Guitar Town

Album: Guitar Town (1986)
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  • Hey pretty baby are you ready for me
    Yeah it's your good rockin' daddy down from Tennessee
    I'm just out of Austin bound for San Antone
    With the radio blastin' and the bird dog on

    There's a speed trap up ahead in Selma Town
    But no local yokel gonna shut me down
    'Cause me and my boys got this rig unwound
    And we've come a thousand miles from a Guitar Town

    Nothin' ever happened 'round my hometown
    And I ain't the kind to just hang around
    But I heard someone callin' my name one day
    And I followed that voice down the lost highway

    Everybody told me you can't get far
    On thirty-seven dollars and a Jap guitar
    Now I'm smokin' into Texas with the hammer down
    And a rockin' little combo from the Guitar Town

    Hey pretty baby don't you know it ain't my fault
    I love to hear the steel belts hummin' on the asphalt
    Wake up in the middle of the night in a truck stop
    Stumble in the restaurant wonderin' why I don't stop

    Well I gotta keep rockin' while I still can
    I gotta two pack habit and a motel tan
    When my boots hit the boards I'm a brand new man
    With my back to the riser I make my stand

    And hey pretty baby won't you hold me tight
    I'm loadin' up and rollin' out of here tonight
    One of these days I'm gonna settle down
    And take you back with me to the Guitar Town Writer/s: STEVE EARLE
    Publisher: Universal Music Publishing Group, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
    Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Comments: 5

  • John from TexasKeith from Kentucky, it when Steve hitch hiked from San antonio to nashville, he left with his Yamaha guitar and $17. He made it to his grandmother in Jacksonville TX and she gave him $20. They made him change it to "Jap" for the music video for concerns of being offensive to Japanese people.
  • Dan from CanadaI believe that early in his career Earle mostly played a Takamine guitar, made in Japan, and I imagine he got a lot of negative feedback in those early days from “purists” who felt that real country required an American built instrument. i.e, “you won’t get far with a […] Jap guitar”. So, it was an anti-racist ironic observation by Earle, really, but too subtle/clever for the masses. So a sanitized version changed the wording to “cheap guitar”. Great songwriter, tremendous talent in many fields. I really enjoyed his first novel.
  • Chris from Farmingdale, NyMaybe Steve felt his talent wasn't enough and had to appeal to the racist element. Yes, they have guitars all over the world.
  • Keith from Kentuckywhen I first heard this song the line was "verybody told me you can't get far on $37 and a "cheap" guitar, why did it become a jap guitar and do they have guitars i n Japan?
  • Andy Roper from Evansville In Been enjoying your music since you’ve put it out
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