Back To The Wall Lyrics & Chords By Steve Earle

Sometimes in the evenings I start to get that feeling
Like I'm empty inside
I know I'm doin' good now but tonight I'm headed downtown
Down by the riverside

I sit underneath the freeway with an old friend from the old days
And a bottle of wine
Well he used to call me "Big Time"
And he knew someday that I'd shine, said, he'd seen all the signs

He said, "Keep yourself to yourself, keep your bedroll dry
And boy you never can tell, what the shadows hide
Keep Ene-eve on the ground, pick up whatever you find
'Cause you've got no place to fall, when your back's to the wall"

He's gettin' old and it's showin' when I asked him how it's goin'
He said "I've seen better I guess
I've been rained on, I've been frozen, but this here's the life I've chosen
If it just wasn't for the loneliness"

Now this river suits me to a T, but if you're trying to raise a family
It ain't no place to be there's a kid down by the dump there
Ought to be in grade school somewhere
Now he hangs out with me and I told him

"Keep yourself to yourself, keep your bedroll dry
And boy you never can tell, what the shadows hide
Keep Ene-eve on the ground, pick up whatever you find
'Cause you've got no place to fall, when your back's to the wall"

Well we finished off the bottle and I told him
"Joe I think I ought to be headed uptown"
Well it was late, and I'd been drinkin', drivin' home, I got to thinkin'
'Bout what's been going down

'Cause they're nervous down on Wall Street
But they're trying to keep it upbeat or maybe they just don't care
But down at the river eyes are burnin', cause they feel the tables turnin'
So if you wind up down there

So keep yourself to yourself, keep your bedroll dry
And boy you never can tell, what the shadows hide
Keep Ene-eve on the ground, pick up whatever you find
'Cause you've got no place to fall, when your back's to the wall