James McMurtry - Levelland lyrics

rate me

Flatter than a table top

Makes you wonder why they stopped here

Wagon must have lost a wheel

Or they lacked ambition one

In the great migration west

Separated from the rest

Though they might have tried their best

They never caught the sun

So they sunk some roots down in this dirt

To keep from blowin' off the earth

Built a town right here

When the dust had all but cleared

They called it Levelland

Levelland

Levelland

Grand dad grew the dry land wheat

Stood on his own two feet

His mind got incomplete

And they put him in a home

Daddy's cotton grows so high

Sucks the water table dry

His rolling sprinklers circle back

Bleeding it to the bone

And I won't be here when it comes the day

It all dries up and blows away

I'd hang around just to see

But they never had much use for me

In Levelland

They don't understand me

In Levelland

Well I watch those ships trails comin' out that big blue sky

Coast to coasters, watch 'em go

And I don't blame 'em one damn bit

If they never look down on this

Ain't much down here they'd want to know

Just Levelland

You could wash your hands

In nothin' but Levelland

Mama used to roll her hair

Back before the central air

We'd sit outside and watch the stars at night

She tell me to make a wish

I'd wish we both could fly

I don't think she's seen the sky

Since we got the satellite dish

I can hear the marching band

Doing the best they can to play

Smoke on the water

And joy to the world

I payed up all my debts

Got some change left over yet

I'm getting on a whisper jet

Going to fly as far as I can get

From Levelland

Done the best I can

In Levelland