I was listening to my iPod while working online, and heard again my Pat Green CD, I stopped work and transcribed the lyrics and learned the song. I decided to add this song to my Americana show and to post the lyrics for it today. I admire so many musicians whose music I would classify as Americana (some call it Roots music). Most of them are songwriters, most travel extensively, and they all seem to be more concerned about their music than in becoming a superstar. Speaking of Pat Green, at one of my Barnes and Noble book signings, I saw a book that interested me. I copied the following information from the Amazon description:
Pat Green’s Dance Halls & Dreamers is an all-access look at Texas’s legendary music venues and the musicians who make them great. Author Luke Gilliam and photographer Guy Rogers III spent a day at ten of Texas’s venerable dance halls, recording candid interviews and action-packed color photographs. The result is an unprecedented day-in-the-life look at the people who make the Texas music scene flourish. Each of the chapters documents a venue’s personality, history, and atmosphere as everyone prepares for and parties at the biggest show in town.
Texas icon and three-time Grammy nominee Pat Green shares his memories and favorite stories of each venue. He also gives fans a backstage pass into his world with a performance at his favorite dance hall, Gruene Hall.
A unique assemblage of Texas musicians share their stories about dance halls that have served as landmarks on their rise to fame. Hear from honky-tonk heroes Willie Nelson, Ray Wylie Hubbard, and Robert Earl Keen, as well as established stars Jack Ingram, Cross Canadian Ragweed, Cory Morrow, and Kevin Fowler, and up-and-comers Randy Rogers and Wade Bowen. Each performer offers a firsthand perspective on his career.
The venues are equally diverse, from the big city lights of Billy Bob’s Texas in Fort Worth and Stubb’s BBQ in Austin to road-trip outposts in Luckenbach and Schroeder Hall.
But the Texas music scene’s true essence is painted by the dance hall owners, bartenders, bouncers, and fans, who commingle at these halls on a nightly basis. Colorful sidebars delve into the unique characteristics of each hall as well as its founding fathers.
I think I liked this song because I thought of the many times I’ve said and heard people say, “If I had a million dollars . . .”
If I had a Million by Pat Greene
If I had me a million
I would build you a mansion,
A hundred miles from nowhere
With all a girl could need,
We would run around through the hallways
And dance in the backyard,
If we ain’t got no neighbors
Ain’t no one will see.
And if I had a speed plane
We’d fly across the land,
Settle in some little border town,
We’d drink some margaritas
And dance to mariachis,
Put you on my speed plane
And I would bring you back home.
And if I had a steamboat
We’d sail across the ocean,
Dock in some little port of call,
We would have a fine time
With Swiss cheese and French wine,
Put you on my steamboat and I
Would bring you back home.
Yeah, But I ain’t got a million
And I ain’t got a speed plane,
I ain’t got no boat upon the sea,
All I’ve got is these two strong arms
I can hold you so tightly,
So baby won’t you, won’t you please,
Come back home with me.
All I’ve got is these two strong arms
I can hold you so tightly,
So baby won’t you, won’t you please,
Come back home with me.