Put on my paint clothes, then sat down to play piano How will this world ever go on without me? I got dressed for work, but then I called out How will this world ever go on without me? How will this world ever go on without me Without me to love and call it my home Heaven can wait, my work here isn't done Been praying for relief, so far I've found none Gonna cut down this wisteria, but lets wait til it blooms How will this world ever go on without me? You asked for a birthday list and I came up with a few How will this world ever go on without me? How will this world ever go on without me Without me to love and call it my home Heaven can wait, my work here isn't done Been praying for relief, so far I've found none Men who work hard like to go out and party While men who need peace are paid a good salary Women who smile and don't mind a good fight Never left their hometown but someday they might How will this world ever go on without me Without me to love and call it my home Heaven can wait, my work here isn't done Been praying for relief, so far I've found none Put on new wipers and started praying for rain How will this world ever go on without me? Wish I could sing it pretty but I'd be too proud if I could How will this world ever go on without me?

Well there’s too many outlaws singing about coal Posting pictures of cabins from the newest iPhone I was never a coal miner, neither was my dad His’n weren’t either, I ain’t sure after that I’m seeing a lot of old boys paid a lot for their jeans Track the patina on their work boots and have beard care routines Now I grew up on a mountain, I’m pretty sure we were poor I never heard any of you bragging about how country you were And I have a bad memory but it seems like I recall You pumping up your Reeboks when we’d play tetherball It’s still fun to strike a pose, I can understand that But why’d you end up on eBay to buy your papaw’s old hat And I’m glad you’re getting lucky in Kentucky A place where we still shop at the Richmond Mall And we still cruise old cars around the courthouse And the Wildcats are still the biggest thrill of all I’ve known a lot of older men who you couldn’t tell ‘em nothing They go and go and go while everybody says they shouldn’t And this one named Gatewood Galbraith is the first who comes to mind He said let’s leave the tops on mountains, be the first to legalize But the proper folks got nervous and the nervous folks got scared They thought he was a hippie even though he had short hair I’ve known a couple city boys who you couldn’t tell ‘em nothing They talk and talk and talk while everybody says they shouldn’t This one named Calipari came to town and started winning 
 Lit the comment section up, kept the white haired ladies grinning But I’d still take Adolph Rupp and maybe Richie Farmer too These local boys can shoot the three and stick around a year or two And I’m glad you’re getting lucky in Kentucky A place where we still shop at the Peddler's Mall And we still cruise old cars to the ball game And the Wildcats are still the biggest thrill of all All the oil pumps have stopped, coal chutes don’t make a sound It’s hard enough to make a dime when it ain’t buried in the ground Yeah there’s money in the ground, but it’s got to be unburied Married girl wished she was single, single girl wished she was married And I understand them both I swear I really, really do I don’t live there anymore, it don’t mean I don’t want to Nobody’s left to farm tobacco, I guess there ain’t no money in it All the barns are leaning over some old car that still needs fixing But the mountains are still singing and they’re screaming in the fall You can fly around the curves blasting country music all day Daylight comes and goes as you drive between the trees If she’s sitting in the middle shift to fourth between her knees And I’m glad you’re getting lucky in Kentucky A place where we still shop at the Richmond Mall And we still cruise old cars down Main Street And the Wildcats are still the biggest thrill of all

I’m hanging out the window Yelling to my dad You had it there before Try moving it back Shut the window son It’s freezing in this house We’re tuning CBS ma So I can’t close it now In the eastern Appalachians It was tobacco farms and coal But down every gravel driveway A backboard and a goal You can’t trust New York But winning speaks real loud And when everyone else quit A few good ones stuck around I know the preachers tell us Hate kills and destroys So I’m trying to forgive The way they done our boys You may hear from some old-timers There’s a few times in life When a man can be excused If he can’t help but cry I’m laying there defeated Looking at my dad We had it there before But then they took it back When he turned the TV off It was silent in that room If emptiness could kill The whole state would be a tomb Mama I’m just lying here I can’t catch my breath It feels like a full grown man is stepping on my chest

From underneath the rug crawled a little-bitty bug She met it with a scream and I met it with a shrug Gotta listen to my wife, bud, gotta take your life, bud I didn’t feel a thing but I had to clean my shoe some That night I went to bed thinking, “It was either him or me.” I hope he understands I’m just doing what I’m told I didn’t want to hurt you, friend, but I’m trying to be bolder I know I learned a lesson, things won’t be the same I even retroactively have given you a name I’m not ready to say sorry, I wish you were here to take half the blame My, my, my when you look up to the sky And laugh ‘cause it’s all you can do By the time you realize you ain’t got to worry Let’s hope it ain’t too late for you, my friend Let’s hope it ain’t too late for you Things were going good, I was learning how not to be rude Yessir, nosir, please ma’am, thank you for the food, ma’am Thank you for the invite to this fancy dinner I appreciate your graciousness toward this lowly sinner When I’m back this way again I’ll take you up on stopping in again real soon Driving home smiling, things were going right finally But in the back of my head kept hearing, “how d'you do, Ms. Wiley?” Gotta shut that thinking out and keep this momentum going Gotta smile, shave my neck, and somehow keep my teeth from showing When I got home there was a note said, “everyone’s out of your league except for me.” My, my, my when you hear the whole story And laugh, cause the story ain’t true By the time you realize you’ve been hearing only lies Lets hope it ain't too late for you, my friend It might just be too late for you My boss called me in, said you’ve been hiding in your office Didn’t know just what to say so I just went back to my office And I sat there in my chair and I spun myself around And I smiled to myself about the thought that I had found Then I got back on the internet and read some more descriptions of used boats Staring at the wall and staring at a monitor I should be cutting grass or an elementary school janitor I could buy a little house on a little piece of land Put this phone away and pay attention to my kids When I left I found my boss said, “Have a good one, sir, I’ll see you next week.” Calm down, sir, it looks like you’re in a hurry But just what are you hurrying to? By the time you realize what you’ve done with all your life Let’s hope it ain’t too late for you, my friend Let’s hope it ain’t too late for you Gotta listen to my heart and listen to my health I’m still looking pretty good if I do say so myself Overestimate the power of my good intentions No more Little Debbies while I’m focused on nutrition And I’m fasting for a day and cutting soda and I’m eating less red meat Gotta mow the lawn and pick the kids up from your mom’s And yes I’ll drop them off at school then go to Costco for new shoes And I’m admitting when I’m wrong and we’re plugging right along And I’m standing at my desk maybe meditating wrong It’s getting to the point where I can’t even tell the weekend from the week Traffic lights, stop signs, and blaring on their horns And understanding algebra and drawing unicorns Take me to the ball game, take me out to lunch Keep all of your fluids changed and remember to be fun And remember to say sorry even if it’s not your fault And take a little time to put an iron on your shirt I’m running out of time to understand what you are saying Please don’t call me that, no you know that I’m just playing Button your coat up, don’t put the heat down Don’t make me repeat it, can you please just do it now And I know you heard me tell you, you just probably forgot Like you always do you never do anything I want My, my, my, when you look up at the sky It wasn’t only made for you I never said it was, I’m just trying to get by I’m not trying to be better than you, oh boy I’m not trying to be better than you

I found him sitting down in a closet with his head in his hands He’d been a good while without it, but now he’d done it again Staring at the truth with a lie on his breath He started to laugh and said look at this mess But one thing you should know One thing you should know We’re thicker than lottery dust We’re thicker than the lottery dust under his nails One night he got wild and screamed at everybody we know Raging, stumbling, and chemically out of control It wouldn’t be the last time and it wasn’t the first I helplessly watched and prepared for the worst I wonder why I wonder why If he falls he can fall on me Many people have wondered and many have shaken their heads And pointed to others who I should’ve loved instead Sometimes things get better, but mostly they don’t Maybe I could be smarter but I can tell you I won’t Some things can’t change Some things can't change I’ve seen him when the chips start to fall Some songs are pretty when the volume is turned down real low And some songs get better when you crank it just as loud as she’ll go A painting looks better when you stand far away And the cover of a book hides the words it will say One thing’s still true One thing's still true We’re thicker than the lottery dust We're thicker than the lottery dust We're thicker than the lottery dust On the floorboard of his car

Gonna raise my own chickens Gonna raise my own goats Gonna plant me a garden Gonna build me a boat Gonna leave this old job And all these folks that I know Gonna build me a fence Around my little home And if I have a neighbor Gonna chop her some wood Gonna stack it in her shed Stack it real neat and good Gonna find me a cave Go way back inside Light a fire on the stove Keep me real warm and dry Chop wood in the summer Stack it up in the fall Burn it all winter ‘til that wood’s all gone Gonna cut me some poles Lean them up on a tree And when that cold wind blows Well it won’t blow on me

There’s a spot upon a hill in Kentucky That the sun touches first each day With a cross and a lake and some things we can’t shake And some things that will not fade away We’d drive a van down a long, curvy road But that was a long time ago Nobody could say where we’d been at all day Or tell of that curvy back road We used to walk through the woods to the point And play three on three every night How quickly we ran to what we didn’t understand And go to bed as it’d start to get light But tonight we’ll sing of the good times Of Tapestry, Harvest, and Blue We’ll laugh til we cry or we just forget why We’ll sing of the good times tonight We’d treat the sun like it would never go down And the grass like it never would brown The way I treated you, well I never knew All the things I'd wish I could say now There’s a spot up on the rocks in Kentucky That holds memories of long summer days Where I carved my name and you did yours the same But they’ve been lost to the wind and the rain Will I see you one day in your glory? Our names were written there at one time Some people say that they can’t be erased We will know in that sweet by and by Tonight, oh tonight, we’ll sing of the good times We’ll only remember the good times tonight But the nights, they never last, when tomorrow comes I don’t know why I miss you tonight I don’t know why I miss you tonight One day we will drink from the fountain Whose waters will never run dry Then we will wade in and have our final swim In the waters that can never run dry

Hank Gathers was born in a drug addled town Where the colors you chose were for life Raymond Rosen projects: chainlink, concrete, and weeds Where he played basketball under street lights He grew strong and tall, maybe the strongest of all And he’d test it every time that he could He was gentle but proud and he’d fight til he won Each time he stepped on the hardwood But a time bomb was ticking inside of his chest Which he ignored until the doctors said no The Inderal slowed him down like nothing else could He felt sluggish, and sloppy, and slow Hank couldn’t have that, at least not in March So he skipped doses that he’d desperately need And he rose up again back to his dominant self Back came his stamina, his strength, and his speed Then in a game on a Sunday with Lucille looking on His rhythm went out of control He collapsed at half court, said "I don’t want to lay down" And the murmurs from the crowd went real low Did they have to show it? His collapse on TV Did they really need to show it once more? Shuddering, gasping, and struggling to breathe Turn it off, ma, I can’t stand it no more Well your little orphaned boy he still needs his dad Jeff and Bo, well, they also need you You didn’t have to keep fighting and pushing yourself We’d have loved you on the sidelines too Some people look back and wish things weren’t the same And wonder just what might’ve been But you fell down and died on that shiny wood court Now you’ll never have to wonder like them So was it worth it, my friend, to go out like you did With your mother, your coach, and your team I wonder what you’d say now if you could do it again Would you still risk it all for the dream? Oh my dear, dear, Lucille, honey please don’t cry Oh Lucille, it’ll all be okay Oh my dear, dear, Lucille, stay strong my dear You know Hank would've had it that way

Yesterday I went outside Saw the stars up in the sky Half the moon was shining bright Please Please don’t let this fall apart There’s too many ruined hearts We can give it a new start I’ll Understand just what this is Acting like we are just kids There no way I’m doing this Make time Late last night I came inside Locked the door, shut out the night Under our door I still saw light Please

There’s a feeling that I get when I’m alone It’s not loneliness or guilt for things I’ve done It’s how easily things can come undone End up alone I can’t say I even always tried my best There were good and better days, then all the rest But when I was there how could I have known That love is slow Like a bird is in the air Like how roots push into the ground Like a branch is in the vine Like how light doesn’t make a sound It’s a dark and winding path that has been laid But there’s a light that shines and will not fade If you lose the light remember what you know You’re not alone Like a bird is in the air Like how roots push into the ground Like a branch is in the vine Like how light doesn’t make a sound On a cloudy day last week I thought of this How the good times make it worth the times we miss And the love I have for you cannot be slowed Oh may you know That the love I have for you will only grow Oh may you know