This is a story that began as young love, but is now just a tired backwater existence... about a boy who discovers sex in the back of a truck... and about a part of America that has been untouched by progress, and is defined by tumbleweeds, and rednecks.
There is probably a message here for anyone who has been in a relationship for some time...
In the late 90's a my old songwriting partner Julian Tucker asked us to be part of a country band he was putting together called 'The Boys Next Door'.
The songs he had were fantastic, and the recordings sounded great. We only did 3 gigs and 2 of them were TV shows!
I originally wrote this song for the band, but things moved on before we got to record it. This version is from about 2013, and is one of my favourites songs. It is also a sprawling epic!
Lyrics
Good Texas Leather
It grew untethered, across the desert
big twister on the open plain
good Texas leather, good Texas weather
four seasons waiting for the rain
in a bar in Brady, I met a boy of eighteen
had a smile that ran from ear to ear
eighteen years of waiting, eighteen years of chasing
found something tastes much sweeter than beer
you and I we're like, the west that never was
in the name of justice, we broke each other's hearts
and you and I, we're like the cowboy in the rain
who cried in vain, but he died the same
He said, she's a tumbleweed she, she came to me she,
she turned this boy into a man
what a perfect backdrop, the back seat of a flat-top
I knew things would never be the same
CHORUS
SOLO
when I heard his story, I began to ponder
in the cold of time just how we came
to curse each other, and dream of lovers
and drink the dollars that we'd saved
well I've got to say that, I want those days back
wish I could tell the tide to turn
I miss those nights when, we'd make out at the drive-in
you see a falling star it always burns so bright
CHORUS
he cried in vain, and he died just the same x 1000!
It grew untethered, across the desert
big twister on the open plain
good Texas leather, good Texas weather
you never can go back again
like a Texas lady, in Texas Brady
four seasons and they're all the same