Loaded: Best of Blake Shelton

written by Kirsti Manna, David Kent

She left without leaving a number
Said she needed to clear her mind
He figured she'd gone back to Austin
Cos she talked about it all the time
It was almost a year
Before she called him up
Three rings and an answering machine
Is what she got

If you're calling 'bout the car, I sold it
If this is Tuesday night I'm bowling
If you've got something to sell
You're wasting your time, I'm not buying
If it's anybody else, wait for the tone
You know what to do
And P.S. if this is Austin
I still love you

The telephone fell to the counter
She heard but she couldn't believe
What kind of man would hang on that long
What kind of love that must be
She waited three days
And then she tried again
She didn't know what she'd say
But she heard three rings and then

If it's Friday night I'm at the ballgame
And first thing Saturday, if it don't rain
I'm headed out to the lake
And I'll be gone, all weekend long
But I'll call you back when I get home
On Sunday afternoon
And P.S. if this is Austin
I still love you

Well, this time she left her number
But not another word
Then she waited by the phone on Sunday evening
And this is what he heard

If you're calling 'bout my heart, it's still yours
I should've listened to it a little more
Then it wouldn't have taken me so long
To know where I belong
And by the way, boy
This is no machine you're talking to
Can't you tell, this is Austin
And I still love you
I still love you

written by James ‘Bo’ Bohan, Don Goodman, Mark Sherrill

Well I caught my wife with another man
And it cost me ninety nine
On a prison farm in Georgia
Close to the Florida line
Well I'd been here for two long years
I finally made the warden my friend
And so he sentenced me to a life of ease
Taking care of Ol’ Red

Now Ol' Red he's the damnedest dog that I've ever seen
Got a nose that can smell a two day trail
He's a four legged tracking machine
You can consider yourself mighty lucky
To get past the gators and the quicksand beds
But all these years that I've been here
Ain’t nobody got past Red

And the warden sang
Come on somebody
Why don't you run
Ol' Red's itching to have a little fun
Get my lantern
Get my gun
Red will have you treed before the mornin’ comes

Well I paid off the guard and I slipped out a letter
To my cousin up in Tennessee
Oh, and he brought down a blue tick hound
She was pretty as she could be
Well they penned her up in the swampland
'Bout a mile just south of the gate
And I'd take Ol' Red for his evening run
I'd just drop him off and wait

And the warden sang
Come on somebody
Why don't you run
Ol' Red's itching to have a little fun
Get my lantern
Get my gun
Red will have you treed before the mornin’ comes

Now Ol' Red got real used to seeing
His lady every night
And so I kept him away for three or four days
And waited till the time got right
Well I made my run with the evening sun
And I smiled when I heard them let Red out
Cause I was headed north to Tennessee
And Ol' Red was headed south

And the warden sang
Come on somebody
Why don't you run
Ol' Red's itching to have a little fun
Get my lantern
Get my gun
Red will have you treed before the mornin’ comes

Now there's red haired blue ticks all in the South
Love got me in here and love got me out

written by Harley Allen, Michael White

My brother said that I
Was rotten to the core
I was the youngest child
So I got by with more

I guess she was tired by
The time I came along
She'd laugh until she cried
I could do no wrong
She would always save me
Because I was her baby

I worked a factory in Ohio
A shrimp boat in the Bayou
I drove a truck in Birmingham
Turned 21 in Cincinnati
I called home to mom and daddy
I said, "Your boy is now a man"
She said, "I don't care if you're eighty
You’ll always be my baby"

She loved that photograph
Of our whole family
She'd always point us out
For all her friends to see

That's Greg, he's doing great
He really loves his job
And Ronnie with his two kids
How about that wife he's got
And that one's kind of crazy
But that one is my baby

I got a call in Alabama
Said come on home to Louisiana
And come as fast as you can fly
Cause your mama really needs you
And says she's got to see you
She might not make it through the night
The whole way I drove 80
So she could see her baby

She looked like she was sleeping
And my family had been weeping
By the time that I got to her side
And I knew that she'd been taken
And my heart it was breaking
I never got to say goodbye

I softly kissed that lady
And cried just like a baby

written by Randy VanWarmer, Neil Coty

This is a song
About best friends

John Roy was a boy I knew
Since he was three and I was two
Grew up two little houses
Down from me

The only two bad apples on our family tree
Kind of ripened and rotted
In our puberty
Two kindred spirits bound by destiny

Well now I was smart but I lacked ambition
Johnny was wild with no inhibition
Was about like mixing
Fire and gasoline
(And he'd say)

Hey Romeo, let’s go down to Mexico
Chase senoritas, drink ourselves silly
Show them Mexican girls a couple of real hillbillies
Got a pocket full of cash and that old Ford truck
A fuzzy cat hanging from the mirror for luck
Said, don't you know all those little
Brown-eyed girls
Want playboys of the southwestern world

Long around our eighteenth year
We found two plane tickets the hell out of here
Got scholarships to some small town
School in Texas

We learned to drink sangrias till the dawn’s early light
Eat eggs rancheros and throw up all night
And tell those daddy's girls
We were majoring in a rodeo

Ah, but my favorite memory at school that fall
Was the night John Roy came running down the hall
Wearing nothing but cowboy boots
And a big sombrero
(And he was yelling)

Hey Romeo, let’s go down to Mexico
Chase senoritas, drink ourselves silly
Show them Mexican girls a couple of real hillbillies
Got a pocket full of cash and that old Ford truck
A fuzzy cat hanging from the mirror for luck
Said, don't you know all those little
Brown-eyed girls
Want playboys of the southwestern world

And I said we had a little
Change in plans
Like when Paul McCartney got busted in Japan
And I said, we got waylaid
When we laid foot on Mexican soil
See the border guard with the Fu Manchu moustache
Kind of stumbled on John’s pocket full of American cash
He said, doin’ a little funny business
In Mexico, amigo

But all I could think about was saving my own tail
When he mentioned ten years in a Mexican jail
So I pointed to John Roy and said
It's all his now please let me go
Well, it was your idea, genius
I was just laying there in bed
When you said

Hey Romeo, let’s go down to Mexico
Chase senoritas, drink ourselves silly
Show them Mexican girls a couple of real hillbillies
Got a pocket full of cash and that old Ford truck
A fuzzy cat hanging from the mirror for luck
Said, don't you know all those little
Brown-eyed girls
Want playboys of the southwestern world

Ah, we're still best friends
Temporary cell mates

written by Rory Lee Feek, Paul Overstreet

Drivin’ down the interstate
Runnin’ thirty minutes late
Singin’ Margaritaville and mindin’ my own
Some foreign car driving dude with a road rage attitude
Pulled up beside me talkin’ on his cell phone
He started yellin’ at me like I did somethin’ wrong
He flipped me the bird and then he was gone

Some beach, somewhere
There's a big umbrella casting shade over an empty chair
Palm trees are growin’ and warm breeze is blowin’
I picture myself right there
On some beach, somewhere

I circled the parking lot trying to find a spot
Just big enough I could park my old truck
A man with a big cigar was gettin’ into his car
I stopped and I waited for him to back up
But from out of nowhere a Mercedes Benz
Came cruisin’ up and whipped right in

Some beach, somewhere
There's nowhere to go when you got all day to get there
There's cold margaritas and hot señoritas smiling with long dark hair
On some beach, somewhere

Well, I sat in that waiting room
It seemed like all afternoon
The nurse finally said, Doc's ready for you
You’re not going to feel a thing,
We'll give you some Novocain
That tooth will be fine in a minute or two
But he stuck that needle down deep in my gum
And he started drillin’ before I was numb

Some beach, somewhere
There's a beautiful sunset burnin’ up the atmosphere
There's music and dancin’ and lovers romancin’
In the salty evening air
On some beach, somewhere
On some beach, somewhere

written by James Dean Hicks, Roger Murrah

It's your life - you say you need a change
Don't all the dreams we've seen come true mean anything
You say it's different now and you keep staring at the door
How can you walk away
Don't I matter anymore

If being free’s worth what you leave behind
And if it's too late for love to change your mind
Then it's goodbye time

If we had known our love would come to this
We could have saved our hearts the hurt of wasted years
Well, it's been fun - what else can I say
If the feeling's gone
Words won't stop you anyway

If being free’s worth what you leave behind
And if it's too late for love to change your mind
Then it's goodbye time

Goodbye, baby

written by Shawn Camp, Phillip White

Don't waste your time lookin’ over your shoulder
Those loves from the past ain’t gettin’ no closer
When I look in my future you're all I can see
So honey, don’t go loving on nobody but me

Nobody but me gonna love you like you ought to be loved on
Nobody but me gonna cry if you up and leave
Now you can do what you want to
But I'm asking pretty please
Honey, don’t go lovin’ on nobody but me

I took my time to tell you how I feel
Just because I took so long don't mean that it isn't real
I ain't got no diamond, but I'm down on my knees
Honey, don’t go lovin’ on nobody but me

Nobody but me gonna love you like you ought to be loved on
Nobody but me gonna cry if you up and leave
Now you can do what you want to
But I'm asking pretty please
Honey, don’t go lovin’ on nobody but me

Nobody but me gonna love you like you ought to be loved on
Nobody but me gonna cry if you up and leave
Now you can do what you want to
But I'm asking pretty please
Honey, don’t go lovin’ on nobody but me

Don't go lovin’ on nobody but me

written by Marla Cannon-Goodman, Deanna Bryant, Dave Berg

Girl, when I look at you
You look through me like I'm not even there
I’m tryin’ not to give up, to be strong but
I'm afraid to say I'm scared
I can't find the place your heart is hidin’
I'm no quitter but I'm tired of fightin’

Baby, I love you
Don't want to lose you
Don't make me let you go
Took such a long time
For me to find you
Don't make me let you go
Baby, I'm begging, please
And I'm down here on my knees
I don't want to have to set you free
Don't make me

What if when I'm long gone
It dawns on you you just might want me back
Let me make myself clear, if I leave here
It's done; I'm gone, that's that
You carry my love around like it's a heavy burden
Well, I'm about to take it back
Are you sure it's worth it

Baby, I love you
Don't want to lose you
Don't make me let you go
Took such a long time
For me to find you
Don't make me let you go
Baby, I'm begging, please
And I'm down here on my knees
I don't want to have to set you free
Don't make me
Don't make me

(Don't make me)

Baby, I'm begging, please
And I'm down here on my knees
I don't want to have to set you free
Don't make me

(Baby, I love you
Don't want to lose you
Don't make me let you go)

Don't make me
Stop loving you

(Don't make me)

Stop needing you

written by David Lee Murphy, Chris DuBois, Dave Turnbull

He was sittin’ at the bar, sippin’ on a regular Coke
We were drinkin’ and smokin’ and makin’ him the butt of our jokes
We all said, "Man, what happened to you? Why can't you just have a few?"
He said, "I would if I could, but it's probably best that I don't"

‘Cause the more I drink, the more I drink
Yeah, I'm the world's greatest lover and a dancin’ machine
I get loud, I get proud, and it gets worse
Well, if I have one, I'll have thirteen
Now there ain’t no in-between
‘Cause the more I drink, the more I drink

A couple of cold ones, and somebody hands me a shot
Hell, even buck-tooth and bow-legged women start lookin’ hot
And pretty soon I'm bummin’ cigarettes and sweet talkin’ some big brunette
Yeah, once I get on a roll, there aren’t no tellin’ where I'll stop

'Cause the more I drink, the more I drink
Yeah, I'm the world's greatest lover and a dancin’ machine
I get loud, I get proud, and it gets worse
Yeah, if I have one, I'll have thirteen
Now there ain’t no in-between
Cause the more I drink, the more I drink

Yep, yep
Hmm, that’s what I'm talking about

Man, if I have one, I'll have thirteen
And they can't get me off the karaoke machine
The more I drink, the more I drink
Yeah, the more I drink, the more I drink, the more I drink

written by Michael Bublé, Alan Chang, Amy Foster-Gillies

Another summer day
Has come and gone away
In Paris and Rome
But I want to go home
Mmmmmmmm

Maybe surrounded by
A million people I
Still feel all alone
I want to go home
Oh, I miss you, you know

And I've been keeping all the letters that I wrote to you
Each one a line or two
“I'm fine baby, how are you?”
I would send them, but I know that it's just not enough
My words were cold and flat
And you deserve more than that

Another airplane
Another sunny place
I'm lucky, I know
But I want to go home
I've got to home

Let me go home
I'm just too far from where you are
I want to come home

And I feel just like I'm livin’ someone else's life
It's like I just stepped outside
When everything was goin’ right
And I know just why you could not come along with me
This was not your dream
But you always believed in me

Another winter day
Has come and gone away
In even Paris and Rome
And I want to go home
Let me go home

And I'm surrounded by a million people
I still feel alone
And I want to go home
Oh, I miss you, you know

Let me go home
I've had my run
Baby, I'm done
I'm coming back home

Let me go home
It'll all be alright
I'll be home tonight
I'm coming back home

written by Jennifer Adan, Cory Batten

Red roadside wild flower, if I'd only picked you
Took you home, set you on the counter
Oh, at least a time or two
Maybe she’d’ve thought it through

Yellow sunset slowly dipping down in the rear view
Oh, how she'd love to sit and watch you
I could have done that a whole lot more
If I hadn't been so stubborn, been so selfish
Thought about her more, thought about me less
Joked and made her laugh, held her when she cried
A little more of that, maybe I

Wouldn't be driving like hell
Flyin’ like crazy down the highway
Callin’ everyone we know
Stoppin’ any place she might be
Goin’ any place she might go
Beatin’ on the dash
Screamin’ out her name at the windshield
Tears soakin’ up my face
If I had loved her this much all along
Maybe, maybe, yeah, maybe
She wouldn't be gone
She wouldn't be gone

She warned me it was coming
Said if I didn't change, she was leaving
I just didn't believe she would ever really walk out
God, I believe her now

Called her mama, cried like a baby to her best friend
Now if they've seen her, they aren’t saying, they aren’t saying
Now I'm cursing like a fool, praying it ain’t too late
All I want to do is fix my mistakes
Find her beg her for one more try
Until then, damn it I’ll

Be drivin’ like hell
Flyin’ like crazy down the highway
Callin’ everyone we know
Stoppin’ any place she might be
Goin’ any place she might go
Beatin’ on the dash
Screamin’ out her name at the windshield
Tears soakin’ up my face
If I had loved her this much all along
Maybe, maybe, yeah, maybe
She wouldn't be gone

I wouldn't be beatin’ on the dash
Screamin’ out her name at the windshield
Tears soakin’ up my face
If I had loved her this much all along
Maybe, maybe, yeah, maybe
She wouldn't be gone

Red roadside wild flower, if I'd only picked you
Took you home, set you on the counter
Oh, at least a time or two
Maybe she’d've thought it through

written by Luke Laird, Craig Wiseman

Oh man, you've got to watch where you're steppin’ around here

Yeah, I got a friend in New York City
He's never heard of Conway Twitty
Don't know nothin’ about grits and greens
Never been south of Queens
But he flew down here on a business trip
I took him honky tonkin’ and that was it
He took to it like a pig to mud, like a cow to cud

We all got a hillbilly bone down deep inside
No matter where you from you just can't hide it
And when the band starts bangin’ and the fiddle saws
You can't help but hollerin’ “Yee Haw!”
When you see them pretty little country queens
Man, you gotta admit that it’s in them genes
Ain’t nothing wrong, just gettin’ on your
Hillbilly bone-ba-bone-ba-bone-bone

Ah, preach about hillbilly to ‘em, Blake.

Listen to this.

Nah, you aren’t got to be born out in the sticks
With an F-150 and a 30-06
Or have a bubba in the family tree
To get on down with me
Yeah, bubba, all you need is an open mind
If it fires you up you got to let it shine
When it feels so right that it can't be wrong
Come on, come on, come on

You ain’t alone
You ain’t alone

We all got a hillbilly bone down deep inside
No matter where you from you just can't hide it
And when the band starts bangin’ and the fiddle saws
You can't help but hollerin’ “Yee Haw!”
When you see them pretty little country queens
Man, you gotta admit that it’s in them genes
Ain’t nothing wrong, just gettin’ on your
Hillbilly bone-ba-bone-ba-bone-bone

Come on y'all

We all got a hillbilly bone down deep inside
No matter where you from you just can't hide it
And when the band starts bangin’ and the fiddle saws
You can't help but hollerin’ “Yee Haw!”
When you see them pretty little country queens
Man, you gotta admit that it’s in them genes
Ain’t nothing wrong, just gettin’ on your
Hillbilly bone-ba-bone-ba-bone-bone
Hillbilly bone-ba-bone-ba-bone-bone
Hillbilly bone-ba-bone-ba-bone-bone
Hillbilly bone-ba-bone-ba-bone-bone

Well, there it is
I’ve always wanted to sing a bone song

written by Rhett Akins, Dallas Davidson, Jon Stone

Tearin’ down a dirt road, rebel flag flyin’
Coon dog in the back
Truck bed loaded down with beer
And a cold one in my lap
Earnhardt sticker behind my head
And my woman by my side
Tail-pipe's poppin’
The radio's rockin’, "Country Boy Can Survive"
If you got a problem with that (ha ha)
You can kiss my country ass

Well, I love turkey calls, overalls, Wrangler jeans
Smoke nothin’ but Marlboro reds
Tattoos up & down my arms
And deer heads over my bed
My Granddaddy fought in World War Two
My Daddy went to Vietnam
And I ain’t scared to grab my gun
And fight for my homeland
If you don't love the American flag
Well, you can kiss my country ass

If you're a down home, backwoods redneck
Hey, come on, stand up, and raise your glass
But if you ain’t down with my outlaw crowd
You can kiss my country ass
Aw yeah!

Awwwww yeah

Well, there's a whole lot of high-class people out there
That's lookin’ down on me
Cause the country club where I belong
Is the Honky Tonk til three in the morning
Don't wear no fancy clothes
No ties or three piece suits
You can find me in my camouflage cap
My t-shirt and cowboy boots
If that don't fit your social class
You can kiss my country ass

If you're a down home, backwoods redneck
Hey, come on, stand up, and raise your glass
But if you aren’t down with my outlaw crowd
You can kiss my country ass

Well, I'm a front-porch sittin’
Guitar pickin’, moonshine sippin’
‘Bacca juice spittin’ country boy from the woods
And I love fried chicken & blue gill fishin’
And outlaw women, and I wouldn't change if I could
I ain’t trying to start no fight, but I'll finish one every time
So you just mind your own damn business
Stay the hell outta mine
If you got a problem with that
You can kiss my country ass

I said if you got a problem with any of that
You can kiss my natural born, redneck to the bone
Ever-lovin’ country ass

written by Rhett Akins, Ben Hayslip, Dallas Davidson

Don't bother tellin’ me what I got comin’ in the mornin’
I already know
I got some feel-good pills and a red gatorade by my bed
Ready to go

I'm going to do my best to dance with every girl in this bar
Before they shut it down
Then I'll pay my tab, climb in a cab
Headin’ to a spot downtown

It's all about tonight
Good times and the music and laughin’ and groovin’ to the band
Everybody's gettin’ right
No worries, we're rockin’ all kinds of concoctions in our hands
Yeah, tomorrow can wait 'til tomorrow
It's all about tonight

Hey, pretty thing
I've been lookin’ at you since the moment that you walked in
I got some wild ass buddies that love spendin’ money
And I see you brought a couple of friends

Just tell me your name
I don't need your number or a date next Saturday
Baby, let's act like fools, break a few rules
Party the night away

It's all about tonight
Good times and the music and laughin’ and groovin’ to the band
Everybody's gettin’ right
No worries, we're rockin’ all kinds of concoctions in our hands
Yeah, tomorrow can wait 'til tomorrow
It's all about tonight

Ha ha, yeah!
Slide

It's all about tonight
Good times and the music and laughin’ and groovin’ to the band
Everybody's getting right
No worries, we're rockin’ all kinds of concoctions in our hands
Yeah, tomorrow can wait 'til tomorrow
I said tomorrow can wait 'til tomorrow
It's all about tonight

Yeah, it's all about tonight
Come on, it's all about tonight
We're goin’ to get our swerve on, our buzz on
It's all about tonight
Come on baby, I wouldn't worry about that
It's all about tonight

written by Earl Bud Lee, John Wiggins

My oh my, you're so good-looking
Hold yourself together like a pair of bookends
But I've not tasted all your cooking
Who are you when I'm not looking?

Do you pour a little something on the rocks?
Slide down the hallway in your socks?
When you undress, do you leave a path?
Then sink to your nose in a bubble bath?

My oh my, you're so good-looking
Hold yourself together like a pair of bookends
But I've not tasted all your cooking
Who are you when I'm not looking?

I want to know
I want to know
I want to know

Do you break things when you get mad?
Eat a box of chocolates cause you're feeling bad?
Do you paint your toes cause you bite your nails?
Call up mama when all else fails?

Who are you when I'm not around?
When the door is locked and the shades are down?
Do you listen to your music quietly?
And when it feels just right, are you thinking of me?

I want to know
I want to know
I want to know

My oh my, you're so good-looking
But who are you when I'm not looking?