Swingin' Doors and Whiskey River: the first words I learned to say Willie, Merle, and all those outlaws was all that daddy'd ever play These beer joints where I'm workin', I started workin' at sixteen Now if I look a little ragged must be those thirty years between My first single hit the big-time, for a while there I was hot I can't recall the early nineties; these last ten I'd rather not There are mornings when I wonder what I can show for all my time Oh, but I sure can sing with feeling, "Whiskey river take my mind" This honky tonkin' way of livin', I've been livin' way too long 'Scuse me if I'm late for heaven – I just lived a country song Now at this Super 8 in Reno, a couple screamin' through the wall I'm layin' in my jeans and dreamin' about a girl in Omaha Well that's been twenty years and Counting–I can't go back there anyhow I hitched my wagon to a heartache and Lord, I'm sleepin' with it now This honky tonkin' way of livin' will make a weak out of the strong Don't tell your troubles to me Mister until you've lived a country song When that lost highway finds you Those family ties won't bind you No matter how your mama may cry Just follow Hank down that highway 'Til you feel it when you say: "I'm so lonesome I could cry" This honky tonkin' way of livin', I've been livin' way too long 'Scuse me if I'm late for heaven – I just lived a country song And if I never get to heaven it's 'cause I lived a country song