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The
Texas Bel-Airs
 Produced by Alan Crossland, Kent Mings,
& the Texas Bel-Aires. Lubbock, TX. 1999.
All songs written by Kent Mings – Wheelhoss Music, BMI
Chinook by Willis Cooper, arranged by H. Aiken & K. Mings
High
Plains; Oh
Well; Play for Our
Whiskey;
Angela Hell; How
Can You Own?; Until I Met You;
Please Don't Go; Surprise,
Goodbye; Only Somebody I Got;
Chiles & Tomatoes; 31 Miles to Eden;
Chinook (by Willis Cooper)
1.
High Plains
I was raised up on the High Plains
Where the earth and the sky seem to have no end.
I was raised up on the High Plains
With the cotton and the corn and The Bible and the dust and the
wind.
The High Plains is a part of me
That has no end;
And when I die I may become
The West Texas wind.
Workin’ in the fields when I was ten,
Cotton up so high it touched my chin,
Sometimes we’d lay down between the rows and then
We’d smoke cigarettes;
The reason, I guess,
Is because we knew it was a sin.
Suppertime come, we’d race to the house
Just to see who would win.
We’d wash off the dirt; Mama would pray
Then we’d all dig in.
After supper I couldn’t wait to get back outside again.
Sometimes I’d lay on the cool, steel hood
Of the truck and dream;
And other times we’d just run behind
The barn and through the barb-wire fence;
And in the fields
We’d count the stars
And watch the moon ascend.
Kent Mings
– vocals, rhythm guitar, lead guitar
Kevin Mings – Drums
Jay Hataway – Bass
Mike Carraway – Rhythm guitar
Harold Aiken – Pedal steel guitar
TOP
2.
Oh Well
(Arranged
by H. Aiken & K. Mings)
My mama, she worked hard all her life long.
She tried to teach me right from wrong
I guess I never did listen so well.
Oh Well.
Mama, Oh Well.
Oh Well.
And my pappy, he run away when I was ten.
I never, ever, seen him again.
So many things I wanted him to tell.
Oh Well.
Pappy, Oh well.
Oh Well.
And my baby she loved me all the day long.
She tried to keep me from doin’ her wrong.
I guess it ain’t her fault she failed.
Oh Well.
Baby, Oh well.
Oh Well.
Chorus:
I did my best to learn my lesson
But I just wanted more.
They did their best to keep me guessin’
But I knew the score.
Now I sit behind these prison bars
For stealin’ just one too many cars.
I got too high and I wound up in jail.
Oh Well.
Your honor, Oh Well.
Oh Well.
Then one day a letter did arrive
That said my mama was no longer alive
I asked the warden, "Can I leave this jail?"
He said, "Oh Well.
Con, Oh Well.
Oh Well."
Well, I did not mean to gun that policeman down
When I escaped tryin’ to get to town
To see that Mama was safe from Hell.Oh Well.
Mama, Oh Well.
Oh Well.
Chorus:
I did my best to learn my lesson
But I just wanted more.
They did their best to keep me guessin’
But I knew the score.
Now I go to die; I make that lonesome walk.
I can everybody talk,
"Just like his daddy, he’ll go to hell."
Oh Well.
Lord, Oh Well.
Oh Well.
Kent Mings
– Vocals, rhythm guitar
Kevin Mings – Drums
Wes "Tex" Mings – Harmony vocals
Jay Hataway – Bass
Harold Aiken – Pedal steel guitar, rhythm guitar
Pony Bone – Accordion
Tina Carraway – Fiddle
TOP
3. Play for Our Whiskey
Ain’t got no job,
Ain’t got no home,
Ain’t got nobody to call my own,
Ain’t got no brand new fancy
Cadillac car;
I never thought I would
Get this far.
If there’s a heaven, will they let us in?
We’ll play for our whiskey
And die for our sins.I was raised up in the sticks
By a preacher’s daughter
And an ex-convict.
He always stayed just left of the law;
She took us to church,
Taught us about God.
If there’s a heaven, will they let us in?
We’ll play for our whiskey
And die for our sins.One of these days
When I wake up dead
Won’t have to worry about a roof or a bed;
Won’t have no money,
Won’t have to eat.
Let me taste that milk and honey!
Man, That’s sweet!
If there’s a heaven, will they let us in?
We’ll play for our whiskey
And die for our sins.
Kent Mings
– Vocals, rhythm guitar
Kevin Mings – Drums
Jay Hataway – Bass
Harold Aiken – Pedal steel guitar, rhythm guitar
Jesse "Guitar" Taylor – Lead guitar, rhythm guitar
TOP
4.
Angela Hell
(Arranged
by H. Aiken & K. Mings)
Angela hell was a beauty
With golden, flaxen hair, relaxin’ in the sun.
As soon as she looked at me
With those big brown eyes, I knew she was The One.
Angela Hell was from Hereford.
I said one day, "I’ll take you outta here."
So it was: We lit out for Austin,
To my Camelot, with my Guinevere.
I made her the queen of my castle.
We lived high off the hog.
I treated her like a princess;
She just treated me like a dog.
She swore she would never leave me.
She figured it was her mission in life
To deal me misery
So I made her my wife.
Chorus:
My Sweet Angel
My sweet Angela Hell,
How could I have ever known
That you were an angel of hell?
She fought me like The Devil.
She kicked just like a mule.
I knew she would be the death of me
And I would always be her lovin’ fool.
She scratched out my eyeballs.
She beat me in the head.
She rolled me out onto the side of the highway;
That’s where she left me for dead.
Chorus:
My Sweet Angel
My sweet Angela Hell,
How could I have ever known
That you were an angel of hell?
She surely must have come
From the deepest depths of Satan’s lair.
They say that The Devil has many faces;
This one had pretty blonde hair.
Chorus:
My Sweet Angel
My sweet Angela Hell,
How could I have ever known
That you were an angel of hell?
Kent Mings
– Vocals, rhythm guitar
Kevin Mings – Drums
Wes "Tex" Mings – Harmony vocals
Mike Carraway – Slide guitar
Jay Hataway – Bass
Lloyd Maines – Rhythm guitar
Alan Crossland – Percussion
Harold Aiken – Rhythm guitar
TOP
5.
How Can You Own
(So much of my heart?)
We’ve been afraid
Of things we can’t say.
We play these games
Then run away.
What is this thing
We’ve had from the start?
How can you own
So much of my heart?
We seem to stay
So far apart.
Why in the world
Is it so hard?
I sometimes wish
I could walk out that door.
How can you own
So much of my heart?
One of these days
You’ll believe
That I take that part
Of you with me
That you’ve owned of mine
You’ve owned from the start
Oh, How you’ve owned
So much of my heart.
Kent Mings
– Vocals, rhythm guitar
Kevin Mings – Drums
Jay Hataway – Bass
Harold Aiken – Pedal steel guitar
Tina Carraway – Fiddle
TOP
6.
Until I Met You
I never was the jealous type,
I never was the nervous kind,
I never was much on Love
Until I met you.
I never thought about loneliness;
Least I didn’t dwell on it
Much I guess.
I never knew how blue a man could get
Until I met you.
Chorus:
Until I met you I’s fine
Stumblin’ through the darkness
Blissfully blind;
And I always knew
Just what I’s gonna’ do
Until I met you.
I never had the lovesick blues,
I never paid those sweetheart dues,
I never had all that much to lose
Until I met you.
I never came home late at night,
I never came home in time for the fight,
I’s always able to time it right
Until I met you.
Chorus:
Until I met you I’s fine
Stumblin’ through the darkness
Blissfully blind; And I always knew
Just what I’s gonna’ do
Until I met you.
I never knew I was doin’ wrong,
I never had trouble gettin’ along,
I never stayed out all night long
Until I met you
I never let it go to my head,
I never ever wished I was dead,
I never knew how bad I’s doin’
Until I met you.
Chorus:
Until I met you I’s fine
Stumblin’ through the darkness
Blissfully blind;
And I always knew
Just what I’s gonna’ do
Until I met you.
Kent Mings
– Vocals, rhythm guitarTOP
Kevin Mings – Drums
Wes Tex" Mings – Harmony vocal
Jay Hataway – Bass
Harold Aiken – Pedal steel guitar, rhythm guitar
Tina Carraway – Fiddle, harmony vocal
Mike Carraway – Lead guitar
Alan Munde – Banjo
Billy Watson – Rubboard
TOP
7.
Please Don’t Go
Now there are many a time
I wish you were gone;
When things are gettin’ rough
And we ain’t gettin’ along.
Now you say you’re leavin’;
Please, Honey, don’t do that.
I promise I’ll do better to you
And never do the bad things that
You always say I’m doin’
Treatin’ you like this and that.
Chorus:
Please don’t go
Please don’t go
Please don’t go
Please don’t go
I know now baby
That we kinda’ fuss and fight.
I’ll sleep on the couch,
You can have the bed tonight.
Things’ll be better in the mornin’
Just like they always are.
I tell you now, Honey,
We ain’t gonna’ fight no more.
You just promise me one thing:
You ain’t walkin’ out that door.
Chorus:
Please don’t go
Please don’t go
Please don’t go
Please don’t go
Wes "Tex"
Mings – Vocals, doghouse bass
Kent Mings – Rhythm guitar, harmony vocals
Kevin Mings – Drums
Jesse "Guitar" Taylor – rhythm guitar, lead guitar
TOP
8. Surprise, Goodbye
I never thought it would be over;
I never thought you’d say goodbye;
I never thought that you could leave me:
Surprise, Goodbye.
Chorus:
Surprise, Goodbye
I’m leaving you this time.
This time I ain’t comin’ home
No more.
This time is my last time
Through the door.
I never thought you’d love another.
I never thought you could look me
In the eye
And tell me that you just
Don’t love me.
Surprise, Goodbye.
Chorus:
Surprise, Goodbye
I’m leaving you this time.
This time I ain’t comin’ home
No more.
This time is my last time
Through the door.
I know I took your love for granted.
I just thought you would always
Be by my side
Now I know that it’s too late
As I hear those last two words:
Surprise, Goodbye.
Chorus:
Surprise, Goodbye
I’m leaving you this time.
This time I ain’t comin’ home
No more.
This time is my last time
Through the door.
Kent Mings – Vocals, rhythm
guitar
Kevin Mings – Drums
Jay Hataway – Bass
Harold Aiken – Pedal steel guitar, rhythm guitar
Ingrid Holly-Kaiter – Harmony vocals
Joel Searsey – Lead guitar
TOP
9.
Only Somebody I Got
Somewhere down this lonesome highway,
Maybe there’s nothin’ left to say,
And my dreams may be for naught;
Only’s somebody I got.
Man, when I was King
I wanted for nary a thing.
But even then
There was somethin’ that could not be bought:
Only’s somebody I got
Chorus:
You’re the only somebody I got
Without you I don’t know what is what.
Yes, I know it; But say you’re not
The only somebody I got.
When I’m down and surely out,
Beaten senseless by this world of doubt,
Who will be there and who will not?
Only’s somebody I got.
Chorus:
You’re the only somebody I got
Without you I don’t know what is what.
Yes, I know it; But say you’re not
The only somebody I got.
Kent Mings
– Vocals, rhythm guitar
Kevin Mings – Drums
Wes "Tex" Mings – Harmony vocals
Jay Hataway – Bass
Lloyd Maines – Dobro
Jesse "Guitar" Taylor – Acoustic lead
Tina Carraway - Fiddle
Harold Aiken – Rhythm guitar
TOP
10. Chiles & Tomatoes
We eat chiles and tomatoes
That’s why they hate us;
Cold coffee in the mornin’
After whiskey and wine.
We go to work everyday
Just to earn our pay
It’s a long row to hoe
When you gotta’ tow that line.
Chorus:
And we smoke marijuana
Just ‘cause we wanna’
Smile that smile, feel that feelin’
That’s so fine. We wake up in the mornin’
Man, without a warnin’
We’re standin’ in the unemployment line.
We do a job well done
And with the setting sun
We go on to the house
And to our family.
That job, it takes its toll;
We don’t want to bother a soul!
We indulge in a little illegality.
Chorus:
And we smoke marijuana
Just ‘cause we wanna’
Smile that smile, feel that feelin’
That’s so fine. We wake up in the mornin’
Man, without a warnin’
We’re standin’ in the unemployment line.
We put our boots on
One at a time.
If you can do it differently
We certainly don’t mind.
We live and let live.
Maybe we’re just kids;
We’re surely not opposed to havin’
A good time.
Chorus:
And we smoke marijuana
Just ‘cause we wanna’
Smile that smile, feel that feelin’
That’s so fine. We wake up in the mornin’
Man, without a warnin’
We’re standin’ in the unemployment line.
We play piano naked.
Sleepin’ dog: We don’t wake it.
A fifth of prevention’s worth
A pound of cure.
We eat alligator tails,
Bar-B-Cue from hell;
We put whiskey in our water
When there’s water in the well.
Chorus:
And we smoke marijuana
Just ‘cause we wanna’
Smile that smile, feel that feelin’
That’s so fine. We wake up in the mornin’
Man, without a warnin’
We’re standin’ in the unemployment line.
Kent Mings
– Vocals, rhythm guitar
Kevin Mings – Drums
Wes "Tex" Mings – Harmony vocals
Jay Hataway – Bass
Ponty Bone – Accordion
Tina Carraway - Fiddle
Lloyd Maines – Dobro
Jesse "Guitar" Taylor – Acoustic lead
Billy Whitson - Rubboard
Harold Aiken – Rhythm guitar
TOP
11.
31 Miles to Eden
31 Miles to Eden,
31 Miles and that ain’t far.
If we don’t stop for coffee
We might make it before dark.
We been runnin’ so hard,
Runnin’ so fast,
Never knowin’ how long it might last.
The road we’re leavin’ behind
Is not so much a memory
As it is that tie that binds us,
As it is some great big mystery;And there she’s lyin’
Out on the horizon
Arms all out open wide.
Headlights by my window,
Taillights down the highway,
A few more miles and they’ll be gone,
And we’ll still be here
On our way;
And in the end
All we really have
Are promises anyway.
Kent Mings
– Vocals, rhythm guitar
Kevin Mings – Drums
Jay Hataway – Bass
Joel Searsey – Lead guitar
Harold Aiken – Pedal steel guitar
TOP
12.
Chinook
(Poem
by Willis Cooper)
The Chinook melts the snow
The frost turns the leaves to gold
You wouldn’t like me now
Suddenly I’ve turned old
All of the dreams I once had
Have been melted by the frost
You wouldn’t like me now
I wonder who won or who lost
Willis Cooper
– poet
Harold Aiken – Pedal steel guitar
TOP
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