So when I was 17,
my dad moved to a little gambling town
in southern Mississippi called Biloxi,
Mississippi,
which is fine, he just forgot to tell his family
where he was going.
And a few years later,
I was figuring out songwriting,
writing a bunch of songs,
and trying to get to that place
where you really hit your stride, I guess,
or at least where you feel like you know what's going on.
At the time,
I was listening to a bunch of Billy Joe Shaver's
music.
He had a band called Shaver with his son, Eddie.
And I was way into it and started figuring out all this stuff.
I knew I'd grown up listening to his stuff
through Waylon Jennings and other people cutting his stuff,
but I kind of discovered him as a songwriter in my early 20s.
And I like to say that I stole from him,
but what I stole from him wasn't words.
It was the approach to writing,
so close to your heart
and so personal that the song actually is so personal
that it becomes universal and everybody can understand
what you're talking about,
because really when it comes down to it,
man,
we're all going through the same *.
So this is a song about my dad,
actually for my dad,
asking a few questions called Biloxi.
I've been out all night long and
never have held to pay down in Biloxi.
Even when you're 41,
just forget your problems down in Biloxi.
And you only came around
to take a rest or come down from Biloxi.
But you were not the same.
Pretending that you cared.
Pretending you were there and not in Biloxi.
And the Gulf of Mexico.
Where I guess the girls, they're pretty.
Nobody says it's late.
And you can't stay out all night long
and never have held to pay down in Biloxi.
Even when you're 41,
just forget your problems down in Biloxi.
Well,
did you really think you'd find
more than you left behind back home in Houston?
We all felt the loss.
Hey, I don't mean to bring you down,
but I still wonder what you found there in Biloxi.
Was it worth the cost?
Well, I hope the girls were pretty.
Nobody said it was late.
And I hope you stayed out all night long and that you never
had held to pay down in Biloxi.
When you were 41,
just forgot your problems down in Biloxi.