-  Southern Nights is made possible in part by Trustmark National Bank, earning your trust every day in 94 offices in 34 Mississippi communities.

Up next on  Southern Nights, the songwriting talents of Fred Knobloch, Kevin Welch, and Mac McAnally.

♪ Boy get your head out of the stars above.

♪ ♪ You get the maximum pleasure from a minimum love.

♪ ♪ Save your heart and let your body be enough.

♪ ♪ To get the maximum pleasure from a minimum love.

♪ (very '90's music playing) ♪♪ ♪♪ - Good evening ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to Southern Nights at Hal & Mal's.

Tonight we have a very special treat.

It's songwriters night.

Three very talented writers, musicians, and pickers.

Please welcome, if you would, Fred Knobloch, Mac McAnally, and Kevin Welch.

[applause] (music begins) ♪ When I get home on Friday evenings.

♪ ♪ I kick off my working shoes.

♪ ♪ Gonna waste the whole damn weekend.

♪ ♪ Singing them country blues.

♪ I've got a dog, his name is Sonny.

♪ ♪ And I got a front porch with a view.

♪ ♪ I've got a gal that calls me honey.

♪ ♪ She just loves them country blues.

♪ ♪ Gonna sing hi dee hi.

♪ Gonna sing Kokomo.

♪ Gonna swing a 9-pound hammer.

♪ ♪ Move further on down the road.

♪ ♪ Yeah, yeah, yeah.

♪ Don't wanna hear no Wall Street ticker.

♪ ♪ Don't wanna watch the evening news.

♪ ♪ I've got a jar of homemade liquor.

♪ ♪ Gotta case of them country blues.

♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪ Gonna sing hi dee hi.

♪ Gonna sing Kokomo.

♪ Gonna swing a 9-pound hammer.

♪ ♪ Move further on up the road.

♪ ♪ Yeah, yeah, yeah.

♪ Honey, she commenced to dancing.

♪ ♪ Honey, he starts howling too.

♪ ♪ Ain't uptown, ain't nothing fancy.

♪ ♪ Just them good old country blues.

♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ [applause] - Thank you so much.

Thank you, good evening.

Welcome.

My name is Fred Knobloch, and this is fellow Mississippian Mac McAnally.

And we've got a boy from Okolona, or Oklahoma?

- One of the two.

- One of the two.

Whichever you'd like for him to be from, you can help yourselves.

This is Mr. Kevin Welch.

We're gonna be passing the guitars around tonight for a while.

We hope you have a good time.

Mac, here's to you, buddy.

- Well I came up from the northeast corner of this state, a little town called Belmont.

As I was growing up, we had about 900 people and one traffic light, which is the quota we got up there.

(laughter) I've got songs about pretty much all 900 people.

But this particular one is about the traffic light.

(laughter) The major past time in Belmont was to make every possible effort to go under that traffic light while it was yellow.

(laughter) And that was about the only source of adrenaline in the entire town.

(laughter) Spare time was our major export.

Was and is.

(laughter) This is sort of my ode to the traffic light.

[applause] ♪ Flowing in this river of cars.

♪ ♪ Following these traffic light stars.

♪ ♪ I drive because I'm driven.

♪ ♪ To be more than what I am.

♪ ♪ I've got a car that runs and a roll of ones.

♪ ♪ And a girl that's cute from an angle.

♪ ♪ Sometimes that ain't nothin'.

♪ ♪ Those are the times that got me tangled up.

♪ ♪ Trying to make them yellow lights last ♪ ♪ Oh trying to me them yellow lights.

♪ ♪ Radio plays a never-ending song.

♪ ♪ When it's good and when it's bad I sing along.

♪ ♪ And the words they don't mean nothin'.

♪ ♪ Just a sound track for my life.

♪ ♪ Gimme gas to burn and the dance to learn.

♪ ♪ And I look so tough from a distance.

♪ ♪ And the old folks can't ignore me.

♪ ♪ They put their ears to the ground and listen for me.

♪ ♪ Trying to make them yellow lights last ♪ ♪ Oh trying to me them yellow lights.

♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪ Everybody's takin' their chances.

♪ ♪ Maybe finance or power or romance.

♪ ♪ And the things they think they need.

♪ ♪ Are out there flashing all the time.

♪ ♪ When they laugh at me, my philosophy.

♪ ♪ Looks the same as theirs with an angle.

♪ ♪ One way or another almost everybody's tangled up.

♪ ♪ Trying to make them yellow lights last ♪ ♪ Oh trying to me them yellow lights....... ♪ [applause] - Thank you.

[applause continues] - Take it away, Kevin.

- It is funny what gives you ideas for songs sometimes.

Buddy of mine named John Pickens in Nashville came over to the house one day and he said that he had just been watching some TV show where they were talking about the fact that the same rain that falls on us today was the very same rain that fell on the dinosaurs.

It hadn't changed.

It just kept going around and around.

(laughter) So that's where this one came from.

- Dinosaur music one.

(laughter) ♪ Cold rain falls in the river.

♪ ♪ Flows down to the sea.

♪ ♪ Gets into the skyline and circles endlessly.

♪ ♪ It's the same old rain that fell on the mountain.

♪ ♪ Back when the mountain was new.

♪ ♪ It still comes down all over town.

♪ ♪ When I start missing you.

♪ ♪ It's the same old rain on the window.

♪ ♪ It's the same old pain in my soul.

♪ ♪ Just another change in the weather.

♪ ♪ Girl, there's some things you can't control.

♪ ♪ Same old story when I'm dreaming.

♪ ♪ I start calling out your name.

♪ ♪ And all I can do is think about you.

♪ ♪ Listen to that same old rain.

♪ ♪♪ ♪ I know I could find some shelter.

♪ ♪ In somebody else's arms.

♪ I could try to build a fire.

♪ That might keep me somehow warm.

♪ ♪ Well but that won't do no good, babe.

♪ ♪ I know I've already tried.

♪ It's coming again on the rising wind.

♪ ♪ There ain't no place to hide.

♪ ♪ It's the same old rain on the window.

♪ ♪ It's the same old pain in my soul.

♪ ♪ Just another change in the river.

♪ ♪ Girl, there's some things you can't control.

♪ ♪ Same old story when I'm dreaming.

♪ ♪ I start calling out your name.

♪ ♪ And all I can do is think about you.

♪ ♪ Listen to that same old rain.

♪ ♪♪ ♪ Cold rain falls in the river.

♪ ♪ Flows down to the sea.

♪ ♪ Gets into the skyline that circles endlessly.

♪ ♪ Yeah.

♪♪ ♪ It's the same old rain.

♪ ♪ It's the same old rain.

♪ ♪ It's the same old rain, yeah.

♪ [applause] - Thank y'all.

- Here's a song that I wrote with a couple of friends of mine in Nashville.

I was in a group called SKB and this was the title song of our second album that didn't exactly set the world on fire in the retail market.

It didn't do too well in the wholesale market.

We're not in selling any of them for $1.98 in the cheap bin at Woolworth's.

Not that the album wasn't any good, because we worked really hard on it, and we thought it was wonderful.

So we just immediately found a couple of labels to blame and that's where it lies right now.

It's their fault and not ours.

But I wrote this with Tom Schuyler and Don Schlitz.

They make a lot of money in this business and I'm going to stay as close to them as I can and may be I'll get some of the dandruff, you know?

♪♪ ♪ I remember as a child.

♪ My daddy taught me how to ride.

♪ ♪ Two chrome wheels, some handlebars.

♪ ♪ He could not break the chain.

♪ ♪ It was a summer day, as I recall.

♪ ♪ It wasn't long 'fore I took a fall.

♪ ♪ And daddy smiled and dusted me off.

♪ ♪ I got back on again.

♪ Ain't no easy horses, but you gotta learn to ride.

♪ ♪ You may fall, you will stumble before you hit your stride.

♪ ♪ Mother Earth will catch you.

♪ ♪ Don't be afraid to try.

♪ Ain't no easy horses, but you gotta learn to ride.

♪ ♪♪ ♪ The first time that I left home.

♪ ♪ To try and make it in this world alone.

♪ ♪ Figured I would be a star.

♪ ♪ Once they heard me sing.

♪ ♪ Folks said I was one of the best.

♪ ♪ I found out I was one of the rest.

♪ ♪ I'd spend all my Sunday nights.

♪ ♪ Just waiting for my phone to ring.

♪ ♪ Ain't no easy horses, but you gotta learn to ride.

♪ ♪ You may fall, you will stumble before you hit your stride.

♪ ♪ Mother Earth will catch you.

♪ ♪ Don't be afraid to try.

♪ Ain't no easy horses, but you gotta learn to ride.

♪ ♪ Now dream on till you get it right.

♪ ♪ And when you finally grab hold.

♪ ♪ You better hold on tight.

♪ There ain't no easy horses, but you gotta learn to ride.

♪ ♪ You may fall, you will stumble before you hit your stride.

♪ ♪ Mother Earth will catch you.

♪ ♪ Don't be afraid to try.

♪ Ain't no easy horses, but you gotta learn to ride.

♪ ♪ There ain't no easy horses, but you gotta learn to ride.

♪ ♪ Ain't no easy horses.... ♪ There ain't no easy horses... ♪ [applause] - Thank you very much.

Thanks a lot.

[applause continues] - Mighty fine.

Having grown up in an extremely small town, you're sort of subjected to a couple of unusual ideas that are unique to that small town.

I, of course, was no exception.

As a child, I was told to be afraid of many things since I was a small town person.

One of the biggest things we were afraid of were people from cities.

We were told that people from cities would kill us for no reason.

(laughter) And pretty much that if we ever went to a city, that we would be killed before we came back home.

(laughter) It was an effective propaganda machine that they had going on there because nobody ever left, pretty much.

They had stories to back it up.

Talk about the time old Clinton went to the basketball tournament over in Atlanta and never came back.

(laughter) We weren't 100% positive that those folks over in Atlanta killed him, but we knew he never came back.

So I grew up pretty much scared.

When I was about 18 years old, I got a record deal which apparently had been mailed to the wrong person.

I don't know, they've got a law.

You get to keep whatever comes.

So I got a record deal when I was 18 and I had to go to Los Angeles, California, to sign this record deal.

They sent me a plane ticket.

The people in my hometown sort of had a little lottery thing going on whether my plane was going to crash on the way out there, or on the way back.

Of course, if it crashed on the way back, it wouldn't matter because I would have already been killed by the people in Los Angeles, California.

(laughter) So it was a moot point.

But it was entertainment.

It beat the traffic light there for just a couple of weeks.

(laughter) And since that time, I've been fortunate enough to not be killed in most of the major cities of this great country.

This song is kind of a written apology to people in urban areas for what I thought about them until I was 18 years old.

I introduced this song so well, there is no real reason to play it now.

(laughter) Go ahead, Kevin.

[applause] Not a whole lot left to say for me.

♪♪ [applause] ♪ On the farm as a child ♪ ♪ I was warned of the wiles of the city.

♪ ♪ Of that demon disguised ♪ As the dirt in the sky of the city.

♪ ♪ I was told that proximity warps their minds.

♪ ♪ 'Til they're shooting one another just to pass the time.

♪ ♪ And we live it appears.

♪ Both in spite and in fear of the city.

♪ ♪ Hmm ♪ Hmm, yeah.

♪ Hmmmm.

♪ I was constantly told ♪ How our lives were controlled by the city.

♪ ♪ How they keep us in debt.

♪ With the trends that they set, it's a pity.

♪ ♪ How them beautiful people in the magazines.

♪ ♪ Got the normal ones living beyond their means.

♪ ♪ And the things that they said ♪ ♪ Made me go in my head to the city.

♪ (humming) ♪ Well I learned when I came.

♪ ♪ That there's some things the same in the city.

♪ ♪ You're still under the thumb.

♪ ♪ Of the rich and the young and the pretty.

♪ ♪ And they weren't much different than we might act.

♪ ♪ If there was that many others stacked and closely packed.

♪ ♪ It's an ancient idea.

♪ But it struck me so clear in the city.

♪ (humming) [applause] - Thank you.

"The City."

[applause continues] - Let the big dog eat.

How is it following Mac on this?

- It's brutal.

It's flat brutal.

- Boy, I sure am glad I thought of the order.

(Laughter) - Well it ain't that much easier following you, Knobloch.

I just hate to admit that to you.

- I'll go ahead and admit it.

- Okay, go ahead.

- Well you're on.

- I tell you what.

Since I've had a chance to come the Mississippi, let me play you a song about where I come from.

This is an old song, and it's... - Everybody in this room has been to Okolona.

(laughter) ♪♪ After I got out of the heavy metal Ventures band, I got this country band together.

♪♪ We used to go down to southern Oklahoma a whole lot and play in this biker bar.

♪♪ I guess with the song is really about is about getting old.

♪♪ ♪ I remember the wind mostly.

♪ How it would blow all through the night.

♪ ♪ For 40 miles across the plains.

♪ ♪ You could see the next town's lights.

♪ ♪ Every town a farm town.

♪ ♪ Raised their cattle and wheat.

♪ ♪ If it ain't the hailstorms in the wintertime.

♪ ♪ The summer, it's the heat.

♪ ♪ If it ain't the hailstorms in the wintertime, brother.

♪ ♪ The summer, it's the heat.

♪ ♪ Down below the Wichita Mountains.

♪ ♪ Just above the Texas line.

♪ ♪ All along the old Red River.

♪ ♪ Water as red as wine.

♪ I was growing like a tumbleweed.

♪ ♪ And I had plenty of time.

♪ We played down in the honky tonks.

♪ ♪ We had a five piece country band.

♪ ♪ All of the farm boys would bring their girls.

♪ ♪ They'd swing dance and clap their hands.

♪ ♪ Holler, "Play Jimmie Rodgers!"

♪ ♪ They'd holler, "Play some old Bob Wills!"

♪ ♪ And way down there in the flat lands.

♪ ♪ Would sing about the Oklahoma hills.

♪ ♪ Down below the Wichita Mountains.

♪ ♪ Just above the Texas line.

♪ All along the old Red River.

♪ ♪ Water as red as wine.

♪ I was growing like a tumbleweed.

♪ ♪ And I had plenty of time.

♪ ♪ It'll do no good to wonder.

♪ ♪ How all the years slipped by.

♪ ♪ Because all our days are numbered.

♪ ♪ And the time just seems to fly.

♪ ♪ Just seems to fly.

♪ Down below the Wichita Mountains.

♪ ♪ Just above the Texas line.

♪ ♪ All along the old Red River.

♪ ♪ Water as red as wine.

♪ I was growing like a tumbleweed.

♪ ♪ And I had plenty of time.... [applause] - Thank you.

[applause continues] Thanks.

- Kevin Welch.

- Thank you.

- This is a song I wrote a long time ago with a fellow Mississippian named Carson.

I'd like to play this for you now.

♪♪ ♪ I'll take another wedding in stride.

♪ ♪ Here's another June wedding.

♪ ♪ I'm sittin' on the brides side... ♪ ♪ again.

♪ Why do they always have to play that song?

♪ ♪ You know the one.

♪ It's funny, but we never get to sing.... ♪ ♪ along.

♪ Her daddy's got her by one arm.

♪ ♪ I used to have her by the other.

♪ ♪ At least until she found another lover and then another ♪ ♪ Why not me?

♪ We had a real love.

♪ She just didn't think we could put it all together.

♪ ♪ Why not me?

♪ We had a real love.

♪ But in a flash, she's gone forever.

♪ ♪ Well, I think we're all here.

♪ ♪ I see Bill and Charlie.

♪ No, wait - Eddie got smart.

♪ ♪ He had him a golf game, and he just had to go to it.

♪ ♪ Why do they always have to ask those question?

♪ ♪ You know the ones.

♪ Could I speak now or forever hold my peace of mind?

♪ ♪ Why not me?

♪ We had a real love.

♪ She just didn't think we could put it all together.

♪ ♪ Why not me?

♪ We had a real love.

♪ But in a flash, she's gone forever, ♪ ♪ gone forever.

♪ And the ceremony is grand.

♪ ♪ But old lovers never get to make a last stand.

♪ ♪ And I held some rice in my hand.

♪ ♪ But I let it fall to the floor.

♪ ♪ I just don't care anymore.

♪♪ ♪ I'll just get drunk at the reception.

♪ ♪ I won't think about her twice.

♪ ♪ I'll just say, Congratulations.

♪ ♪ You both look real nice, real nice.

♪ ♪ Why not me?

♪ We had a real love.

♪ She just didn't think we could put it all together.

♪ ♪ Why not me?

♪ We had a real love.

♪ She just didn't think we could put it all together.

♪ ♪ Why not... ♪ me?......

[applause] - Thank you.

Thank you very much.

[applause continues] Thanks a lot.

- Okay, here's a song of mine that wound up on the radio.

And if you listen to country radio, maybe you heard it.

Maybe you don't listen to country radio.

I know I rarely do, but... (laughter) ♪♪ ♪ If life is like a candle bright.

♪ [applause] ♪ Then death must be the wind.

♪ ♪ You know you can close your window tight.

♪ ♪ And it still comes blowing in.

♪ ♪ So I will climb the highest hill.

♪ ♪ And I'll watch the rising sun.

♪ ♪ And I pray that I won't feel the chill.

♪ ♪ Till I'm too old to die young.

♪ ♪ Let me watch my children grow.

♪ ♪ To see what they become.

♪ ♪ Lord don't let that cold wind blow.

♪ ♪ Till I'm too old to die young.

♪ ♪♪ ♪ I have had some real good friends.

♪ ♪ I thought would never die.

♪ ♪ But now all that I got left of them.

♪ ♪ Are these tear drops in my eyes.

♪ ♪ So if I could make one wish today.

♪ ♪ And I know it would be done.

♪ ♪ I'd say everyone could stay.

♪ ♪ Till they're too old to die young.

♪ ♪ Let me watch my children grow.

♪ ♪ To see what they become.

♪ ♪ And now Lord don't let that cold wind blow.

♪ ♪ Till I'm too old to die young.

♪ ♪ Let me watch my children grow.

♪ ♪ To see what they become.

♪ ♪ Lord don't let that cold wind blow.

♪ ♪ Till I'm too old to die young.

♪ ♪ Till I'm too old to die young... ♪ [cheers and applause] - Thank you very much.

Kevin Welch!

Mac McAnally!

I'm Fred Knobloch.

[applause continues] - I ended up with this little song somewhere in my life.

My memory is failing me.

It was in about the middle somewhere at this point.

About taking pride in what you do for living.

It occurred to me, oddly enough, before I got something that I really liked to do for a living.

It's kind of easy to say that, I guess, if you've got a job that doesn't suck.

(laughter) But oddly enough, it was one of those kind of jobs that I had that I discovered this notion that even at the very least, one of those kinds of jobs, if you take a little pride in what you're doing, it makes the time pass a little quicker.

Makes you feel a little bit better about yourself.

I don't have a very long Paul Harvey impression, but it's going pretty good so far.

(laughter) [applause] But I did wind up with this little song.

I put it on a little album and I think three copies were pressed up and one of them was bought by Jimmy Buffett and then he put it on an album and it escaped on out to the masses, and I appreciate Jimmy for that.

People come up all the time and say, "Mac, when somebody does a song of yours like that, don't you make about $1 million?"

It's not really true that you make $1 million.

It is true that I now only eat government cheese when I have a craving for it.

(laughter) And for that I'd like to thank Jimmy Buffett once again.

"It's My Job."

♪♪ ♪ In the middle of late last night I was sittin' on a curb.

♪ ♪ Didn't know what about but I was feeling quite disturbed.

♪ ♪ A street sweeper came whistlin' by.

♪ ♪ He was bouncin' every step.

♪ ♪ It seemed strange how good he felt.

♪ ♪ So I asked him while he swept.

♪ ♪ He said "It's my job to be cleaning up this mess.

♪ ♪ And that's enough reason to go for me.

♪ ♪ It's my job to be better than the best.

♪ ♪ And that makes the day for me."

♪ ♪ Got an uncle that owns a bank.

♪ ♪ He's a self-made millionaire.

♪ ♪ He never had anyone to thank.

♪ ♪ Never had no one to care.

♪ ♪ He always to seemed kind of sad to me.

♪ ♪ And I asked him why that was.

♪ ♪ And he told me it's because.

♪ ♪ In my contract there's this clause.

♪ ♪ That says "It's my job to worried half to death.

♪ ♪ And that's the thing people respect in me.

♪ ♪ It's a job but without it I'd be less.

♪ ♪ Than what I expect from me."

♪ ♪♪ ♪ I've been lazy most all of my life.

♪ ♪ Writing songs and sleeping late.

♪ ♪ Any manual labor I've done purely by mistake.

♪ ♪ If street sweepers can smile.

♪ ♪ I've got no right to feel upset.

♪ ♪ But sometimes I still forget.

♪ ♪ Till the lights go on and the stage is set.

♪ ♪ And the song hits home and you feel that sweat.

♪ ♪ It's my job to be cleaning up this mess.

♪ ♪ And that's enough reason to go for me.

♪ ♪ It's my job to be better than the best.

♪ ♪ And that's a tough break for Mac.

♪ ♪ It's my job to be cleaning up this mess.

♪ ♪ And that's enough reason to go for me.

♪ ♪ It's my job to be better than the rest.

♪ ♪ And that makes the day for me.

♪ [cheers and applause] - Thank you.

[applause continues] Thank you, folks.

- This is kind of an unusual song in the sense that it took over a year to write.

Usually you figure out they're real bad by the time you've been working on them for six or seven months.

And if it still sounds like hell, I guess it's not really a good song.

But the problem with this one was that I kept writing.

We had the lyrics, and the lyrics were nice, and I kept writing the melody and it kept turning out to be "Happy Days Are Here Again."

(laughter) And that's kind of I've gone by the boards.

I think Roosevelt pretty much wore that one out.

(laughter) ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪ If life was like an open book.

♪ ♪ Would you dare to take a look?

♪ ♪ And could you read the final words?

♪ ♪ Or trust someone's review?

♪ ♪ And with every chapter, line, and verse.

♪ ♪ Things go from good, to bad, to worse.

♪ ♪ Or wind up like a fairytale.

♪ ♪ With nothing left to prove.

♪ ♪ You can't go back to way back when.

♪ ♪ You can't undo what you did back then.

♪ ♪ Learn to live without regrets.

♪ ♪ Hearts remember, time forgets.

♪ ♪ And all the love that's left to make.

♪ ♪ So many chances yet to take.

♪ ♪ Someday you and I will turn the page.

♪ ♪ And see things through the eyes of age.

♪ ♪♪ ♪ If love were like the open road.

♪ ♪ Would you travel it alone?

♪ ♪ Or take someone to lead you home?

♪ ♪ Or never go at all?

♪ And if we'd never met before.

♪ ♪ And passed through some revolving door.

♪ ♪ If I had never seen those eyes.

♪ ♪ No tears would ever fall.

♪ ♪ We can't go back to way back when.

♪ ♪ We can't undo what we did back then.

♪ ♪ Learn to live without regrets.

♪ ♪ Hearts remember, time forgets.

♪ ♪ And all the love we've left to make.

♪ ♪ So many chances yet to take.

♪ ♪ Someday you and I will turn the page.

♪ ♪ And see things through the eyes of age.

♪ ♪♪ ♪ Through the eyes... ♪ of age... ♪♪ ♪♪ [applause] - Thank you very much.

Thanks a lot.

[applause continues] - This is a thing that came from trying to stay up late at night as a child.

There wasn't a lot in the way of passive entertainment.

Television in northeast Mississippi, believe it or not, even still possibly leaves a little bit to be desired.

(laughter) But particularly back when I was child, there was nothing there but what was then WTWV in Tupelo, which is now WTV Alive.

But anyway, a big thing happened for me when I was about 15.

They went 24 hours a day.

That was all I needed and I figured I was pretty safe being popular the rest of my life from then on.

(laughter) But then about two weeks into that newfound bliss, I found out that WTV Alive had only got three Randolph Scott movies to run between the end of   The Tomorrow Show and the beginning of   The Today Show the next day.

And it couldn't keep me awake.

And one night after trying everything, like eating everything in the refrigerator literally trying to sit in uncomfortable positions for a while, I just ran out of every other option of keeping myself awake and wrote this song.

Sort of a creative nausea type thing.

It just sort of happened.

Just sort of fell out on the floor and then I sorted it out and later recorded it on my first album and made a little single out of it.

It was sort of a crusade for laziness that happened back in about 1976 that I was responsible for and I take full credit for it.

(laughter) Song is called "It's a Crazy World."

[applause] ♪ Younger men don't seem to need a purpose.

♪ ♪ They just stand and fight for anybody's cause.

♪ ♪ And older men see livin' as a circus.

♪ ♪ The ones who stand up for the longest need applause.

♪ ♪ From the young ones who proclaim to have the answers.

♪ ♪ To the questions no one ever asked before.

♪ ♪ And they cheer and have parades but when it's over.

♪ ♪ They don't claim to know the answers anymore.

♪ ♪ And it's a crazy world, but I live here.

♪ ♪ And if you can hear me singin', so do you.

♪ ♪ And I'm turnin' out my night light feelin' satisfied.

♪ ♪ That there's nothin' any one of us can do.

♪ ♪ Naw, there's nothin' any one of us can do.

♪ ♪♪ ♪ Babies cry all day sometimes for nothin'.

♪ ♪ And I have cried all day for not much more.

♪ ♪ Well it ain't easy when you hate the things you're lovin'.

♪ ♪ And you wonder what or maybe who you're lovin' for.

♪ ♪ And girls seem to think that they're the chosen ones.

♪ ♪ And women choose to let well enough alone.

♪ ♪ And it's their business till you stick your nose in ones.

♪ ♪ And then you've got yourself some problems of your own.

♪ ♪ And it's a crazy world, but I live here.

♪ ♪ And if you can hear me singin', so do you.

♪ ♪ And I'm turnin' out my night light feelin' satisfied.

♪ ♪ That there's nothin' any one of us can do.

♪ ♪ Naw, there's nothin' any one of us can do.

♪ ♪♪ [applause] - Oldie, there.

[applause continues] - Thank you.

[applause continues] - This came from a letter I wrote to my son one time.

♪♪ ♪ L.A., Monday, the fifth of November.

♪ ♪ Hello my sad little son.

♪ If your mama will read you the letter I sent you.

♪ ♪ I'll tell you all I've done.

♪ I left out of Nashville on a big jet plane.

♪ ♪ Out of the foothills I flew.

♪ High over Memphis in Little Rock, Arkansas.

♪ ♪ Right through a thunderstorm, too.

♪ ♪ I changed planes in Dallas, I tried to call.

♪ ♪ But I guess the phone lines were down.

♪ ♪ Then up out of Texas, clean over the desert.

♪ ♪ I landed in this big old town.

♪ ♪ You remember how you'd asked me how much I love you.

♪ ♪ I'd tell you as deep as the sea.

♪ ♪ And you'd hold your arms out as far as you could.

♪ ♪ And say, that's how much you love me.

♪ ♪ Yesterday, I drove right down to that ocean.

♪ ♪ It didn't look near deep enough.

♪ ♪ To set sail on one of your dimestore toy boats.

♪ ♪ Or hold even half of our love.

♪ ♪♪ So you be a good guy now.

Go kiss your sisters.

♪ Give another to your sweet mama, too.

♪ ♪ I'll be home as soon as I lasso the moon.

♪ ♪ 'Cause that's what I set out to do.

♪ ♪ Just remember how you'd asked me how much I love you.

♪ ♪ I'd tell you as deep as the sea.

♪ And I've seen that ocean, boy.

And it ain't deep enough.

♪ To hold how much you mean... ♪ ♪ to me.

♪♪ [applause] - Thank you.

[applause continues] - Thank you!

- Thanks y'all!

[applause continues and intensifies] - Be seated, class.

(laughter) We're gonna make Mac do the encore, because he's got the reddest hair.

(laughter) - My neck's pretty well covered, or it might come under scrutiny, too.

[applause and laughter] This little thing was written while I was mowing the yard.

It was about to rain, and I apparently began mowing at a faster than normal pace for me.

Hence, I wrote a song with a bit of a groove, which is pretty rare for me.

I don't have the original lawnmower it was written on-- (laughter) It was a record that was put out a couple of three years ago.

You might remember it.

If you'd like to pitch in, that'd be fine.

♪♪ ♪♪ ♪ Well her face was not the face of an angel.

♪ ♪ But I saw an angel.

♪ And her eyes were not the eyes of a lady.

♪ ♪ But I was looking for a lady.

♪ ♪ So I saw a lady.

♪ That said, boy get your head out of the stars above.

♪ ♪ You get the maximum pleasure from a minimum love.

♪ ♪ Save your heart and let your body be enough.

♪ ♪ To get the maximum pleasure from a minimum love.

♪ ♪ Well I knew that this was not as it should be.

♪ ♪ But then I thought how it could be.

♪ ♪ While I waited for my conscience to guide me.

♪ ♪ This voice I swore I heard inside me.

♪ ♪ It came from right beside me.

♪ ♪ It said, boy get your head out of the stars above.

♪ ♪ You get the maximum pleasure from a minimum love.

♪ ♪ Save your heart and let your body be enough.

♪ ♪ To get the maximum pleasure from a minimum love.

♪ This is where the drum solo came during the actual original yard mowing.

[laughter and applause] Then there was this part where this Mac came in and started singing and this other Mac came in and started singing.

So if either one of you guys would like to be either one of those Macs, it would save me the permanent entertainment value of making an idiotic fool out of myself trying to seeing two parts at once, which I really only can do while I'm mowing the yard.

[laughter and applause] ♪ Boy get your head out of the stars above.

♪ ♪ You get the maximum pleasure from a minimum love.

♪ ♪ Save your heart and let your body be enough.

♪ ♪ To get the maximum pleasure from a minimum love.

♪ ♪ Here we go.

♪ Boy get your head out of the stars above.

♪ ♪ You get the maximum pleasure from a minimum love.

♪ ♪ Save your heart and let your body be enough.

♪ ♪ To get the maximum pleasure from a minimum love.

♪ ♪ Boy get your head out of the stars above.

♪ ♪ You get the maximum pleasure from a minimum love.

♪ ♪ Save your heart and let your body be enough.

♪ ♪ To get the maximum pleasure from a minimum love.

♪ ♪ Boy get your head out of the stars above.

♪ ♪ You get the maximum pleasure from a minimum love.

♪ ♪ Save your heart and let your body be enough.

♪ ♪ To get the maximum pleasure from a minimum love.

♪ [applause]