Shades Of Gray - Robert Earl Keen

We made Oklahoma a little after 3

Randy and his brother Bob in my old GMC

We had some moonshine whiskey

And some of Bob’s homegrown

So messed up we didn’t know

If we were drunk or stoned

Randy was a sad sack, tall and 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 done their little dance

Right outside the Law

Popped twice in Oklahoma and 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

RIGHT OR WRONG BLACK OR WHITE

Cross the line your gonna pay

In the dawn before the light

LIVE OR DIE BY SHADES OF GRAY!

Stole two Charlois heifers, from

Randy’s sweetheart’s paw

Sold them at a livestock sale

Outside of Wichita

We got $ 900 dollars and ever did suspect

A world of hurt we’d be in once

We cashed the 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

The Kansas Line

I was laying in a bar ditch

Praying I would die

When a light came on above

And a voice come from the sky

Half dozen unmarked cars

Came screechin to a halt

Bob he started screamin

It was all my fault

There were men and dogs

And helicopters buzzin all around

They had the brothers on the pickup hood

And me down on the ground

Well Bob he flew all to pieces

And 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

And they put down their guns

He said these are just some sorry kids

They ain’t the ones

They left us the roadside

Downhearted and alone

Randy got behind the wheel

Said guys I’m going home

We turned to face our fate

Hungover but alive

On that morning late April

Oklahoma 95

Chorus fading x3