Carlisle's Haul Lyrics - Complicated Game - James Mcmurtry

Old Carlisle needs some money 

He's running a seine out off the point 

We'll all go help him though 

Commercial season's closed 

We might all wind up in the joint 

There's bright lights out on the sandbar 

Hear the donkey motor whine 

The donkey man minds his business 

And I know to be minding mine 

I learned from the best 

Hear them crabbers cuss the weather 

'N' they cuss the government too 

Cause nowadays crabbing and fishing 

Hanging on to a pot to piss in 

Is just about the best a man can do 

It's hard not to cry and cuss 

This old world is just bigger than us 

And all we got is pride and trust in our kind 

Old Carlisle and Uncle Freddy 

Don'tcha know they've seen some times 

They remember gaslights 

Oyster war machine gun fights 

Wish I'd known them in their prime 

Now they stare out past the lights 

To the darkness on the water 

I don't think they're liking what they see 

Long before that seine can make a circle 

They'll know what the outcome's gonna be 

They learned from the best 

They learned from the best 

So haul that seine up in the longboat 

We get to keep whatever's gilled 

Take a bag of bunkers home 

For crab bait and bluefish chum 

String of croaker for the Sunday meal 

String of croaker makes a meal 

It's hard not to cry and cuss 

This old world is just bigger than us 

And all we got is pride and trust in our kind 

Staring down that long steep slope 

We gather round and we hold out hope 

'Cause at the end of the rope there's a little more rope 

Most times 

Uncle Freddy said we did a good job 

He's sending us home with a nine pound blue 

But I don't see a truckload for the market 

What's old Carlisle gonna do? 

'Cept haul them lights in off the sandbar 

Shut the donkey motor down 

Tow them longboats up the river 

Let's all get on back to town 

Let's all get on back to town before the warden comes 

He knows better than to get here before dawn 

He's got that green uniform and the kids think he's a jerk 

But you know it's somebody's cousin and we can't have a hometown boy out of work 

It's hard not to cry and cuss 

This old world is just bigger than us 

And all we got is pride and trust in our kind 

Staring down that long steep slope 

We gather round and we hold out hope 

'Cause at the end of the rope there's a little more rope 

Most times