Everyone in Nacadoches knew Tom Ames would come to some bad end
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Well the sheriff had cought him stealin' chickens and such
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by the time that he was ten
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And one day his daddy took a ten dollar bill
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and he tucked it in his hand
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He said I can tell you're headed for trouble son
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and your momma wouldn't understand
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So he took that money and his brothers old bay
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and he left without a word of thanks
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Fell in with a crowd in some border town
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and took to robbin' banks
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Outside the law your luck will run out fast
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and a few years came and went
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'Till he's trapped in an alley in Abilene
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with all but four shells spent
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And he realized prayin' was the only thing
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that he hadn't ever tried
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Well he wasn't sure he knew quite how
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but he looked up to the sky
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Said you don't owe me nothin' and as far as I know
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Lord don't owe nothin' to you
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And I ain't askin' for a miracle Lord
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just a little bit of luck will do
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And you know I ain't never prayed before
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but it always seemed to me
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If prayin' is the same as beggin' Lord
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I don't take no charity
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Yeah but right now Lord with my back to the wall
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Can't help but recall
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How they nearly hung me for stealin' a horse
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in Fort Smith Arkansas
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Judge Parker said guilty and the gavel came down
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just like a cannon shot
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And I went away quietly
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and I began to file and plot
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Well they sent the preacher down to my cell
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He said the Lord is your only hope
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He's the only friend that you gonna have
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When you hit the end of Parker's rope
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Well I guess he coulda' kept on preachin' 'till Christmas
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but he turned his back on me
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I put a home made blade to that golden throat
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and asked the deputy for the key
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Well it ain't the first close call I ever had
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I'm sure you already know
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I had some help from you Lord and the devil himself
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It's been strictly touch and go
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Yeah but who in the hell am I talkin' to
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there ain't no one here but me
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Then he cocked both his pistols and he spit in the dirt
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and he walked out in the street
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Tom Ames' Prayer
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| Steve Earle |
