Another stand-out tune from Will’s eponymous 1991 MCA album, this one sounds a strong autobiographical note from the emerging young songwriter.
In introducing this song at his Austin City Limits videotaping that same year, he spoke of his San Angelo, Texas hometown, saying, “It’s a great place to be from…it’s a great place to leave, too!”
It’s a barbed wire town
Where strong hands
Run cattle down
And burn the brands.
And the legend ‘round here
Is an old wild bull,
He always broke clear of the push and pull,
Everyone thought he was bound to slow,
He’s never been caught for the rodeo.
He’s got a strut for a walk,
An eye for a fight,
We had moonlit talks on Friday nights.
I’m comin’ —
Comin’ to my senses.
I’m runnin’ —
Runnin’ through the fences.
It’s a farming town
Where strong hands
Run children down
And burn the brands.
It’s a barbed wire kind of philosophy
Where maverick minds are never free.
And more than most of the tears are hid,
Einstein’s ghost cries for the kids.
And when I was young,
They started ropin’ —
Now the round-up’s done
And I ain’t broken.
I’m comin’ —
Comin’ to my senses.
I’m runnin’ —
Runnin’ through the fences.
So, in self-defense,
I’m leaving this town.
There’s one more fence
I’m tearing down.
The moon is full,
And he’ll see me coming —
Gonna send that old wild bull a-runnin’…
Gonna watch him break in the early dawn
When this town awakes,
We’ll both be gone.
Gonna hang my hope on a bareback stand,
My reins, no ropes, no bridle, no brands…
I’m comin’ —
Comin’ to my senses.
I’m runnin’ —
Runnin’ through the fences.I’m comin’ —
Comin’ to my senses.
I’m runnin’ —
Runnin’ through the fences.
with the Resentments @ Saxon Pub: Scrappy Jud Newcomb (mandolin),
Miles Zuniga (guitar), Bruce Hughes (bass),
John Chipman (drums) with Kim Deschamps (pedal steel)
(added bridge before final verse — from SpazioMusica 2007)
Like a fire in the rain
Burning like sunlight
In my veins
Buller's back porch 