Anything but Tame Songtext

von Rodney Crowell

When our feet were tough as horn
And our eyes were sharp as flint
And our hearts beat like two war drums
And you tracked me by my scent

Cross a scape of shiny asphalt
That blacked our soles with tar
And we ran like brave Comanches
On a moonlit reservoir

And you said
I don't wanna be tamed down
I just wanna saddle up
Ride my broomstick pony
Along some salt grass open plain

I can see you standing guard
On the fence in your backyard
With your daisy pump air rifle
And your Annie Oakley aim
Ah, you were anything but tame

When you'd summon me with bird calls
Or you scratching at my screen
Your mouth gone sweet with juicy fruit
Tawny legs and cut off jeans

In my stretchy Ford Ranchero
Ah, we rattled like train cars
And we slung our share of gravel
'Neath a tarpaulin of stars

And you said
I don't wanna be tamed down
I don't wanna give an inch
The fenced off picture perfect
In your billfold window frame

'Cause you were born to romp
In this God forsaken swamp
Dodging cotton mouths and quicksand
On your tiptoes in the rain
Ah, you were anything but tame

I heard Shreveport didn't last
So you lit out for L.A.
But when lightning claws the night up
I can see you plain as day

And when I want to feel you near me
I go quit this tired old gloom
And pull on down a bayou
To where the morning glories bloom

And you said
I don't wanna be tamed down
I don't wanna tread regret
And flat out make excuses
For the way I came up lame

I could have been enough
To live down by the gulf
Where the cutting edge of nowhere
Where the sun goes down in flames
We were anything but tame
Anything but tame