(verse)
School days, purple Stingray, banana seat bike
I’d ride, by your house cause you’re the girl I liked
Sometimes, I’d catch you walkin’ and slow way down
At 15, our whole world was our little town now
(half chorus)
  Way back when, we were children
  Way back when, and it was so cool
  Way back when, there was nothin’
  We couldn’t do and so we
(verse)
Tied up, a big ol’ rope in the oak tree
Took turns, playin’ Tarzan, you and me
Don’t know, how we kept from breakin’ our necks
So young, so fun, so what the heck, now
(chorus)
  Way back when, we were children
  Way back when, and it was so cool
  Way back when, there was nothin’
  We couldn’t do and

  Way back when, we had good times
  Way back when, and innocence ruled
  Way back when, we had each other
  And we still do, now Baby
(bridge)
   This, is, the, future and, what’s now was then
   See how these good things, can, all come round again yeah
(verse)
Road Kings, Chevy Stingray, an S.U.V.
Looks like we made it Baby, you and me
Sometimes we’ll take a break and slow way down
Cause these days, our whole world, is our little town yeah
(chorus)
  Way back when, we were children
  Way back when, and it was so cool
  Way back when, there was nothin’
  We couldn’t do and

  Way back when, we had good times
  Way back when, and innocence ruled
  Way back when, we had each other
  And we still do, now Baby
(bridge)
   This, is, the, future and, what’s now was then
   See how these good things, can, all come round again yeah

(tag) 
From way back when
         
Way back when



©   7/05  J. Michael Tracy   All Rights Reserved


Way Back When (s)

(verse 1)
Looked herself in the mirror, she said
“It’ll never be clearer than this, I’m just playin’ the part

I can wait, but he ain’t commin’
And the clock is still runnin’—overtime—I’m just foolin’ my heart”

(chorus)
She thought she’d die, the night he said goodbye
He said “there’s no point in askin’ why
Cause the love we both used to share
Isn’t there, anymore”

(verse 2)
Looked herself in the mirror, she said
“I think it’ll be better for me, like a walk in the park

(chorus)
She thought she’d die, the night he said goodbye
He said “there’s no point in askin’ why
Cause the love we both used to share
Isn’t there, anymore”

(bridge)
She must accept that this is how it is
That he’s not hers, but she’s still his

(instrumental verse)

(chorus)
She thought she’d die, the night he said goodbye
He said “there’s no point in askin’ why
Cause the love we both used to share
Isn’t there, anymore”

(outro)
Looked herself in the mirror, she said
“ I was wrong, now it’s clearer, and I like what I see


©  3/99  J. Michael Tracy  All Rights Reserved


In the mirror (s)f

(verse 1)
Across this land of Dixie, for whom our fathers died
They’re marching in their ignorance to kill our southern pride

They’ve never even taken time to try and understand
The meanin’ of this Battle Flag to the southern man
(verse 2)
To them the truth means nothing though it’s been clear to see
The flag our fathers died for, was not for slavery

The taxes and the tariffs and making their own laws
The rape of our economy became the final straw
(chorus)
    The Papers and the TV portray the southern man
    A racist and a bigot anytime they can

    They try to change our history but we ain’t gonna bend
    This Battle Flag’s forever and The South will rise again
    Again
(verse 3)
When our country needs us to help them save the world
No one holds a candle to a Southern Boy or Girl

Don’t try to change our heritage cause one can never tell
Just when you’re claimin’ victory you’re gonna  hear--- the Rebel Yell
(chorus)  
   The Papers and the TV portray the southern man
    A racist and a bigot anytime they can

    They try to change our history but we ain’t gonna bend
    This Battle Flag’s forever and The South will rise again
(outro)    
 Don’t try and change our history cause we will never bend
This Battle Flag’s forever and The South will rise again

Again
                                                               
 ©   4/00   J. Michael Tracy   All Rights Reserved                                                                        


The South'll Rise Again (s)

(verse 1)
In the mountains of Carolina, you will find me----in a stream
Salted minnows, fishin’ Brookies, livin’ this old----redneck’s dream

When I left that damned old city, didn’t have a----second thought
I believe I’m very lucky to have found what----can’t be bought

(chorus)
   From the Rainbows of Watauga
   To the Browns of Big Horse Creek
   In the Mountains of Carolina
   I will find there, what I seek

(verse 2)
Never look back, never wonder what I’m missin’----from that place
I don’t care bout, what’s on TV, got no cell phone----in my face

Livin’ simple, is the good life, I don’t mind if----I’m alone
Cause I’m findin’, what I need here, Carolina----mountain home.

(chorus)
   From the Rainbows of Watauga
   To the Browns of Big Horse Creek
   In the Mountains of Carolina
   I will find there, what I seek


(verse 3)
If you find me, in the country, don’t be askin’----me to go
To the good life, in the city, cause I’ve been there----and I know


That the Mountains, of Carolina are the place where----I should be
Lord I live there, gonna die there, I belong there----and I’m free

(chorus)
   From the Rainbows----of Watauga
   To the Browns of---Big Horse Creek
   In the Mountains---of Carolina
   I will find there---what I seek
(outro)
   From the Rainbows---of Watauga
   To the big Browns--out in--Cherokee 
   I belong here---in the mountains
   Of Carolina—where I’m free
   In the mountains where I’m free---oh yeah


©  3/00   J. Michael Tracy   All Rights Reserved


In the mountains (of Carolina)  (s)

(verse 1)
--Crowded streets--and still alone I’m
-Not myself---this ain’t home been thinkin’ bout
--A country girl I know

--Lost my heart--and took for granted
-The simple life--the love we’d planted
---I shoulda’ stayed----to see it grow

(chorus)
   --Carolina mountain rain
   --Help me wash away the pain and
   ----Let me hold her---once again
   -A broken heart--heals in time—
   --So somehow---could you find your way to
   --Help me heal this pain
   -----Carolina mountain rain

(verse 2)    
--Now and then—I chance ta see her
-An’ I can’t bring--myself to greet her
----I don’t know what to say

--She’s found—another lover
-And now my heart’s discovered what I’ve lost
---Cause-I-just-let her-slip-away 

(chorus)
   --Carolina mountain rain
   --Help me wash away the pain and
   ----Let me hold her---once again
   -A broken heart--heals in time—
   --So somehow---could you find your way to
   --Help me heal this pain
   -----Carolina mountain rain

(bridge)
   -I know she thinks I-didn’t care
   ----But I still do----and it ain’t fair

(instrumental verse)

(chorus)
   --Carolina mountain rain
   --Help me wash away the pain and
   ----Let me hold her---once again
   -A broken heart--heals in time—
   --So somehow---could you find your way to
   --Help me heal this pain
   -----Carolina mountain rain

Ohhhhh yeah


 ©  6/00   J. Michael Tracy & Rick Lockwood  All Rights Reserved                                                  


Carolina Mountain Rain (s)1

(verse 1 female)
You come home smellin like you haven’t warshed in 20 years
A wiskey bottle in one hand, in your arm a case of beer                             
You stand there for a moment, and contemplate the door
You take one step and like a tree, fall face first to the floor

(chorus 1 male)
“Sombody Help Me!” 
Well I’m three sheets to the wind, just call my next of kin
Please take this bottle and knock me over the head
When she finds out the score, she’ll kill me that’s for shore                                   
Cause I’m through my friend, I’m three sheets to the wind            

(verse 2 female)
Well I’m tired of draggin you to bed and cleanin up the floor
I’m tired of waitin up all night so’s I can hear you snore
This ain’t how life’s supposed to be, your chips I’m cashin in                
You come home drinkin one more time and I’ma gonna do you in     

(bridge male)
“Now What Am I Gonna Do?” 
Somewhere one drink turned into twelve
I just don’t remember how
And as soon as she finds out by God                                                                     
She’s gonna have a cow!       

(chorus 2 male and female)
(male)
Cause I’m three sheets to the wind, just call my next of kin                                 
(female)
“Just call his next of kin”        
(male)
Please take this bottle and knock me over the head
(female)
“I’ll knock him over the head”
(male)
When she finds out the score, she’ll kill me that’s for shore
(female)
“I’ll kill him that’s for shore”
(male)
Cause I’m through my friend, I’m three sheets to the wind
(female)
“Cause he’s through my friend he’s three sheets to the wind”
(male)
When she finds out the score, she’ll kill me that’s for shore
(female)
“I’ll kill him that’s for shore” 
(male)
Cause I’m through my friend, I’m three sheets to the wind
(female)
“Cause he’s through my friend, he’s three sheets to the wind”
(male)
Cause I’m through my friend, I’m three sheets to the wind
(female)
“Cause he’s through my friend, he’s three sheets to the wind”     

  

©      8/98   J. Michael Tracy   All Rights Reserved                                                             


3 sheets to the wind  (s)

(verse 1)
They ask me what I see in you, it’s hard for me to say
Cause what you give and what I need, come out in different ways

When you opened up my door, I could see that there was more
And honey, that’s what I was looking for
(chorus)
But what you say and what you mean are completely different things
You don’t lie but when you do, what I say can always convince you
That I’ll come back and don’t know why
Guess I still believe, in you and I
(verse 2)
I sometimes think that it ain’t right, when you won’t be real
But when you put your hands in mine, you melt a heart made of steel

If I’d open up my eyes, I’d look around and realize
That all this time I’ve been asleep at the wheel
(bridge)
There’ll always be the chance that I will leave
A little detail you just can’t conceive

Now you think you’ve told me, all I need to know
So hold me darling and never let me go
(chorus)
But what you say and what you mean are completely different things
You don’t lie but when you do, what I say can always convince you
That I’ll come back but don’t know why
Guess I still believe, in you and I
(outro fade)
In you and I

Guess I still believe in you and I

In you and I

I still believe in you and I

I still believe

I still believe in you and I
I still believe



©    6/99   J. Michael Tracy    All Rights Reserved


I still believe (s)

(verse 1)
I was losin’ my mind, ya know it happens every time
I get blinded like a fool and people start usin’ me

Sliding out to the edge, feelin’ like I’m gonna fall off the ledge
Into a bottomless pit leadin’ down to eternity

When I get away, I’ll find a cabin by a stream and I’ll stay
Where the nearest neighbor is one or two ridges away

I tried to play the part, there’s no tellin’ what it’s done to my heart
Just get me back to the country and let me make a brand new start

(pre chorus)
I’ll find me a girl that is willing to see
That citified livin’ holds nothin’ for me
If I stay here I’ll be better off dead
I need to be back where I was born and bred
(chorus)
Mountains in springtime, under the grapevine
Cool taste of sweet wine, the air is clean and the rain is fallin’

Livin’ the good life, no city stress or strife
Fishin’ pole and a good wife, from now on this’ll be my callin’ yeah

(instrumental verse)

(verse 2)
I’ll have a view of the hills, you know I never get tired of the thrills
Of the strike of a trout or a coyote callin’

I’ll climb the mountain top, and when I’m there I don’t think that I’ll stop
Into the sky I will fly and I’m never commin’ down

 (pre chorus)
I’ll find me a girl that is willing to see
That citified livin’ holds nothin’ for me
If I stay here I’ll be better off dead
I need to be back where I was born and bred
(chorus)
Mountains in springtime, under the grapevine
Cool taste of sweet wine, the air is clean and the rain is fallin’

Livin’ the good life, no city stress or strife
Fishin’ pole and a good wife, from now on this’ll be my callin’ yeah

(pre chorus)
I’ll find me a girl that is willing to see
That citified livin’ holds nothin’ for me
If I stay here I’ll be better off dead
I need to be back where I was born and bred
(chorus)
Mountains in springtime, under the grapevine
Cool taste of sweet wine, the air is clean and the rain is fallin’

Livin’ the good life, no city stress or strife
Fishin’ pole and a good wife, from now on this’ll be my callin’ yeah

Ohhhhh ohhhh ohhhhhhh
Ohhhhh ohhhh ohhhhhhh
Ohhhhh ohhhh ohhhhhhh



©   3/98   J. Michael Tracy   All Rights Reserved


Mountains in springtime   (s)

(verse 1)
Well I was rarin’ to go in twenty, twenty three
My daddy said boy don’t ya grow up and be like me, yeah
Just bein’ alive ain’t enough you see, waitin’ for your ship to come in
You gotta make it yourself or you ain’t never, gonna win
 
So don’t you ever give up, no matter how mean people can be
Don’t give up all of your life for people wantin’ everything for free, yeah
You wanna take what you need, give when you can, grow strong like a redwood tree
Make a name for yourself and make me proud as I can be

(chorus)
Go get yourself a pretty little mountain girl
Give her all you got and she’ll rock your world
And take it to the limit, life is too short ya see, yeah

Ya gotta live in the future and forget the past
Get yourself some dreams that are built to last
So put your heads together and don’t you ever give in, yeah
Get ready to rock and roll, let the show begin

(instrumental verse)

(chorus 2)
Just get yourself a pretty little mountain girl
Give her all you got and she’ll rock your world
Take it to the limit, life is too short ya see, yeah

Ya gotta live in the future and forget the past
Get yourself some dreams that are built to last
So put your heads together and don’t you ever give in, yeah
Get ready to rock and roll, let the show begin
(verse 2)
Well it’s been 15 years since I told him I’d make him proud
And I can see it in his eyes when I’m singin’ up in front of the crowd, yeah

Cause I’m proud of my woman, try to be a man
Proud to Country Rock because I can
So put your hands together and don’t you ever give in, yeah
Get ready to rock and roll, let the show begin

Are you ready to rock and roll, let the show begin

We’re ready to rock and roll, let the show begin

(instrumental outro)



©   4/98  J. Michael Tracy   All Rights Reserved


Let the show begin (s)

(verse)
I don’t know just where I’ve been
But somethin strange is---happenin’
Seems to me like Country’s--disappeared 
--We thought it was here to stay
--But somehow it just slipped away
I do believe that it’s been gone for years

(chorus)
   Been searchin these radio stations too long
   And can’t find one real-- Country song

    Don’t know what it is but it sure ain’t Country
    It’s too dang pop or it’s way too funky
    --Country songs ain’t what they used to be

    If old Hank could just see Nashville now
    ------He’d give em hell I guarantee 

    Don’t know what that is-but it sure ain’t Country to me

(verse 2)
Well we let em die—and it’s a sin
But good ol days’ll be----back again
With songs that we all love it ain’t no lie
And we’ll all feel like kids you know
When we’re listenen to the--- radio
Them songs that made us dance and made us cry

(chorus)
   Been searchin these radio stations too long
   And can’t find one real-- Country song

    Don’t know what it is but it sure ain’t Country
    It’s too dang pop or it’s way too funky
    --Country songs ain’t what they used to be

    If old Hank could just see Nashville now
    ------He’d give em hell I guarantee 

    Don’t know what that is-but it sure ain’t Country to me

(bridge)
   Those songs that we were raised on--are songs they--gotta play
   Please let me hear “Your Cheatin Heart” or take me down that old “Lost Highway” 

(instrumental.verse)
 
(chorus)
   Been searchin these radio stations too long
   And can’t find one real-- Country song

    Don’t know what it is but it sure ain’t Country
    It’s too dang pop or it’s way too funky
    --Country songs ain’t what they used to be,   yeah

    If old Hank could just see Nashville now
    ------He’d give em hell I guarantee 

    Don’t know what that is-but it sure ain’t Country to me


(outro)
   Don’t know what that is but it sure ain’t Country to me

                                                          

©  6/00   J. Michael Tracy & Rick Lockwood   All Rights Reserved


It sure aint Country to me   (s)1

(verse 1)
Spied you in the record store checkin’ out CD’s
I was thumbin’ through the R’s and you were in the T’s
My heart was doin’ flip flops, and when we got in line
I decided then and there to make you mine
(chorus)
   So get ready
   Baby get ready
   Girl I’ve made my mind up and honey you’re the one

   So get ready
   Baby get ready
   This ain’t no game of hide and seek
   So watch out girl cause I’m gonna peek
   Ready or not now Baby here I come

(verse 2)
All my life I never thought that I would see the day
When I would meet that someone-who’d steal my heart away
And though I haven’t met you yet I bet that when I do
If mine is yours then yours will be mine too

(chorus)
   So get ready
   Baby get ready
   Girl I’ve made my mind up and honey you’re the one

   So get ready
   Baby get ready
   This ain’t no game of hide and seek
   So watch out girl cause I’m gonna peek
   Ready or not now Baby here I come

(bridge)
   You know, I know, that I don’t know
   Exactly what you’ll say
   But I have my suspicions
   And when give yourself away I’m ready

(instrumental verse)

(chorus)
   So get ready
   Baby get ready
   Girl I’ve made my mind up and honey you’re the one

   So get ready
   Baby get ready
   This ain’t no game of hide and seek
   So watch out girl cause I’m gonna peek
   Ready or not now Baby here I come

   So get ready
   Baby get ready
   This ain’t no game of hide and seek
   So watch out girl cause I’m gonna peek
   Ready or not now Baby here I come

(outro)
   Ready or not now Baby here I come

                                                

©   7/04   J. Michael Tracy     All Rights Reserved


Get Ready   (s)2

My name is John Michael Tracy I write songs, jmtsongs.com , love photography, hunting, fishing and all of the outdoors. I was born on Jan. 11, 1957 in Elmira, NY.  I’m the oldest of six children, and my family lived, for most of my youth, in Athens, PA., which is right across the border from Upstate New York.   
	My parents had me take piano lessons when I was a kid, and when I was a teenager, I taught myself to play guitar.  Some friends and I had a country band, and we played local spots for a while.
	In my early twenties, I bought a 4-track recorder and enjoyed playing and recording songs that I liked from the Eagles, Jim Croce, Lobo, David Gates and Bread, Dan Fogelberg, etc.  I sent the recordings to my Grandfather, who had a band when he was young and performed all over upstate Pennsylvania and New York.  One day he asked me why I didn’t write my own songs.  The thought had never occurred to me, but once I’d considered it, it sounded like a great idea, and I told him that I bet I could do it.  
	After the first hundred songs or so, I called a few record companies to let them know that there was a new talent ready to take over the songwriting world, and they suggested I join NSAI first to help me hone my craft.  So I did.  In the mean time, I was sending quite a few of my songs to Washington to be copyrighted.
	A Publisher/Writer named Donn Hecht (most famous for co-writing Patsy Cline’s “Walkin’ After Midnight”) had someone working for him in Washington that noticed the number of songs I was copywriting.  Donn contacted me and asked me to send him some material. I did. He became my publisher, mentor and friend until his death in October 2002. He taught me more about songwriting and the business than anyone I’ve ever met.
	In the Spring of 2000, I wrote a song called “The South’ll Rise Again” and sent it to the nationally syndicated “The John Boy and Billy Big Show” as a gift, never imagining they’d ever do anything with it.  They were impressed enough to play it on the air, and it has been on their “Best Of” shows ever since.
	After the terrorist attacks of 9/11, I wrote a song called “Give’m Hell U.S.A.”  and  sent it to President George Bush and some of his staff.  Both President Bush and his Chief of Staff, Andrew Card, responded with really nice thank you notes. 
	I’m also a member of the local and National GTO clubs, own a 1970 Judge, and have written several “hot rod” songs that get regular play at many car shows and cruise-ins.
           My wife Kathy and I lived and worked in Nashville for a year and met many wonderful artists and songwriters who inspired and encouraged me.
	As the successful songwriter, friend and mentor, Jerry Vandiver says, “We write, because we have to”. The music needs to come out so we do what we love, and let it flow.