Songwriters From The United States

"Crying, waiting, hoping, that you'll come back. I just can't seem to get you off my mind. Crying, waiting, hoping, that you'll come back. You're the one I love and I think about you all the time."

"You recall a girl that's been in nearly every song? This is what I heard of course the story could be wrong.She's the one — I've been told Now she's wearing a band of gold. Peggy Sue got married not long ago."

"Sometimes we'll sigh — sometimes we'll cry And we'll know why just you and I know true love ways."

"It's so easy to fall in love — it's so easy to fall in love. People tell me love is for fools, So here I go breaking all of the rules."

"Every fool has a rainbow But he never seems to find The reward that should be waiting At the end of the line. But he'll give up a bed of roses For a hammock filled with thorns And go chasing after rainbows Every time a dream is born. And every fool has a rainbow That only he can see Every fool has a rainbow And the rule applies to me."

"Aside from Johnny Cash, Haggard is probably the name that most comes up when naming the greatest country singers of all time. Haggard is certainly one of the most celebrated artists ever and one of the most diverse songwriters, laying the country blueprints for love songs, storytelling and social anthems."

"Fellow Bakersfield sound pioneer and ’70s-era Outlaw country co-founder Merle Haggard scored an astonishing 34 No. 1 hit singles, from “I’m a Lonesome Fugitive” [in 1966] to “Twinkle, Twinkle Lucky Star” [in 1987]. Like Owens, Haggard played with a loud, bright and twangy Telecaster tone and was backed up in the Strangers by an exceedingly adept pair of Telecaster masters (Roy Nichols and, later, Redd Volkaert)."

"He cultivated an appreciation of musicians that seemed more appropriate to a jazz bandleader. … Even more arresting than the band was Haggard’s phrasing, which contradicted almost every precedent. Clear-toned, sinuous and shockingly free of twang and vocal affectation, Haggard sang with a sensitivity that bordered on tenderness. … Haggard has long referred to his music as “country jazz,” and is the only country musician to have appeared on the cover of Down Beat, the definitive jazz publication. Over the years, he has developed a definition of the term that reflects his nostalgia for a moment in history that preceded genres, when figures like Emmett Miller, Milton Brown and Django Reinhardt seemed to draw out of the air a music that defied classification. “I realized that jazz meant that you could play anything,” says Haggard. “It meant that you were a full-fledged musician, that you could play with Louis Armstrong or Johnny Cash.”"

"I had different views in the '70s. As a human being, I've learned… I have more culture now. I was dumb as a rock when I wrote 'Okie from Muskogee'. That's being honest with you at the moment, and a lot of things that I said … I sing with a different intention now. My views on marijuana have totally changed. I think we were brainwashed and I think anybody that doesn't know that needs to get up and read and look around, get their own information. It's a cooperative government project to make us think marijuana should be outlawed."

"Look at the past 25 years — we went downhill, and if people don't realize it, they don't have their fucking eyes on. In 1960, when I came out of prison as an ex-convict, I had more freedom under parolee supervision than there's available to an average citizen in America right now. I mean, there was nobody going to throw you down on the side of the road spread-eagled, and look up your butt for a fucking marijuana cigarette. God almighty, what have we done to each other?"

"One of these days when the air clears up And the sun come shining through We'll all be drinking free bubble up And eating some rainbow stew."

"When the world wide war is over and done And the dream of peace comes through We'll all be drinking some free bubble up And eating some rainbow stew."

"I've lived through 17 stays in penal institutions. Incarceration in a penitentiary. Five marriages, a bankruptcy, a broken back, brawls, shooting incidents, swindlings, sickness, the death of loved ones and more. I've heard tens of thousands chant my name when I couldn't hear the voice of my own soul. I wondered if God was listening and I was sure no one else was."

"I'm proud to be an Okie from Muskogee, A place where even squares can have a ball. We still wave Old Glory down at the courthouse, And white lightnin's still the biggest thrill of all."

"We don’t smoke marijuana in Muskogee We don’t take our trips on LSD We don’t burn our draft cards down on Main Street We like living right and being free."

"Today I started loving you again I'm right back where I've really always been; I got over you just long enough to let my heartache mend, Then today I started loving you again."

"And the plaster dented from your fist in the hall where you had your first kiss reminds you that the memories will fade."

"Walking away, it's not the same as running, is it to you now, that you've run this in the ground?"

"How the girls could turn to ghosts before your eyes And the very dreams that led to them are keeping them from dying And how the grace with which she walked into your life Will stay with you in your steps, And pace with you a while So long, so long."

"Cause now that I can see you, I don't think you're worth a second glance. So much for all the promises you made, they served you well and now you're gone and they're wasted on me. So much for your endearing sense of charm, it served you well and now it's gone and you're wasted on me."

"And breath, deeply from this envelope, it smells like you, and I, cant be, without that scent, its filling me, with all you mean to me"

"Do you, do you like dreaming of things so impossible or only the practical or ever the wild or waiting through all your bad bad days just to end them with someone you care about and do you like making out and long drives and brown eyes and guys that just don't quite fit in"

"I'll be true, I'll be useful... I'll be cavalier...I'll be yours my dear. and I'll belong to you... if you'll just let me through. this is easy as lovers go, so don't complicate it by hesitating. and this is wonderful as loving goes, this is tailor-made, whats the sense in waiting?"

"Please tell me you're just feeling tired cause if it's more than that I feel that I might break"

"Well As for now I'm gonna hear the saddest songs And sit alone and wonder How you're making out But as for me, I wish that I was anywhere with anyone Making out."

"A lot of celebrities...shouldn't [talk politics]... They're pretty out of touch with the common person, the everyday guy out there providing for their family."

"It's easy to work with Mark. He doesn't complain, he shows up, does his job and he's easygoing. But the main reason I keep wanting him to get hired is he has some pictures of me with a farm animal! [Clooney's pet potbellied pig Max] I've had him for almost 14 years — my longest relationship to date."

"It's weird; I've been to prison, I've seen the worst sort of violence and negative shit in the streets, but when it comes to putting my heart on the line and letting somebody get to know me in a relationship, it's very difficult."

"It's all going to go sometime. You can't take it with you. I'm not saying you should wake up every day with sunshine streaming out of your head. If I could get one day a month, I would be very grateful. But I don't want to sound like I'm complaining. I'm just figuring certain things out. It's taken me a while, and some things I could probably do without knowing."

"I've been on my own for a number of years now, but I've also found myself very alone. My family looks at me differently now, and that's the hardest thing to deal with, because you want to go home and be the person that you used to be. Obviously, I'm 28 years old and I can't go home and just be my mum's little baby."

"I just fell into the acting thing as kind of an accident."

"Not counting you I've never had a heartache. Not counting you I never have been blue. There's no exceptions to the rule; I've never been nobody's fool. I've never lost at love not counting you."

"[Brooks] is the blueprint for the modern country star. There is no Kenny Chesney, Luke Bryan, Jason Aldean or Tim McGraw without Garth Brooks, who brought country music to stadiums. Brooks has sold more records than just about anyone and is most responsible for the genre’s mainstream boom."

"On a prayer, In a song, I hear your voice, And it keeps me hanging on. Oh, raining down, against the wind, I'm reaching out, 'Till we reach the circle's end. When you come back to me again."

"For that river of red could be the death of me. God, give me strength and keep reminding me That blood is thicker than water. Oh, but love is thicker than blood.And if blood is thicker than water, Then what are we fighting for? We're all sons and daughters Of something that means so much more."

"And what they don't see, Is what is killing me. It's blessing and a curse That love is blind."

"The thunder rolls, And the lightnin' strikes. Another love grows cold On a sleepless night. As the storm blows on Out of control, Deep in her heart The thunder rolls."

"And the white line's getting longer and the saddle's getting cold. I'm much too young to feel this damn old. All my cards are on the table with no ace left in the hole, I'm much too young to feel this damn old."

"If tomorrow never comes, Will she know how much I loved her? Did I try in every way to show her every day That she's my only one? And if my time on earth were through, And she must face the world without me, Is the love I gave her in the past Gonna be enough to last? If tomorrow never comes."

"In another's eyes I'm afraid that I can't see This picture perfect portrait that they paint of me. They don't realize and I pray they never do, 'Cause every time I look I'm seein' you In another's eyes."

"After seven years of marriage, He wanted out. Now after seven months of freedom, It's clear that there's no doubt.She's gonna make it, And he never will. He's at the foot of the mountain, And she's over that hill. He's sinkin' at sea, And her sails are filled. She's gonna make it, And he never will."

"She's anything but typical; She's so unpredictable. Oh but even at her worst it ain't that bad. She's as real as real can be And she's every fantasy. Lord she's every lover that I've ever had. And she's every lover that I've never had."

"It's midnight Cinderella time that you should know, There's gonna be some changes in the way this story goes. It's midnight Cinderella but don't you worry none, 'Cause I'm Peter Peter the Pumpkin Eater And the party's just begun."

"He was up in Wyoming, And drew a bull no man could ride. He promised her he'd turn out, Well it turned out that he lied. And their dreams that they'd been livin', In the California sand, Died right there beside him in Cheyenne."

"He asked her twice to come along; They said good-bye at the break of dawn. 'Cause you can't hold back the wind, If it's meant to be again, Then someday he'll find his way back to her arms."

"Moonlight on canvas, midnight and wine, Two shadows starting to softly combine. The picture they're painting Is one of the heart; And to those who have seen it, It's a true work of art.Oh, the red strokes, Passions uncaged; Thundering moments of tenderness rage. Oh, the red strokes, Tempered and strong (Fearlessly drawn), Burning the night like the dawn."

"Ain't going down 'til the sun comes up; Ain't givin' in 'til they get enough. Going 'round the world in a pickup truck, Ain't goin' down 'til the sun comes up."

"Standing outside the fire; Standing outside the fire. Life is not tried, it is merely survived If you're standing outside the fire."

"She had a need to feel the thunder, To chase the lightning from the sky, To watch a storm with all its wonder Written in her lover's eyes. She had to ride the heat of passion Like a comet burning bright, Rushing headlong in the wind Now where only dreams have been, Burning both ends of the night."

"Somewhere other than the night She needs to hear I love you. Somewhere other than the night She needs to know you care. She wants to know she's needed, She needs to be held tight Somewhere other than the night."