Story Behind The Song
This song is about searching. The bridge tells it all -- "walking the line between passion and pain." I wrote this song during one of my many "reviewing my life" periods (I have several per year, it seems). It seems like we never expect to find passion, contentment, excitement, happiness, etc., in our own present lives and under our own roofs. This song is about the wandering we do in that search.
Song Description
This one is about a guy holed up at a Chicago, Illinois truck stop thinking about the girl he left in a Corpus Christi, Texas beach house. He is talking to another truck driver, feeling lonely and homesick. He rhetorically asks the other truck driver to stop and tell her hello, when he knows that is what he should be doing himself.
| Song Length |
4:42 |
Genre |
Country - Alternative, Country - Contemporary |
| Tempo |
Medium Slow (91 - 110) |
Lead Vocal |
Male Vocal |
| Mood |
Poignant |
Subject |
Regret, Loneliness |
| Language |
English |
Era |
2000 and later |
Lyrics
IF YOU?RE GOING TO TEXAS
Is there a place on Earth as cold as Chicago, Illinois
when that winter wind starts whipping through those streets?
The snow piles up and that cold, damp air cuts you like a knife.
Leaves your soul with a sad sense of defeat.
I?m sitting in a little roadside coffee shop
having a cup with my brand new best friend.
He?s a trucker wearing blue jeans and a flannel shirt
with a little time before he hits the road again.
He tells me he?s going down to Texas.
then complains because his rig don?t have no heat.
I just smile and say, ?I used to come from Texas.?
?And if you?ve got the time, will you do a favor for me??
If you?re going to Texas, will you stop and see Marie?
She lives in a beach house down near Corpus Christi.
She likes to sit on the sea wall and watch the sun fall in the sea.
She thinks a lot of those sunsets but she don?t think much of me.
So I tell him about a summer and a beach house
that overlooks the Gulf of Mexico.
And how I promised I?d stay in that house forever
just before I packed my bags to go.
Looking down, I notice I?ve worn out another pair of boots
walking the line between passion and pain.
We wonder around searching for something and we lose touch with our roots.
Can we ever go back home again?
I watch him as he pulls out on the highway
The taillights dim and once again I see
It?s easier to take me out of Texas
Than it is to take the Texas out of me.
Words & Music by Greg Westfall
© 2003 Greg Westfall, BMI
Voices ? Westfall, Steve Froese, Andy Pearce
Guitars ? Westfall
Pedal Steel ? Doug Livingston
Bass ? Bob Prince
Drums ? Steve Froese