Snakebit
Snakebit
I lost my cash in Vegas
Along with that gal of mine.
Left my boots in Reno
I was playing overtime
I might go down to Texas
Maybe see some distant kin
If I do I’ll never tell them
About the trouble that I’m in.
Chorus:
Cause I’ve been snakebit ever since I was a child
I didn’t let them teach me; I was always running wild
I couldn’t seem to catch a break
Being born was my mistake.
I’ll wake up in the morning
Won’t matter where I am
I know that I’ll be leaving
And nobody will give a damn.
Chorus:
Tag
This is the first song that I ever wrote lyrics for before the melody and chord progression. I wrote the verses and chorus and let it sit on my desk for a few weeks. When my concern about not having enough songs to record with the band for the next album was high enough I sat down and worked on this song. It was pretty easy to write as it’s not all that uncommon of a progression. Scott Smith, when he heard it, said it was in the style of John Prine, which I agree with. We recorded it with the Fred Kosak and Alissa Wolf of the Stillhouse Junkies, along with Cody Tinnin on bass and Clay Lowder playing drums. Interestingly Leslie had never heard the expression “snakebit”. The last line of the chorus, “being born was my mistake” is so sad. I googled it and only found a couple of hits, and none were song lyrics. This song actually got its start from my daughter, Landis’, boyfriend. At Thanksgiving he and I were walking down the road at Little Sandy and I noticed he was wearing athletic shoes. It had been raining and was a bit muddy. He told me, “My boots are in Reno”, which is where he lives at the time. I stopped and tapped that out in the Notes on my iPhone and told him that I could use that in a song – which I did!
