"LONG TO BE IN TEXAS, OR THE OLD PANHANDLE"
- Folks, this little poem is dedicated to ALL of the "True in Heart Texans"

Long to sit in the Texas sun, and let the days linger on, drink some moonshine beer I made called SINGLE STAR.
It’d be music to my ears, if once again I could hear, the sound of a funky jukebox in a country bar.

Long to sit on a Texas night, with them lighting bugs flickering bright, and see a cold pale moon high in the sky.
There I’d know no fear nor pain, for once again, I could lay my weary head as night went by.

Sometimes it just don’t seem right, what I’m doin’ here with my life, if I had any brains I’d hop a fast train,
and go back where I belong, to the land of country songs, and where blue eyed mama’s hold their babies dear.

So Fort Worth, San Antone, here I come, my feet they’re tired of the road. Going back home to the old Lone Star, gonna dump off some of my load. California, Colorado, and Oklahoma City, they’re not the places for me.
I'm going back to paradise lost and re-found, it’s TEXAS I long to be.

So I’m gonna grab hold of that old panhandle, and cook my breakfast in the early morn. Grab forty winks on an old feather mattress, on the range by an old Longhorn.
Yippi- ti- I- o, get along little doggie, it’s no mis-fortune for me, cause the sky is blue, and the Cedar smells sweet, and the mocking birds sing in the trees.

People are friendly, and look mighty healthy, when they’re raised on that Texas sunshine.
Davy Crockett, and “Big” Jim Bowie, I’d call ‘um friends of mine.
If I don’t get back to that “old” Hill Country, I know I’ll surely die, and if I do, I hope that god sends me, to his hill country in the sky, and I’ll just...

Grab hold of that old panhandle, and cook my breakfast in the early morn. Grab forty winks on an old feather mattress, on the range by an old Longhorn.
Yippi- ti- I- o, get along little doggie, it’s no mis-fortune for me, cause the sky is blue, and the Cedar smells sweet, and the mocking birds sing in the trees.

Don Livingston (Dr. Cletus Shepard) (c) 1981

Click to Play "Long to Be in Texas"

Don Livingston's music of "Long to be in Texas" along with three other originial songs will be available soon on a CD through LONGHORN HATTERS. Contact don@longhornhatters.com for information. Cost will be $15.00.

Dr Shepard says: "I love this song".

"I SPENT SOME TIME IN HUBBARD TODAY" (c) 2005

By Dr. Cletus Shepard

"I spent some time in Hubbard today", listin' to tall tales in a little cafe, Old timers" talkin' 'bout horses and things, of huntin', and cows, and why there's no rain.

"I spent some time in Hubbard today", with a long time friend that had come here to stay, In an old house full of stories and lore, old pictures on walls, creaky, wooden floors,

History of ranches, of cowboys, and such, stories of cousins, and family with trust, Stayed in a room with ghosts from the past, hoping their presence would some how last.

"I spent some time in Hubbard today", was a hundred - an'- eight degrees in the shade, So hot, the ants sought shelter inside, of that glorious wooden house standin' with pride,

With a big, white fence encircling the grounds, The Mockin' Birds chirped with their own special sounds, The Elm tree swayed to the rhythm of the breeze, while a yellow jacket flew around with ease.

"I spent some time in Hubbard today", only to leave, but this I do pray, That nothin' but good comes at this time, to a warm, friendly house, built in 1909.

*This poem was written for Jean Savage on August 29, 2005 about the wonderful house she owns in Hubbard, Texas that I visited.