Texas In My Rear View Mirror

I was just fifteen and outta control

Lost to James Dean and rock and roll

I knew down deep in my country soul

That I had to get away

Hollywood was a lady in red

Who danced in my dreams

As I tossed in bed

I knew I'd wind up

In jail or dead

If I had to stay

I thought happiness

Was Lubbock, Texas

In my rear view mirror

My momma kept calling me home

But I just did not want to hear her

And the vision was getting clearer

In my dreams

So I laid out one night in June

Stoned on the glow of the Texas moon

Humming an old Buddy Holly tune

Called Peggy Sue

With my favorite jeans

And a cheap guitar

I ran off chasing a distant star

If Buddy Holly could make it that far

I figured I could too

And I thought happiness

Was Lubbock, Texas

In my rear view mirror

My momma kept calling me home

But I just did not want to hear her

And the vision was getting clearer

In my dreams

But the Hollywood moon didn't

Smile the same old smile

That I'd grown up with

The lady in red

Just wanted my last dime

And I cried myself to sleep at night

Too dumb to run, too scared to fight

And too proud to admit it at the time

So I got me some gigs on Saturday nights

Not much more than orchestrated fights

I'd come home drunk and I'd try to write

But the words came out wrong

Hell bent and bound for a wasted youth

Too much gin and not enough vermouth

And no one to teach me

How to seek the truth

Before I put it into song

I still thought happiness

Was Lubbock, Texas

In my rear view mirror

My momma kept calling me home

But I just could not, would not hear her

And the vision was getting clearer

In my dreams

Well, I thank God each and every day

For giving me the music and words to say

I'd-a never made it any other way

He was my only friend

Now I sleep a little better at night

When I look in the mirror

In the morning light

The man I see was both wrong and right

He's going home again

I guess happiness was Lubbock, Texas

In my rear view mirror

But now happiness is Lubbock, Texas

Growing nearer and dearer

And the vision is getting clearer

In my dreams

And I think I finally know

Just what it means

And when I die you can bury me

In Lubbock, Texas, in my jeans