Date: 12/11/99; 6:05:57 PM
From: ERK76@aol.com
Subject: Shades of Gray-Robert Earl Keen

Shades of Gray
Written and performed by:
Robert Earl Keen
CD:  Picnic

Shades of Gray
Capo 5 to play with CD

Am----C----G--------Am

Am                      C
We made Oklahoma a little after 3
G                                   Am
Randy, his brother Bob and my old GMC

We had some moonshine whisky
C
and some of Bob's homegrown 
G
we were so messed up we didn't know 
                  Am
if we were drunk or stoned
                        C
Randy was a sad-sack, tall kinda frail
G                                     Am
Bob was a raving maniac, crazy in the head
                                    C
They been kicked out of high school several years ago
    G                                 Am
for pushin over port-a-cans at the 4-H rodeo

Since then they've done their little dance 
C
right outside the law
        G                           Am
popped twice in Oklahoma, once in Arkansas

and I don't know what possessed me 
C
to want to tag along
        G
Cause I was raised a Christian
                     Am
and I knew right from wrong

CHORUS:
F       G             Am
Right or wrong, black or white
F         G               Am
cross the line your gonna pay
F       G              Am
in the dawn before the light
F       G                   Am
live and die by the shades of gray

We stole two Charolais heffers from 
Randy's sweetheart's paw
sold them at the livestock sale
outside of Witchita
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 barditch
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