“You shoulda told me you was married, baby,” she said. Those were the last words he ever heard. Flaco Jimenez and Ry Cooder explain: That’s the way the girls are in Texas! If not, we’ve got lyrics:
THE GIRLS FROM TEXAS
by Holiday, Jimmy/lewis, Jimmy/chambers, Clifford.Well, I met a girl from Texas ’bout a year ago
Hadn’t known her for too long when I had to let her go
You see, she had a razor, was ten inches or so
And every night you’d hear her knocking at my doorShe said, “Baby, I’ll give you the clothes on my back
You can have everything that I’ve got in my shack
But if you ever try to leave they’ll take you out in sack
‘Cause me and my razor will see to that”That’s the way the girls are from Texas
That’s the way the girls are from Texas
That’s the way the girls are from Texas
That’s the way the girls are from TexasI thought about my situation, decided not to tarry
For my own self preservation, I decided we should marry
When the preacher started reading ’bout ’till death do us part
I told him, “Skip it, she had that understanding right from the start”She said, “Baby, I’ll give you the clothes on my back
You can have everything that I’ve got in my shack
But if you ever try to leave they’ll take you out in sack
‘Cause me and my razor will see to that”That’s the way the girls are from Texas
(Houston to San Antone)
That’s the way the girls are from Texas
(Got to love ’em right or leave ’em alone)
That’s the way the girls are from Texas
That’s the way the girls are from TexasWell we settled down, got me a little old job, ’65 Fair lane Ford
Every Friday night I would stop in and cash my pay check
Down at the grocery store
They had a little girl worked in there, must have been about seventeen
She was the cutest thing I had ever seenIt’s the same old story and I’m afraid it wasn’t too very long
Before we had fallen deeply in love and I knew it was wrong
I said baby, we got to stop this thing right here
Or my woman is gonna cut my throat from ear to ear, that’s rightIn tearful supplication, she looked up in my face
I could feel her heart was breaking as these sad words she did say
“You should have told me you was married, baby”
She pulled out a forty-five and let me have it
Right smack between the eyesThat’s the way the girls are from Texas
That’s the way the girls are from TexasShe was guilty, I was dead
(That’s the way the girls are from Texas)
Now, what’d you think that the old judge said?
(That’s the way the girls are from Texas)
“Ah, that’s just the way the girls are down here in Texas
Case dismissed!”That’s the way the girls are from Texas
(Houston to San Antone)
That’s the way the girls are from Texas
(Got to love ’em right or leave ’em alone, boy)
That’s the way the girls are from Texas
That’s the way the girls are from Texas
PREVIOUSLY ON FLACO JIMENEZ:
The wetback drove from Laredo to San Antonio to see his girl — and that’s when the trouble started.