Everybody liked this song at the bar because it was so typical of what we were playing for the cowboys and cowgirls to dance to. The Calhoon Brothers version must have been recorded in 1977 soon after it was written because of the scarcity of harmony on the choruses. Once we knew a song pretty well we filled all its cracks with harmonies and Calhoon cliches.
Written: Jayne Lane, Las
Cruces NM, 1977
Knees was getting a
little sick of the rehashed ideas and melodies that the C&W world was cranking
out and decided he could do just as badly. So he wrote this song, using an exact
ripoff of the melody for Heartaches by the Number. Oddly, the song
became a favorite in the Las Cruces area. In the 90s when he recorded it, he
decided to use a harmony to the original melody as the main melody so it wouldn’t be as
recognizable as a ripoff.
By midnight you can
find me sittin on this stool
Talkin to my scotch an
soda babblin like a fool
Don’t think about
disturbin me
By askin me to dance
Cuz I’m one shot past
bein friendly
An that’s two shots
past romance.
So I just stare at that
ghost in the mirror
A sadder face you’d
never want to see
An I wonder why that
ghost in the mirror
Seems to be starin at
me.
There’s a woman sittin
down the bar
I’ve seen her here
before
She takes a drink and
sheds a tear
An says she’ll have one
more
Well I’ve never been a
talker
Or a player of fancy
games
An something makes me
wonder
If she feels the same.
An now there’s two
lonely ghosts in the mirror
A sadder pair you’d
never want to see
An I wonder why those
ghosts in the mirror
Seem to be starin at
me.
Hydra
The CALHOON BROTHERS LIVE VERSION
(Sometime in the late 70s at the Las Cruces Inn, Las Cruces NM)
