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“Americana story collection that mixes nostalgia and humor, tales of moonshine, horses, and coyotes, and observations of modern life in a small American town.”
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Click a title to jump to lyrics
She’s My Super Power
Starlight Drive-In Saturday Night
Tell Me Where It Hurts
Waltzes When She Runs
Still a Small Town to Me
Charlie and Chloe
She’s More Connected
Whiskey Hill
Good Souls
Now It’s A Taqueria
She’s My Super Power
Blame it on the comics
I read when I was a kid
Waiting for something to happen when it already did
That would make me special
Then I realized
I’m all grown up and she’s looking me in the eyes
I don’t leap tall buildings
I don’t see through walls
Not faster than a bullet
I barely run at all
I got a secret weapon hidden up my sleeve
She’s my superpower she’s all I need
She’s my superpower she’s all I need
I don’t look like much, but there’s nothing that I can’t do
Just need a woman has a little faith in you
Picks me up when I’m down
Keeps me warm on a cold, cold night
And when I have my doubts
She tell me it’ll be all right
I don’t leap tall buildings
I don’t have X-ray eyes
Can’t outrun a bullet
I don’t wear a disguise
I got a secret weapon hidden up my sleeve
She’s my superpower she’s all I need
She’s my superpower she’s all I need
She keeps family close and always says grace
Reminds me life’s is a trip it’s not a race
She’s kind as an angel – and tough as a jungle cat
She’s standing at my side – she always has my back
I don’t leap tall buildings
I don’t see through walls
Not faster than a bullet
I barely run at all
I got a secret weapon hidden up my sleeve
She’s my superpower she’s all I need
She’s my superpower she’s all I need
Starlight Drive-In Saturday Night
I played on the swings ‘til it got dark
Found where mom and dad had parked
Settled into my jammies all warm and tight
Started out with a few cartoons – caught the rising of the moon
Starlight Drive-In Saturday Night
Back in 1953 my hometown made history
With the county’s only outdoor movie screen
You don’t see drive-ins now at all
They’re parking lots and shopping malls
But back then it was quite a scene
A gravel lot, a movie screen, standing in the dark
Roll down your window – hang a speaker on your car
Your paid by the carload, stop and hit your lights
Starlight Drive-in Saturday Night
When high school weekends rolled around – We’d head in with half the town
And a couple of friends in the trunk hidden out of sight
The social scene of the town’s who’s who
The rest of us, we went too
Starlite Drive-In Saturday Night
A gravel lot, a movie screen, standing in the dark
Stagger from the snack bar try to find your car
Steamy windows every now and then a fight
Starlite Drive-In Saturday Night
Starlite Drive-In Saturday Night
They tore it down in ’92
Our hanging out days they were through
I don’t what kids do these days for fun
But on that site, you know what’s cool?
They built the Starlight Grammar School
That’s the only hip thing this town has ever done
A gravel lot, a movie screen, standing in the dark
Drive off with a speaker waive at the guard
If I could go back in time I just might
Starlite Drive-In Saturday Night
Starlite Drive-In Saturday Night
Starlite Drive-In Saturday Night
Tell Me Where It Hurts
We used to laugh when our mom and our dad
Got together with our uncles and aunts
And talked about nothing but their aches and pains
Laughing at my elders always caused a fuss
Now the kids are laughing at us
‘cause me and my friends we’re talking ‘bout the same danged thing
Tell me where it hurts
I’ll tell you if I feel worse
We’re sharing a little common ground
Life goes on when the parts break down
I’ll get my wife – she carries aspirin in her purse
Tell me
Tell me where it hurts
Eyesight’s the first thing that goes
We can still read books if they’re not too close
And there’s metal and plastic where body parts used to be
Memory it goes next
After that I kinda forget
Hey…has anybody seen my keys?
Tell me where it hurts
I’ll tell you if I feel worse
We’re sharing a little common ground
Life goes on when the parts break down
We’ll get my wife she has Naproxin in her purse
Tell me
Tell me where it hurts
And when I get up all I can say is:
“Ooooh – ooh – ooh – ooh”
“Ooh – ooh – Ooh”
So join the group come have a seat
When you’re through we’ll help you back on your feet
We’re a supportive community
Time’s got a funny way of sweet revenge
But it’s a long road before this all ends
And no one said we had to go down gracefully
Tell me where it hurts
I’ll tell you if I feel worse
We’re sharing a little common ground
Life goes on when the parts break down
We’ll get my wife she has Vicodin in her purse
Tell me…
Tell me…
Tell me…
Tell me where it hurts
Waltzes When She Runs
Zara’s a beauty her mane in the wind
Runs a 1-2-3-4 tempo and then
I try to keep up, but she’s out of my reach
It’s just like a dance when’s going at speed
She waltzes when she runs
Think I lost her again in the sun
If I had four legs, I’d run like she does
She waltzes when she runs
She was raised in the desert until she was four
Now she’s waist deep in water out here on the shore
In this part of the bay where the north tide comes in
You tell her to “gallop” she’s going again
Zara’s a thoroughbred 15 hands high
Kicking up sand as she passes me by
Watching her rhythm is watching a dream
She goes 1-2-3, 1-2-3, 1-2-3, 1-2-3
If reincarnation holds any truth
When I come ‘round again, here’s what I’d like to do
I’ll pray for good kharma, and if fate’s on my side
And come back as a horse running three-quarter time
She waltzes when she runs
Think I lost her again in the sun
If I had four legs, I’d run like she does
She waltzes when she runs
Yeah she waltzes when she runs
Still a Small Town to Me
It’s still a small town to me
Still a small town to me
You can pack in your malls, put up your walls
But it’s still a small town to me
I was having doubts about the place where I live
I felt like the city was closing me in
Too tired to move away and start over again
I saw a lot of reasons to leave
Our quaint little main street is eight lanes wide
Condos and town homes are still on the rise
People pining for the days gone by
But it’s still a small town to me
It’s still a small town to me
Still a small town to me
You can pack in your malls, put up your walls
But it’s still a small town to me
There’s a few less fields and a few more homes
We’re trucking in produce from Mexico
What they spray on that stuff, man I don’t wanna know
But a kid’s gotta eat
It’s still a small town to me
Still a small town to me
You can pack in your malls, put up your walls
But it’s still a small town to me
But there’s a flea market now every Sunday ‘til 3:00
The Fox reopened on lower Main Street
Taylor’s Chili Dog stand went back to their old recipe
That’s the kind of progress we need
It’s too easy to sit and complain
You drag in 20 more Starbucks one thing’ll never change
This is Steinbeck country it gets in your veins
You can’t kill it with concrete and paint
It’s the place where I met the girl of my dreams
Been married for years – we just hit seventeen
Honestly friends, what more do you need?
There’s no place I’d rather be
It’s still a small town to me
Still a small town to me
You can pack in your malls, put up your walls
Take a look down underneath it all
In south county we’re having a ball
But it’s still a small town to me
Yeah it’s still a small town to me
“Si, es un pequeño pueblo a mí”
It’s still a small town to me
Charlie and Chloe
Charlie lost his parents when they were hunting sheep
Ranchers in Wyoming they got livestock to keep
Charlie found their doorstep just an orphan coyote pup
They did her best to raise him and show him a little love
Chloe she’s a hound dog raised to round a herd
Chases anything that moves you just say the word
When humans are around, Charlie hides out in the rough
But Chloe loves attention can never enough
Two sides of the evolutionary track
She’s built for domesticity he was born to watch his back
Chloe’s out each morning surveying with her nose
Charlie he’s not far behind her anywhere she goes
Since hanging out with Chloe, Charlie’s acting less remote
And since listening to Charlie, Chloe barks like a coyote
Two sides of the evolutionary track
She’s built for domesticity he was born to watch his back
Charlie’s not a pet Chloe isn’t wild
But they’ve found some common ground between the two
Charlie doesn’t fetch Chloe never hides
They’ve got their roles and they both know exactly what they’re s’posed to do
Two dogs in Wyoming but they’re like day and night Chloe’s a social butterfly Chuck’s the solitary type Wish I was wired as simple as a canine’s DNA Then I’d know when to wag my tail or instead just run away
Two sides of the evolutionary track
She’s built for domesticity he was born to watch his back
Two sides of the evolutionary track
She’s built for domesticity he was born to watch his back
She’s More Connected
“I should have been born,” she said “in 1943”
“I like black and white movies and I don’t watch TV”
“I don’t text – I don’t chat I don’t see any reason why”
“If I want talk I’ll sit and look you in the eye”
Don’t call her on the phone
Until she’s back at home
Can’t leave a message there’s no machine
She’s more connected
Than you or me
“I love to talk to my grandparents I always find the time”
“They got stories to tell you’ll never hear online”
“There’s a twinkle in their eyes you won’t see on a screen”
“There’s no app for that their eyes say everything”
She needs someone real
Who she can touch and she can feel
That’s all her social network has to be
We keep in touch with people half a world away
But when we’re in the same room we don’t know what to say
Virtual acquaintances that we mistake for friends
When will it end when will it end?
“I should have been born,” she said, “when we had time to breathe”
“When we weren’t so dependent on this technology”
Call her old fashioned
She might be ahead of the curve
I say we could use a lot more like her
She’s more connected
She’s more connected
She’s more connected
Than you or me
Then you or me
Then you or me
Whiskey Hill
Billy’s dad made whisky in his old granddaddy’s still
A family tradition behind their cabin on the hill
Just Billy and his daddy, his mom already gone
Them doctor bills done ‘em in, dad sold most the farm
They made a crop like anyone else, coulda been corn or wheat
Used copper tubes and firewood instead of sowing seeds
They’d come to town ‘bout once a month, buy sugar from the mill
Get back to work out on the place folks called Whiskey Hill
Never took to farming, found a way to pay the bills
With fire, corn and sugar, and a rusty metal still
People came from miles around, ‘til they got their fill
Some folks never made it down…
…down from Whisky Hill
This was after prohibition, you could pick up beer and wine
But a Saturday trip up Whisky Hill became ritual in time
Business was booming, the family couldn’t lose
Billy knew the time had come to break his dad the news
Billy helped his daddy, but he never touched the stuff
Moonshine done his grandpa in, he’d seen enough
He was headed for the army, come back on the G.I. Bill
Go to school and find a life, down from Whiskey Hill
Never took to farming, found a way to pay the bills
With fire, corn and sugar, and a rusty metal still
People came from miles around, ‘til they got their fill
Some folks never made it down…
…down from Whisky Hill
Billy was headed out the door when it was time to leave that day
Saw his daddy passed out by the still, and couldn’t turn away
His dad looked like his grandpa, when his grandpa’d taken ill
Helped him back inside the house up on Whisky Hill
Billy took his bags, dropped ‘em on the floor
Shook his head at daddy and wandered out the door
He was stranded here awhile, alone with that old still
Didn’t stop to think, he took a drink up on Whisky Hill
One drink led to another and one year led to two
Never made the army, never went to school
He took over daddy’s work, after daddy died
But it was only Billy pouring shine on Saturday night
The town lost track of Billy, up there in the wilderness
Moonshine’s day was over, except for him I guess
Everyone has their demons; it was alcohol took Bill
A family tradition up on whisky hill
Good Souls
They love you the most on the day you arrive
And again on the day that you leave
As move along just sing a song
For the good times that come in-between
I don’t know how much time that we get
But every new day means it ain’t over yet
I’ve seen too many good souls slip through my hands
Why they couldn’t stay I don’t understand
It’s a short life we’re living all I can say
Is thank God for the good souls who’ve stumbled my way
Wedding and funerals that’s when we meet
And catch up with family and friends
But life it kicks in and we’re off again
Like a race that never will end
It’s over too soon too much of the time
They’re lifted up we’re left behind
I’ve seen too many good souls slip through my hands
Why they couldn’t stay I don’t understand
It’s a short life we’re living all I can say
Is thank God for the good souls who’ve stumbled my way
I know they’ll be waiting if I make it too
In the meantime I’ll just try to give ‘em their due
And be a good soul to everyone best as I can
And then maybe one day we’ll meet up again
I’ve seen too many good souls slip through my hands
Why they couldn’t stay I don’t understand
It’s a short life we’re living all I can say
Is thank God for the good souls…
Thank God for the good souls…
God bless for the good souls…
…who’ve stumbled my way
Now It’s A Taqueria
The Italian place up on the west side
We used to go every Friday night
Linguini, Gnochi, the best you could get
But the building changed hands and the menu reset
The pasta’s gone – it’s tortillas instead
Same goes for the garlic bread
Threw out the wine list – they’re pouring sangria
Now it’s a taqueria
Now it’s a taqueria
The Thai restaurant – that place was nice
Thom Kau Gai and pineapple rice
Wonderful service, we loved the staff
But the owners left town and they never looked back
You can grab a burrito if you’re in a hurry
Say goodbye to the spicy red curry
Pork dumplings are out – we order carnitas
Now it’s a taqueria
Now it’s a taqueria
I’ll eat habanero as much as I’m able
I love guacamole made there at your table
But choices have limits in our little town
They ran one cuisine straight into the ground
By now you’re hungry – I see it on your face
If you’re looking for options, you’re in the wrong place
The food here it’s good, but there’s only one kind
If you want Greek or Indian you’re wasting your time
But if you like pozole or hand-rolled tortillas
Fresh chile verde from homegrown tomatillos
Pick any restaurant – I know where I’ll see ya
Now it’s a taqueria
Now it’s a taqueria
Now it’s a taqueria
Now it’s a taqueria
Now it’s a taqueria
Now it’s a taqueria
All songs written by Michael Gaither copyright MaryLou Tunes/ASCAP except “She’s More Connected,” by Michael Gaither and Steve Kritzer. All Rights Reserved.