Story Behind The Song
This is a semi-true story. The name was made up, but the story about a guy "on the other side of town" in Lubbock Texas making up song is true.
Song Description
A story song about a guy from my past that was a musical influence in my early days in Texas
Song Length |
4:56 |
Genre |
Country - Rock |
Tempo |
Medium Fast (131 - 150) |
Lead Vocal |
Male Vocal |
Mood |
Welcoming, In High Spirits |
Subject |
Teachers, Birds |
Similar Artists |
The Band, Jim Croce |
Language |
English |
Lyrics
"LAYIN''EM DOWN"
© JC Tubbs 07/86
VERSE 1 Back in Lubbock, Texas, when I was just a kid
On Saturday's I'd go to where my neighbors never did
I'd ride my bike to what was called the "other side of town"
And head ANDY JACKSON TAYLOR JONES layin' music down
He always sang his own songs, and he'd write 'em on the spot
He never sang the same song twice, and I heard him sing a lot
He'd be LAYIN' 'EM DOWN, LAYIN' 'EM DOWN
VERSE 2 Well ANDY JACKSON TAYLOR JONES like havin' me around
I'd clap my hands to his music, and I guess he liked that sound
He never seemed to talk much, he just put his words to rhyme
He'd just put his rhyme to music in a boogie sorta time
Once, I got the nerve to ask when he stopped to have a smoke,
"Could you teach me how to play like you?" He looked up but he never spoke.
He's LAYIN' 'EM DOWN, just LAYIN' 'EM DOWN
VERSE 3 He finished off his cigarette and picked up his guitar
Started strummin' something funky in a bluesy kinda chord
He sang, "just learn to play the six string, boy, and practice every day
You watch the world around you and you hear what people say
Then you put your thoughts together and you rhyme the moon with June
And that's really all it takes, Kid, to write yourself a tune.
You'll be LAYIN' 'EM DOWN, just LAYIN' 'EM DOWN"
CHORUS Well, ANDY JACKSON TAYLOR JONES, I wonder where you are
Are you still back there in Lubbock on the porch with your guitar
Singing to some young boy from the other side of town
Putting thoughts together and layin' music down
LAYIN' 'EM DOWN, just LAYIN' 'EM DOWN
VERSE 4 The other day I got a letter that was postmarked Lubbock, T
It was a clipping from the paper that my mom has send to me
It was a tiny little article only two or three lines or so
Mom wrote, "This may be someone you know a long time ago"
It said, "In a little Baptist church on the other side of town,
They laid Mr. ANDY JACKSON TAYLOR JONES in the ground"
LAYIN' 'EM DOWN
They were LAYIN' 'EM DOWN
Repeat Chorus