Wouldn’t Change A Thing

If I could have another time around the wheel

If I could live my life again

If I could be anyone who I wanted to be

I’d probably end up just the same

My life’s been good to me

Kind of strange

I always wanted it that way

The goals some people may have wanted me to reach

Just weren’t for me

I couldn’t play their game

I wouldn’t change a thing

Some folks just drifted into lives they never wanted

They don’t know why; somehow they ended up that way

They wake up in the morning, trapped by circumstances

Or some bad luck that found them on the way

They’re scared they’ll find out

There’s nothing worth believing

So they hold on tight

To anything that they can

Some get religion; some get rich

Some just stay high

Some want to start all over again

I wouldn’t change a thing

Every wrong step that I took

Every mistake that I made

Put me on the road that led me here

I had regrets and then I let them go

I don’t live life in the rear view mirror

Some days I look around and wonder how I got here

Sometimes I’m sure there must be more

Some nights I sit outside with friends I can depend on

While we wonder what the future has in store

My life’s been good to me

Kind of strange

I always wanted it that way

The goals some people may have wanted me to reach

Just weren’t for me

I couldn’t play their game

I wouldn’t change a thing

© Words and music by Jim Patton

We’re Not So Different

My Daddy was an engineer

A military man

He played shortstop in college

He could fix things with his hands

While I was never handy

I gave up college for a band

Failed my Army physical

He was not my biggest fan

We talked about the Orioles

Instead of Vietnam

He taught me by example

Though I did not see it then

We argued over Nixon

He hated my long hair

But that was just the smaller stuff

That happened everywhere

You know, we’re not so different

Though we thought we were for years

Sometimes our words brought anger

Driven by our fears

But he taught me how to stand up

For whatever I believed

You know, we’re not so different

That’s just how it seemed

Then we worked on my old car

In my Daddy’s drive

I needed help, he flipped a switch,

The engine came alive

I said: “Hey Dad, Why didn’t I

Inherit that from you?”

And he said: “I don’t know, son,

How come I can’t write a tune?”

He looked at me with different eyes

Once he saw me as a man

Then he saw a lot in me

He didn’t used to understand

I never joined the Army

He never wrote a song

But we are not so different

I should have known that all along

You know, we’re not so different

Though we thought we were for years

Sometimes our words were angry

Driven by our fears

But he taught me how to stand up

For whatever I believed

No, we’re not so different

That’s just how it seemed

You know, we’re not so different

That’s just how we were perceived

© words and music by Jim Patton and Albert Keith

Hard Times

Old man McCartney finally died

Went to his grave unsatisfied

Gravedigger wishes he was under that hill

When he comes home to his stack of unpaid bills

You remember Frank who lived on Jennings Road?

Bank foreclosed, he ain’t got no home

These are hard times

New mother sneaks out in the middle of the night

Leaves her baby crying by the riverside

Night clerk says: “This town’s a joke!”

Takes the money from the register and goes for broke

Sirens screaming in the early morning rain

Times like these drive a man insane

These are hard times

Stockbroker driving his coupe de ville

Money’s rolling in to Capitol Hill

Everybody’s asking: “Which way to the top?”

Somebody always wants what somebody else has got

Some guy’s dressed up in red, white, and blue

He’s lying to me and he’s lying to you too

These are hard times

© words and music by Jim Patton and Lew Morris

Goodbye Joe Williams

If he looked like a carnival barker

He came by it honestly

Cause he used to work the midways

From Texas to Tennessee

Then he moved down to the Gulf Coast

Made his home out on the beach

With a couple of rags and a lean-to

And whatever he could scrounge to eat

I did not know him way back when

He was strung out on heroin

Or when he went to jail

For petty theft and loitering

But my life was all the richer

Because he was my friend

Goodbye to you Joe Williams

I’ll see you round the bend

He joined the music business

Where con artists fit right in

And in that world of thieves and crooks

He became an honest man

He used to book a redneck bar

Where I played with my first band

And it was after a party at his house

We played the 8X10

And while he was our manager

He ran the Club Tic Toc

Where at night the sign flashed: “Girls Girls Girls”

Off Baltimore’s famous Block

My life was all the richer

Because he was my friend

Goodbye to you Joe Williams

I’ll see you round the bend

He came to a show in Baltimore

On a cold November night

Told us he was proud of us

We didn’t know

He was saying goodbye

I saw him down a thousand times

But he always got back up

I guess he hit rock bottom

I guess the world became too much

I’ll never know just what it was

That made him quit the fight

But sometimes he saw darkness

When surrounded by the light

Maybe it had been too long

Since a friend called out his name?

He believed in all of us

And we’ll never be the same

Our lives were all the richer

Because he was our friend

Goodbye to you Joe Williams

We’ll see you round the bend

We’ll see you round the bend

Goodbye to you my friend

Goodbye Joe Williams

© Words & music by Jim Patton

My Friends Seemed Like Strangers

Well I went to a party in Catonsville

My closest friends were there

Everybody talking and laughing

Good music everywhere

But I felt out of place and I wandered away

Through a cul de sac of broken dreams

I don’t know when we drifted apart

But my friends seemed like strangers to me

I don’t feel close to anyone

It’s time I left this town

They’re cynical and cold and trying to prove

They’ve reached some higher ground

They say my attitude’s wrong and it’s me that’s changed

Maybe they see what I can’t see

But all around me everybody was running scared

And my friends seemed like strangers to me

Some had just stopped trying;

Might as well have started dying

Some were telling me the only way to live

Some still wanted to be famous

Most were unhappy

Some had given all they thought they had to give

I went upstairs looking for someone

To hang out with for awhile

Somebody openhearted

To make it all worthwhile

But my friends kept talking about the end of our world

All about the days that used to be

And I never felt so low as I did that night

When my friends seemed like strangers to me

© words and music by Jim Patton

Mean Old Man

Mean old man, I won’t see you again

Mean old man, I won’t see you again

You won’t have to shake my hand

Or pretend you are my friend

Mean old man, I won’t see you again

You had everything a man could need

Everything a man could need

But you didn’t have enough

To satisfy your greed

You had everything a man could need

You chased your friends away

You chased your friends away

No one could disagree

With anything you’d say

So you chased your friends away

You treated everyone like dirt

You treated everyone like dirt

Your words were cruel and angry

And guaranteed to hurt

You treated everyone like dirt

You’ll die in Baltimore

You’ll die back in Baltimore

But I won’t shed no tears

Cause I just don’t care no more

You’ll die back in Baltimore

There’ll be no flowers on your grave

There’ll be no flowers on your grave

Your epitaph will read

“He never once forgave”

There’ll be no flowers on your grave

I wrote this song for you

I wrote this song for you

I know you’re probably wondering

If it’s worth your while to sue

I wrote this song for you

Mean old man, I won’t see you again

Mean old man, I won’t see you again

You won’t have to shake my hand

Or pretend you are my friend

Mean old man, I won’t see you again

© words and music by Jim Patton

I Didn’t Stay Down

Two big Tennessee Boys

Beat me up down by the creek

I was smallest in my class

So they figured I was weak

If youre a little too bright

In a dead end town

Some local bullies

Will start pushing you around

But I didn’t stay down

I didn’t stay down

Mouth full of mud

Face full of blood

But I, I didn’t stay down

A bunch of kids gathered round

Told me to play dead

But white hot rage

Came over me instead

I kept getting up

Though my shirt turned bloody red

The crowd shouted: leave him alone

And those bullies fled

Because I didn’t stay down

I didn’t stay down

Mouth full of mud

Face full of blood

But I didn’t stay down

They say what doesn’t kill you

Only makes you stronger

And those Tennessee boys

Couldn’t hurt me any longer

Face down in the mud

The truth that I found

Sometimes winning means just

Getting off the ground

So I didn’t stay down

I didn’t stay down

Mouth full of mud

Face full of blood

But I didn’t stay down

I didn’t stay down

I didn’t stay down

words and music by Jim Patton, Jerry Mayer, and Frank Mirenzi

Everyone Needs Someone (To Look Down On)

Well, a governor looks up to a president

And a president wants to be king

But they both have someone they can look down on

And that’s the most important thing

Everyone needs someone to look down on

A boss looks down on the people he bosses

Then one of those guys starts bossing you

So you take it out on some guy in a bar

With a weird accent or a strange tattoo

You just need someone to look down on

Everyone needs someone to look down on

A wife might look down on her husband

Cause of something he probably did

And he starts looking for somebody to blame

And he ends up with his kid

He needs someone to look down on

Someone who compared to him looks small

But it isn’t much fun when you’re on the bottom

And you don’t have anyone you can look down on at all

A rich man looks down on a poor man

And a poor man looks down on his shoes

And maybe he gets angry and picks up a gun

And says: “What the hell have I got to lose?”

He just needs someone to look down on

Everyone needs someone to look down on

Now there’s plenty of people around this town

Who might look down on what I am

But I must confess I look down on them

So I really don’t give a damn

Everyone needs someone to look down on

We like having someone underneath our feet

The secret is out!

We all need someone to look down on

Maybe you’ll excuse me for being so indiscreet

© written by Frank Mirenzi & Jim Patton

On a Hilltop by Old County Road

They sat on the ground

At the top of the hill

Where her street

Met Old County Road

He asked if she was sleeping

With that guy from Ohio

She wished she could have said no

The rest of the day

Was like a bad dream

Everything heightened and bold

That day was the loss of his innocence

On a hilltop by Old County Rd

She remembers that day so well, so well

Her loss was permanent too

From the top of the hill

Her life spiraled down

She could no longer tell what was true

A series of lovers, drinking and drugs,

A past that wouldn’t let go

Something inside her died that day

On a hilltop by Old County Rd

He fell apart

For a number of years

That seemed so dark at the time

Then he fell in love

And finally broke loose

Of the grip she had on his mind

She made amends a million years later

Catching them both by surprise

She said she was sorry

It was a drunken mistake

She’d carried it all of her life

These days she looks back

With regret but not shame

Another unchosen road

Now it’s just something that happened

On a hilltop by Old County Rd

Oh yeah, it’s just something that happened

On a hilltop by Old County Rd

© words and music by Jim Patton

Happy Family

See the family portrait

Hanging on the wall

20 people happy then

The picture says it all

Then everybody got divorced

Except for Sher and me

And that was just the first blow

To our happy family

Daddy died; then Mom got sick

Chaos everywhere

Old resentments bubbled up

I didn’t know were there

When money came around

It was followed close by greed

That’s really all you need to know

About our happy family

Who took all the silver?

Where did the piano go?

Where are all Dad’s 78s?

Were they sold on Antique Row?

That picture didn’t represent

What we all should have known

Bickering in public

Irritated tones

Now there’s no more common ground

No more fantasy

No more use pretending ‘bout

Our happy family

Who took all the silver?

Where did the piano go?

Where are all Dad’s 78s?

Were they sold on Antique Row?

See the family portrait

Now it’s history

All that’s left are memories of

Our happy family

© words and music by Jim Patton and Kate Patton

(Kate Patton is represented by BMI)

Deep in My Heart

You came up to me with your eyes open wide

You’d just flown too close to the sun

Your wings had been burned and you’d lost all your pride

Oh babe, you were a desperate one

So I gave you what comfort I could in the night

With the sweetness of love when it’s new

And we shared something deeper than darkness or light

Like you were someone I already knew

If your life is as empty and broken tonight

As a Baltimore street in the dark

You can come home to me if you’re lonely and scared

There’s a place for you deep in my heart

There’s a place somewhere deep in my heart

We burned like a comet for a moment in time

Two people spinning as one

Then it was over; I guess you got scared

The magic was suddenly gone

You went away when you thought you had healed

Guess we weren’t the permanent kind

I was too stubborn to follow your road

And you were not ready for mine

If your life is as empty and broken tonight

As a Baltimore street in the dark

You can come home to me if you’re lonely and scared

There’s a place for you deep in my heart

There’s a place somewhere deep in my heart

I wonder if you’re up in Boston tonight

Or living outside of L.A.

Or waiting on tables or raising a family

Or keeping alive an old flame

And I wonder if you ever think about me

‘Cause I never forgot about you

I hold onto that time in the back of my mind

When I need something honest and true

If your life is as empty and broken tonight

As a Baltimore street in the dark

You can come home to me if you’re lonely and scared

There’s a place for you deep in my heart

There’s a place somewhere deep in my heart

There’s a place for you deep in my heart

There’s a place somewhere deep in my heart

© words & music by Jim Patton

Ghosts In This Room Tonight

There are ghosts in this room tonight

Haunting every word I say

There are ghosts in this room tonight

Friends we lost along the way

They never left me; they’re still by my side

You just can’t see them cause they’re painfully shy

There are ghosts in this room tonight

Haunting every word I sing

There are ghosts in this room tonight

Haunting every word I speak

Every thought, every mannerism,

Everything that makes me “me”

I owe a debt I can never repay

But you can bet I’m gonna try to anyway

There are ghosts in this room tonight

Haunting every word I sing

There’s a ghost in this room tonight

Haunting every note I play

Even if I wanted to

I couldn’t make him go away

He’s such a part of me

After all these years

I look for his applause

And hold back my tears

There’s a ghost in this room tonight

Haunting every word I sing

There are ghosts in this room tonight

Haunting every word I sing

© words and music by Jim Patton