I Ain't Living Long Like This

Lyrics: Rodney Crowell
Music: Rodney Crowell

Played by Bill Kreutzmann's Allstars (with David Nelson) in 1984

I look for trouble and I found it son
Straight down the barrel of a lawman's gun
I tried to run but I don't think I can
You make one move and you're a dead man friend
Ain't living long like this
Can't live at all like this

He slipped the handcuffs on behind my back
And left me reeling on a steel reel rack
I can't sleep at all in the jailhouse baby
I ain't living long like this

Grew up in Houston off the wayside drives
Son of a carhop and some all night dives
Dad drove a stock car to an early death
All I remember was a drunk man's breath
I ain't living long like this
I can't live at all like this

You know the story how the wheel goes round
Don't let them take you to the man down town
They got 'em all in the jailhouse baby
I ain't living long like this
I can't live at all like this

I live for Angel, she's a roadhouse queen
Makes Texas Ruby look like Sandra Dean
I want to love her but I don't know how
I'm at the bottom of the jailhouse now
I ain't living long like this
I can't live at all like this