The Bottom
Performed by Charlie Robison
Written by Waylon Payne

There’s alot of chord walkup/walkdown that Charlie does in this song and I
can’t quite put all of them in the tab. Just listen to the song a few times and
you’ll get it. He also plays alternating bass strings then strums the rest of
the chords most of the time.

Elevator operator
Look at me and smile a weary smile
You know my face could easily decieve
The wisest of them all
Are you going to the penthouse
Or the condo that lies just beyond the chapel doors
He just smiled and softly told me no
I’m going to the bottom

Chorus:
I’m going all the way down
To the bottom
So turn the music up real high
And let the sweetest benedictine liquor flow
No need to worry about tomorrow
Cause you’re not here
I’m going all the way down
To the bottom

Rainy streets, Wet memory
Find a place inside to pass the time
The doug serves up my brandy and I drink
And pray your picture fades
You dressed in black
You turned your back
On the only heart that ever loved you so
The bells rang on the day you died
I’m headin to the bottom

Chorus

Charlie Robison

Verse One:
I woke up early Sunday morning, had myself a piece of toast
Had fifty dollars in my pocket, gonna chase myself a ghost||
Went down Camino Espinoza, gonna get me a di[G-i]vorce
Gonna split with all my money, see that girl who loves a horse

Chorus:
It’s New Year’s Day here on the border, and it’s always been this way
I never do the things I oughta, think I’ll stay, it’s New Year’s Day

Verse Two:
I met them boys there from O’Conner, cowboy like you never seen
They’re up for anything you want to, live on steak and refried beans
They bought up half of southern Texas, it’s why they act the way they do
When them boys meet me in Laredo, they think they own Laredo too

Repeat Chorus

Verse Three:
I know a girl here in Laredo, her name’s Py Willow Rose
She got that ring around the collar, got that ring stuck through her nose
She works there at the Dallas Cowboys, but she’s got no in between
Like all them other boys in dresses, they ain’t every Cowboys dream

Chorus:
It’s New Year’s Day here on the border, and it’s always been this way
I never do the things I oughta, think I’ll stay, it’s New Year’s Day
It’s New Year’s Day here on the border, and it’s always been this way
I never do the things I oughta, think I’ll stay, it’s New Year’s Day

Comments

Photograph
Charlie Robison

This is my second tab so if I’m way off let me know and I’ll fix it.

Capo 2

I’ve got a picture it’s glued in a book
Of most of my family that somebody took
Grandpa died early before I could know
The man that they tell me I take after so
Though I don't remember it still makes me laugh
When I see us together in a photograph

Momma and Daddy burned hot like a flame
But it all turned to ashes with no one to blame
I can still see them but not in my mind
It’s been so long that my memory's blind
Though I can't remember it still makes me laugh
When I see us together in a photograph

Well it happened last winter we had a son
And they took a picture a family round one
It's there to remind you when you can’t recall
What your daddy looked like when you were so small
Though you won't remember it still makes me laugh
When you see us together in a photograph
Though you won't remember it still makes me laugh
When you see us together in a photograph

Charlie Robison
The Preacher

Keyboard intro

Well I threw myself a party
Well, it was just the other day
Well my wife wasn’t there but my old buddies were
‘Cause somebody was goin’ away
Well I’ve lived in this town for a lifetime
And I’ve sinned from beginning to Z
And the preacher at our congregation
He knew just how to get into me

Well he’d stand there so high on his pulpit
And I knew when he talked of my soul
But that preacher he died there
With all of my lies

Chorus:
And my sins went with him when they put him in the hole
My sins went with him when they put him in the hole
Well bIess my heart let the good times roll
My sins went with him when they put him in the hole

Well he drove a Ford Fiesta
What the hell kinda car is that
Well he’d drive around here tryin’ to flush out a queer
Or the man that ran over his cat
But his heart couldn’t take all the pressure
Tryin’ to find what I already know
And my face has gone pious to cheshire

Chorus

Instrumental
Well the new preacher he is a young man
And he don’t speak as much from the book
And my wife doesn’t like that about him
But he makes up for that with his looks
So she stares up at him every Sunday
And in her eyes I can see all the lust
But I guess that I can’t be complaining
‘Cause it was me that has broken our trust
So I hope she lives long or gets lucky
And he passes before she gets old
Then she won’t have to worry ‘bout nothin’

Chorus 2:
‘Cause her sins will go with him when they put him in a hole
Her sins will go with him when they put him in the hole
Well bless her heart; let fhe good times roll
‘Cause her sins will go with him when they put him in the hole

Well bless our hearts; let the good times roll
‘Cause our sins will go with him when they put him in the hole
Our sins will go with him when they put him in the hole

This song is pretty simple and fun to play.

Standard tuning

Intro: D C C/B C/Bb

Verse:
Well, I hear that ol’ John Deere tractor
At the [C/B]low water bridge[C/Bb]
Pullin’ them drinkers across
He's draggin' so many on this[C/B] Satur[C/Bb]day night
I can smell that ol?? tractor's exhaust

CHORUS:
But the rain on the roof sounds so pretty
And the cowboys I fear for the most
The medina done broke from it'[C/B]s ragged ol[C/Bb]’ pin
And it's makin?? a run for the coast

Verse:
Then a place down on Main Street
Right across from the bank
When somebody drew on a line
‘Bout twenty foot up on that Frontier Hotel
Where it crested back in ’29
Well they said it took most of this little ol’ town
‘Cause we live on what they call the plain
Well I read all about it in the café downtown
Where they got that ol’ newspaper framed

REPEAT CHORUS

Verse:
My grandmother called ‘bout 10 minutes ago
Like she does almost every night
She said they come home way early
When a big bolt had knocked out the light
She said a cowboy got buckin’ just before it went dark
On a bull that they called Trick ‘r’ Treat
Ain’t nobody saw if he finished his ride
So I guess I’ll forget about sleep

REPEAT CHORUS
TAG:
The medina done broke from it’s ragged ol’ pin
And it’s makin’ a run for he coast

The rest of the verses are played in the same way as the first.

MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT
CHARLIE ROBISON
BEAUTIFUL DAY

WELL THERES A WOMAN IN THE CORNER SITTIN ALL ALONE
THE BARKEEP’S TALKIN ON THE BAR PAYPHONE
THERES A COUPLE ON THE DANCE FLOOR, TRIPPIN ON THE LINE
WELL TELL ME WHY I CANT FIND THE DOOR

BUT IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT, GONNA BE ALRIGHT
THE LAST CALL STILL AINT NEAR
BUT IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT, GONNA SEE THE LIGHT
WOULD WANNA BE ANY PLACE BUT HERE

BLUE BALL BETTY AND CHAINSAW BILL
A JUNE BUG CRAWLIN ON THE WINDOW SILL
PLAYBOY PICTURES ON THE BATHROOM WALL
CAN YOU TELL ME WHY I CANT MAKE SENSE OF IT ALL

IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT, GONNA BE ALRIGHT
THE LAST CALL STILL AINT NEAR
BUT IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT, GONNA SEE THE LIGHT
WOULD WANNA BE ANY PLACE BUT HERE

I FELL IN LOVE ABOUT FIFTEEN TIMES
GOT A CAR FULL OF DENTS, FACE FULL OF LINES
NUMBER SIXTEEN JUST WALKED IN
BETTER SIT UP STRAIGHT, MY MOMMA’D BE PROUD

IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT, GONNA BE ALRIGHT
THE LAST CALL STILL AINT NEAR
BUT IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT, GONNA SEE THE LIGHT
WOULD WANNA BE ANY PLACE BUT HERE

CORRECTIONS + KUDOS WELCOME

Magnolia
Charlie Robison

Beginning: G-D-G-D-G-A-D

I drove all day to North Mississippi
I drove all night to the place I call home
I hope that Johnny’s still waitin’ there for me
To take me beside him and call me his own

Chorus:
But it’s too late now
It’s too late now
The smell of magnolias
Still sweet in my mouth
And I know it's too late now

Johnny got mean when he started drinkin’
And it wasn’t nobody’s fault when he cried
So I left one mornin’ from North Mississippi
Cause I couldn’t stand to tell mama I lied

Chorus

Johnny took no time to ask me to marry
And I said I would though I knew it was wrong
They played Hank Williams in North Mississippi
And I played the same girl I had all along

Chorus

Early one mornin’ in North Mississippi
I swore that I could hear somebody cry
But it wasn’t my Johnny from North Mississippi
All dressed up in orange on the day that I died

Chorus:
But it’s too late now
It’s too late now
The smell of magnolias
Now gone from my mouth
And I know it’s too late now