Shades Of Gray
Robert Earl Keen

We made Oklahoma a little after 3

Randy, his brother Bob and my old gmc

We had some moonshine whisky

And some of Bob's homegrown

We were so messed up we didn't know

If we were drunk or stoned

Randy was a sad-sack, tall kinda frail

Bob was a raving maniac, crazy in the head

They been kicked out of high school several years ago

For pushin over port-a-cans at the 4-H rodeo

Since then they've done their little dance

Right outside the law

Popped twice in Oklahoma, once in Arkansas

And I don't know what possessed me

To want to tag along

Cause I was raised a Christian

And I knew right from wrong


Chorus:

Right or wrong, black or white

Cross the line your gonna pay

In the dawn before the light

Live and die by the shades of gray

We stole two Charolais heifers from

Randy's sweetheart's paw

Sold them at the livestock sale

Outside of Wichita


We got $900 and never did suspect

The world of hurt we'd be in once

We cashed that check

Next day we heard the story

On the local radio

Made our plans that very night

To go to Mexico

I swear we would have made it

If it wasn't for that shine

I got sick about the time we crossed

That Kansas line


Chorus


I was layin in the bar ditch

Prayin I would die

When a light come on above us

And a voice come from the sky

A half a dozen unmarked cars

Came screeching to a halt

They grabbed bob, he started screamin

It was all my fault


There were men and dogs

And helicopter buzzin all around

They had the brothers on the

Pickup hood and me down on the ground

Bob flew all to pieces but randy he

Held tight when a black man in a

Suit and tie stepped out into the light

He told his men to turn us loose

They put down their guns

He said these are just some

Sorry kids, they ain't the ones


Chorus


They left us by the roadside

Down hearted and alone

Randy got behind the wheel

Said boys I'm going home

We turned around to face our fate

Downhearted but alive on that

Mornin in late April, Oklahoma, 1995


Chorus


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Lyrics by Robert Earl Keen

  (My Home Ain't In The) Hall of Fame   (My Home Ain't In The) Hall Of Fame   A Border Tale   A Border Tragedy   All I Have Is Today   Barbeque   Beats The Devil   Billy Gray   Black Baldy Stallion   Blow You Away   Broken End Of Love   Coming Home Of The Son And Brother   Copenhagen   Corpus Christi Bay   Crazy Cowboy Dream   Daddy Had A Buick   Don't turn out the light   Don't Turn Out The Light   Down That Dusty Trail   Dreadful Selfish Crime   Fallin' Out   Fallin' Out   Farm Fresh Onions   Feelin' Good Again   Feelin' Good Again   For Love   Fourth Of July   Furnace Fan   Goin' Down in Style   Goin' Nowhere Blues   Goin' Down In Style   Goin' Nowhere Blues   Gravitational Forces   Gringo Honeymoon   Happy Holidays Y'all   Happy Holidays Y'all   Hello New Orleans   High Plains Jamboree   I Gotta Go   I Still Miss Someone   I Wanna Know   I Wonder Where My Baby Is Tonight   I Would Change My Life   I'll Be Here for You   I'll Go on Downtown   I'm Comin' Home   I'm Coming Home   I'll Be Here For You   I'll Go On Downtown   I'm Coming Home   If I Were King   It's The Little Things   It's The Little Things   Jennifer Johnson & Me   Jennifer Johnson & Me   Jennifer Johnson And Me   Lay Down My Brother   Leavin Tennessee   Let The Music Play   Levelland   Lonely Feeling   Long Chain   Love's A Word I Never Throw Around   Love's A Word I Never Throw Around   Lynnville Train   Lynville Train   Maria   Mariano   Merry Christmas From The Family   Mr. Wolf And Mamabear   New Life In Old Mexico   No Kinda Dancer   Not A Drop Of Rain   Not A Drop Of Rain (Live)   Oh Rosie   Out Here In The Middle   Over The Waterfall   Paint The Town Beige   Play A Train Song   Ready For Confetti   Ride   Road To No Return/carolina   Rolling By   Runnin' With the Night   Runnin' With The Night   Show The World   Sing One For Sister   Snowin' On Raton   Snowin' On Raton (Live)   Snowin' On Raton   So I Can Take My Rest   Something I Do   Song For Kathy   Sonora's Death Row   Sonora's Death Row   Soul Of Man   Stewball   Still Without You/conclusion: Road To No Return   Swervin' In The Lane   Swervin' In The Lane   That Buckin' Song   That Buckin' Song (Live)   The Bluegrass Widow   The Buckin' Song   The Buckin' Song   The Dark Side Of The World   The Five Pound Bass   The Front Porch Song   The Great Hank   The Raven And The Coyote   The Road Goes On And On   The Road Goes On Forever   The Traveling Storm   The Wild Ones   Then Came Lo Mein   These Years   Think It Over One Time   Throwin' Rocks   Throwin' Rocks   Tom Ames' Prayer   Tom Ames' Prayer   Top Down   Train Trek   Travelin' Light   Travelin' Light (Live)   Travelin' Light   Undone   Walkin' Cane   Walkin' Cane   Waves On The Ocean   What I Really Mean   Whenever Kindness Fails   Who Do Man   Who'll Be Looking Out for Me   Who'll Be Looking Out For Me   Wild Wind   Willie

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