foot range
I can go on the straight and narrow
I can take you down winding roads
Nothing’s a problem for us; we know where we come from
And I can get you where you need to go


Yeah, I don’t dance so good
But I’m a country boy,
A nice little country boy.

I’m under her influence
It’s not the way I wanted it
The rain that heaves don’t seem to leave
And the pain just won’t quit
So I sit myself down in an old cafe
I order a couple of Margaritas
I don’t know what’s in it, it takes like ****
And I sit next to some senoritas.
I go and talk to a fellow Oakie
So I just say to him how’s your day?
He looked bemused, and then confused
And said can’t you see the pain won’t go away
So we sat and toasted to
The women who had done us wrong
We threw it down, be it green or brown
And laughed that it had been so, so long
Since we’d felt this good
Descending into a drunken state
It didn’t really matter; we had no one to flatter
Who cares it’s only half past eight?
I said what’s your pain my friend?
Cos our poison’s right here:-
He says I’m here to stay; I’m trying to drink away
A woman with blue eyes and long blonde hair
The good guy don’t always get the woman
Not like in the films they show
Here I’m sitting on the sand, glass in hand
An’ I got such a long, long way to go.
So I said we’re here for the long-haul
And so what’s it going to be?
He said you choose, I got nothing to lose
All I can see is a glass looking back at me
So along came the drinks
And the Oakie winced as he took his set
There’s something in the bottom, of this drink I just gotten
But I just wanna see how drunk I can get
It just seems like bad luck follows me
How I’ll ever get rid of him I don’t know
Women and drink, surely push you to the brink
But drink up; we got a long, long way to go

I say we got a long, long way to go.
Long, long way to go.