Love James McMurtry.....

Good music.  Real music.  Music stories tell about Life. ALl kinds of life 

They stopped on level land because it was the best farmland on earth. You remember farms and family farms don't you?  You know that 60% of the working United States until the mid 1980's? Since he didn't understand level land or water conservation I am not so sure he has any ability to sing about it.

Sorry, this song just pushed a very big button about American society today. The triad of evil, Hollywood, Wall Street and Washington DC. All of the trouble seems to come from the coasts.

The antithesis of John Mellencamp's "Small Town".

"I read in an interview that James said the song is really about the town of Floydada, Texas, but Floydada didn't fit the meter, so it became Levelland."

Thought this was Lou Reed before checking details.

Yep, gets me hankerin' to hit the road... how I yearn to drive south.

 Monkeysdad wrote: 
A Texan Bruce Cockburn.
 

 Giselle62 wrote:  The acorn doesn't fall very far from the tree.  Dad Larry is a terrific novelist and screenwriter and mom Jo is an English professor and author.

i like his lyrics from what i've heard of 3 or 4 songs

I'm a sucker for songs like this. Now, if only I could figure out what that is. It's something I can't define yet, but I know I like it. A lot.

Man, don't like the country at all, but the lyrics are pretty good.

jagdriver wrote:

enough of your crap already!!!!

Enough country crap, already. :butt:

Huh. I first heard this done by Robert Earl Keen, who has equal TX songwriting chops, and figured it was his own. But AMG says it is McMurtry's. Credit where credit is due.

Though I'd like to hear more of REK on RP, I'll take McMurtry's version on this one.

Recently bought all of his albums (well except St. Mary of the Woods...already had it) and man is this guy a fantastic talent! Please play more McMurtry!

Yeah! This is one of my top three McMurtry songs. Yay him!


my grandparents were sharecroppers in that area of Texas, and my mom couldn't get away fast enough.



pride o' man...

Yup! Real Middle America stuff.

I bought McMurtry's CD based on another song played here. This song rocks! My folk music gude says that if this song doesn't rouse you, you have no pulse. I would add, you've probably decayed away as well. Didn't know this was an actual place, but I do know the water and soil problems are real all over the Great Plains. I worked on the Great Plains last fall. Strangely and awesomely beautiful landscape at that time of year, level indeed, and yes perhaps a little boring. Thanks for turning me on to this artist, RP! I may have even seen him performing at the Saw Mill Cafe when I lived in Tucson.

mouse wrote:

I knew McMurtry was from Texas. I was kind of lumping the whole middle America thing together. Most of it fits the tone if not the physical description. Is this Levelland where McMurtry is from by any chance?

chrisp54 wrote:

about that song at the top : Seems I haven't heard "Walk Between the Raindrops" lately

mouse wrote:

Yeah, I grew up near there in a little town named Cotton Center (no kiddin'). I really noticed the line about "Daddy's cotton is suckin' the water table down". That's what my Dad was, a cotton farmer. By the way he and my Mom still live in the area. In a town named...wait for it....Shallowater.

The song doesn't refer to the Midwest but to Levelland, Texas. It's a small town near Amarillo and Lubbock, as if that's any help to non-Texans. It's desolate and depressing, and exactly as the song (and the town's name) describes it. As the local joke goes, "the sheriff gave him an hour to get out of town and three days to get out of sight."

Wow, what a scathing assessment of the midwest. And I suppose just of complacency in general, but I tell you I'm from Kansas and Missouri and his descriptions of the area and its people are, unfortunately, spot on.

Absolutely LOVE this writer and his music, though his latest CD is dark. I mean, this song is dark, but the new one makes me want to put him on suicide watch. Sigh. Hmm, wonder if anyone has uploaded any of the songs for Bill to listen to....

But love this line:
"and I can hear the marching band
doing the best they can
to play Smoke on the Water and Joy to the World"

Ugh...one of those "Quick, hit the fast-forward button!!! WAIT! THERE IS NO FAST FORWARD BUTTON!!! AAAAGGGHHH!!!!"

Norman Rockwell Music. Perfect!

Lou Reed meets Hank Williams?????

YEAH!! If there was EVER a song that makes me want to hit the road, this is IT! Turn up the volume!

McMurtry is a great writer, and his vocals are perfectly paralled to his songs. A lot like Lou Reed. I've got all his CDs, and this song is at the top. More McMurtry!

The lyrics in this (and most of this album) are really much much better than you'd suspect by his laconic delivery. Like Dylan (shuddering at the obligatory Dylan comparison) his strength isn't the delivery, but the content.

Great song, more please ! (pimp)