This is a hauntingly beautiful song about introspection, specifically about looking back at a relationship that started bad and ended so poorly, that the narrator wants to go back to the very beginning and tell himself to not even travel down that road. I believe that the relationship started poorly because of the lines:
"Take me back to the night we met:When the night was full of terrors: And your eyes were filled with tears: When you had not touched me yet"
So, the first night was not a great start, but the narrator pursued the relationship and eventually both overcame the rough start to fall in love with each other:
"I had all and then most of you"
Like many relationships that turn sour, it was not a quick decline, but a gradual one where the narrator and their partner fall out of love and gradually grow apart
"Some and now none of you"
Losing someone who was once everything in your world, who you could confide in, tell your secrets to, share all the most intimate parts of your life, to being strangers with that person is probably one of the most painful experiences a person can go through. So Painful, the narrator wants to go back in time and tell himself to not even pursue the relationship.
This was the perfect song for "13 Reasons Why"
Jerry Jeff Walker stumbled up the stairs on his way to the
Stage with a Martin guitar and a six pack
Yeah and he was the poet of the Lone Star state
And I was young enough
To think I was good enough to be his opening act
And in a cloud of smoke he took another toke
And counted one, two, three
And I knew right there just breathing his air
What I wanted to be
[Chorus]
Buckaroos and jaded lovers
L.A. freeway and redneck mother
Mothers who had raised a son so well
Talking outlawed, long hair loners and stoners
Singing about to come back home and
Most likely too far gone to get there
Hey, Kix, that was 76
That was just enough beer to get us through the set
And get as high as our crowd
We got 700 miles Jerry, we gotta go
You?re out of your mind; you'll never make it on time
Why not just have another round
Oh, we were trying get paid
Just trying to get laid
Living on love
Sleeping on the stage
Just turn another page
Never thinking we?d ever grow up
[Chorus]
Well, the way I recall the 70's
We were down in Austin and the establishment were
Saying we were wasting our time
The next thing I know
We were making more money than we could count
We?re all being sued by the IRS
And having more fun than the law allowed
Yeah, I'm talking loners and stoners
And sing about to come back home
And most likely too far gone to get there.
Yeah, they were all most likely too far gone to get there
Jerry Jeff Walker stumbled up the stairs on his way to the
Stage with a Martin guitar and a six pack
Tools of the trade son
Stage with a Martin guitar and a six pack
Yeah and he was the poet of the Lone Star state
And I was young enough
To think I was good enough to be his opening act
And in a cloud of smoke he took another toke
And counted one, two, three
And I knew right there just breathing his air
What I wanted to be
[Chorus]
Buckaroos and jaded lovers
L.A. freeway and redneck mother
Mothers who had raised a son so well
Talking outlawed, long hair loners and stoners
Singing about to come back home and
Most likely too far gone to get there
Hey, Kix, that was 76
That was just enough beer to get us through the set
And get as high as our crowd
We got 700 miles Jerry, we gotta go
You?re out of your mind; you'll never make it on time
Why not just have another round
Oh, we were trying get paid
Just trying to get laid
Living on love
Sleeping on the stage
Just turn another page
Never thinking we?d ever grow up
[Chorus]
Well, the way I recall the 70's
We were down in Austin and the establishment were
Saying we were wasting our time
The next thing I know
We were making more money than we could count
We?re all being sued by the IRS
And having more fun than the law allowed
Yeah, I'm talking loners and stoners
And sing about to come back home
And most likely too far gone to get there.
Yeah, they were all most likely too far gone to get there
Jerry Jeff Walker stumbled up the stairs on his way to the
Stage with a Martin guitar and a six pack
Tools of the trade son
Lyrics submitted by SongMeanings
Ballad of Jerry Jeff Walker Lyrics as written by Kix Brooks Bob Dipiero
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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Great version of a great song,
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