Lyrics

Cleared that prison wall before the break of day.
Nodded at my family crest behind the thick patina on the gate.
Nothing to my name except bad debts and a couple worthless bids.
Give my best to Uncle Sam but not that good-for-nothing Money-hungry second wife of his, Sallie Mae.

Midway across the Quinlan dam, the sky was getting light.
Sirens faint but closing in, bloodhounds baying at those marshals out there looking for a bite.
Hemmed in, facing life without parole unless I leapt.
An easy choice between,
A burning one-way dash to God knows where with broken ankles to my left.
And Dallas, Texas to my right.

Goodbye Dallas.
Take care, Terrell State.
You can tell those kinky nurses this old cowboy’s going straight.
They can keep their molly, their bed restraints, and their urge to procreate.
They can keep Dallas. I’m cleaning up my slate.
Yes, I’m packing up and heading out today.

The doctors said to settle down and find a woman with the nerve to be my wife.
Instead I found a redhead with a mustang and a roughneck for a husband with a knife.
It wasn’t long before she called me up and said she’d really gone and cut him loose alright.
She told me we were meant to be, she’d stick with me forever,
At the very least, until the day I died.

Goodbye Dallas.
You awful gorgeous mess.
Where the debutantes and widows wear the same little black dress.
They can keep their secrets, their inheritance, and their new designer breasts.
They can keep Dallas. I’ll take my chances with the rest.
Yes, I might just finally get myself rest.

That old judge, he said to buckle down and get a job and climb that corporate ladder fast.
I started keeping watch for millionaires tormented by the ghosts of Christmas past.
I’ve borrowed too much time and money just to have to be the kind of man I hate.
The bosses might not tell you, but they’ll use and go-to-hell you, and they’ll sell you past your expiration date.

Goodbye Dallas.
Good riddance Rockbrook Drive.
You can tell those Preston Hollow slobs there’s one thing they can’t buy.
They can keep their mansions, their black Cadillacs, and their store-bought pecan pie.
They can keep Dallas. I’ll keep living my own life.

That preacher said to keep the faith and find a Pentecostal church and pay my tithe.
The closest that I came was called The Penthouse Club, and Lord I felt alive.
That praise and worship service really puts those stuffy First Assembly folks to shame.
I attended every day and Wednesday night, I saw the way, I saw the truth, I saw the neon light.
They even knew my name.

Goodbye Dallas.
Take her easy LBJ.
You can tell those Stemmons Freeway girls they can cancel the buffet.
They can keep their bodies, and their law school bills, and their pics of JFK.
They can keep Dallas. I won’t be coming in today.
No, I ain’t coming in today.

I thought if I could ever just get organized, I’d turn my life around.
I got mixed up with some old Italian racketeers who ran the whole damn town.
The fella’ I replaced, he fell from grace and went and karaoked with the DOJ.
He got mixed up in a cement truck and poured out on the steps outside the courthouse. Turned his life around a couple different ways.

Goodbye Dallas.
So long Big D.
You can tell that lower Greenville mob it’s the last they’ll hear of me.
They can keep their money, their Egyptian threads, and their guilty coffee rings.
They can keep Dallas. This Mockingbird don’t sing.
No sir, this Mockingbird don’t sing.

My momma said as long as I knew where my roots were I could weather any storm.
My old man said “You’re as stubborn as a sweetgum tree and just about as liable to reform. You’re just like me.
We’re hard enough for honkey-tonks but knotty and too crooked overall.
You know what else son?
Mother nature, she might shake us.
And the law might try to break us.
But we’ll raise a little hell before we fall.”

Goodbye Dallas.
No need for much ado.
Give my best to Sons of Hermann Hall and old Adair’s Saloon.
May they keep you honest, kept your soul alive, and your blood red, white, and blue.
Goodbye Dallas. Dallas, here’s to you.