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Formation log · Well 1 of 3 · Logged by R. Pike · Caliche Records
Crew Change
The debut. Recorded in Odessa over two sets of days off, between hitches. The title song was written in a pickup at the gate at eleven at night, waiting for morning tour to come out.
- 01Crew Change3:07
Words, as written on the sample bag
Eleven o'clock at the cattle guard Engine idling, heater on Mud to the knees and a hard hat cracked And eight long hours gone Driller's in the doghouse writing up the tour Forty-two hundred and the bit's wearing thin Here come the headlights off the county road Morning tour is pulling in They climb out stiff and we climb out loose Nobody talks and nobody has to Crew change, crew change Hand it off and hit the gate Crew change, crew change Somebody else can hold the weight Odessa's lit up like a payday And the night ain't even late Crew change Tell 'em number two pump's been knocking Tell 'em the shaker screen is tore Tell 'em mind the spinning chain Like we told the ones before I'm twenty-two with a hundred dollars And a pickup half paid down Eight hours of nothing but the rig Now eight hours of town Crew change, crew change Hand it off and hit the gate Crew change, crew change Somebody else can hold the weight Odessa's lit up like a payday And the night ain't even late Crew change Down in the hole the bit keeps turning It don't know that we went home Somebody's always on the brake That well is never left alone Crew change, crew change Hand it off and hit the gate Crew change, crew change Somebody else can hold the weight Odessa's lit up like a payday And the night ain't even late Crew change
- 02Evening Tour3:28
Words, as written on the sample bag
Three o'clock and the sun's still high Hundred and four on the floor Steel's too hot to grab bare-handed So you grab it and grab some more Daylight crew is gray and quiet Hands it over, heads for shade We got the whole of the evening coming And every hour of it paid Sun goes red behind the derrick Light plant catches with a roar Evening tour Three o'clock to eleven We get the sundown and the lights Evening tour Three o'clock to eleven Morning tour can have the night Come dark you can see us from the highway Twenty miles out on the flat Every bulb up the mast is burning Like a town where no town's at Mud pump pounding under the floor Driller leaning on the brake Call a connection every thirty feet Count how many we can make Sun goes red behind the derrick Light plant catches with a roar Evening tour Three o'clock to eleven We get the sundown and the lights Evening tour Three o'clock to eleven Morning tour can have the night There's a girl on Eighth Street in Odessa Leaves the porch light on for me She don't wait up, she just leaves it burning So I got one more light to see Evening tour Three o'clock to eleven We get the sundown and the lights Evening tour Three o'clock to eleven Morning tour can have the night Morning tour can have the night
- 03Make Hole2:08
Words, as written on the sample bag
Toolpusher come out at a quarter to four Stood in the doghouse door Said the company man's been on the radio And the company man wants more I don't want to hear about the weather I don't want to hear about the heat All I want to see on that tour sheet, boys Is feet, feet, feet Make hole, make hole Put the weight on the bit and let her run Make hole, make hole We can sleep when the well is done Rotary roaring and the kelly sliding down Shaker throwing rock up from a mile underground Every foot's a dollar in a Midland office And a little of it trickles down to town Pick it up, set the slips, break it out, stab it in Ninety seconds and we're turning again Make hole, make hole Put the weight on the bit and let her run Make hole, make hole We can sleep when the well is done Nobody ever bought a pickup On a hole they almost made Nobody ever got a Christmas bonus Standing in the shade Make hole, make hole Put the weight on the bit and let her run Make hole, make hole We can sleep when the well is done Make hole
- 04Ninety Feet Up3:23
Written on the monkey board.
Words, as written on the sample bag
Clip in at the top of the ladder Lean out on the belt and wait Elevators coming up the derrick Ninety feet of pipe and weight Throw the rope and pull the stand back Rack it in the fingers, set it down Elevators drop back to the floor And I got a minute to look around Ninety feet up Where the wind don't ever quit Ninety feet up I can see the whole Basin lit I can see it all from ninety feet up And I don't want to come down Mama said a boy who climbs for money Ought to have himself a plan But she never stood up on the board at sundown With all of Ector County in her hand There's a Geronimo line running to the ground For the night the rig catches fire I rode it down once in a safety drill Faster than a man should ride a wire Ninety feet up Where the wind don't ever quit Ninety feet up I can see the whole Basin lit I can see it all from ninety feet up And I don't want to come down Ninety feet's a long way down Every hand up here knows it You don't think about it And you sure don't ever show it Ninety feet up Where the wind don't ever quit Ninety feet up I can see the whole Basin lit I can see it all from ninety feet up And I don't want to come down Ninety feet up
- 05Doghouse2:30
Words, as written on the sample bag
She said you smell like diesel and you smell like mud You smell like a rig and you're never home Seven nights a hitch on evening tour Seven nights I sleep alone So I come in Sunday at a quarter to one Trying to tiptoe across the floor Found my duffel sitting on the porch And the chain across the door I'm in the doghouse, doghouse She won't let me past the door I'm in the doghouse, doghouse So I'll go sit in the one up on the floor Rig's got a doghouse with a coffee pot Ain't been washed since seventy-nine Wet gloves steaming on the heater And the driller's name signed on the line Nobody out here asks me where I been Nobody asks what took so long Driller just says pull your gloves on, son We got a connection coming on I'm in the doghouse, doghouse She won't let me past the door I'm in the doghouse, doghouse So I'll go sit in the one up on the floor Monday I'll drive into Odessa Buy her roses and a new screen door Tuesday she might let me in Wednesday I'm back on the floor I'm in the doghouse, doghouse She won't let me past the door I'm in the doghouse, doghouse So I'll go sit in the one up on the floor
- 06Caliche Road2:51
Words, as written on the sample bag
Turn off at the cattle guard past the windmill Follow the stakes with the orange flags on Dozer cut it Tuesday out of mesquite and sand Wednesday the rig was on White rock rattling under the truck Dust hanging out behind a mile Anybody on the location Sees me coming for a while Caliche road, caliche road White in the headlights, white in the sun Caliche road, caliche road Gets you there and it gets you gone Every truck in Ector County Turns the same color in a week Don't matter what it was on the lot White's the only color that it keeps Midnight after evening tour Jackrabbits in the high beams Windows down and seventy on the washboard Rattling every bolt out of the seams Caliche road, caliche road White in the headlights, white in the sun Caliche road, caliche road Gets you there and it gets you gone When this well is done they'll move the rig But the road stays where it lies White line running out across the pasture To a square of nothing and the sky Caliche road, caliche road White in the headlights, white in the sun Caliche road, caliche road Gets you there and it gets you gone Gets you there and it gets you gone
- 07Flare3:23
Words, as written on the sample bag
Out past the pit a pipe stands up out of the ground Burning off the gas there ain't a pipeline for It's been roaring since September You can hear it from the cattle guard, a mile or more I pick you up at eleven when the tour is done We run the lease road with the headlights off Don't need 'em, not with that thing burning And the whole sky orange above Flare, flare Burning money in the open air Flare, flare Light enough to see you there Spread a blanket in the bed of the truck We'll get warm by the flare You said ain't that a waste of something Somebody somewhere could use I said the man from the company told me There's more down there than we could ever lose Every rig from here to Pecos running Every motel full in town Nobody's asking where the bottom is When it's all still coming up out of the ground Flare, flare Burning money in the open air Flare, flare Light enough to see you there Spread a blanket in the bed of the truck We'll get warm by the flare Nothing burns forever, my daddy said I said Daddy, this one might He just looked out the kitchen window At the orange in the night Flare, flare Burning money in the open air Flare, flare Light enough to see you there Spread a blanket in the bed of the truck We'll get warm by the flare
- 08Highway 1912:47
Midland to Odessa, both directions.
Words, as written on the sample bag
Twenty miles of four-lane in the dark Pump jacks nodding on both sides Doing seventy on a fifty-five Past the airport landing lights Got a girl in Midland and a crew in Odessa And a pickup in between Twenty miles is nothing When you're twenty-three Highway one ninety-one Odessa to Midland and back Midland's where the money sleeps Odessa's where it's made And I'm running both directions On a derrickman's pay Her daddy wears a tie to the twelfth floor Says an Odessa boy won't do I got more cash in the glove box Than he made his first year through He says son, what are you gonna do when it quits I say sir, it ain't gonna quit Then I'm back out on the four-lane at a quarter to two With the whole sky lit Highway one ninety-one Odessa to Midland and back Midland's where the money sleeps Odessa's where it's made And I'm running both directions On a derrickman's pay Trooper pulled me over by the airport Wrote me up and let me go I said I'll pay it Friday, sir He said son, I know Highway one ninety-one Odessa to Midland and back Midland's where the money sleeps Odessa's where it's made And I'm running both directions On a derrickman's pay
- 09Friday Check2:42
Words, as written on the sample bag
Shoebox on the seat of the pusher's truck Every envelope's got a name Daddy chopped cotton out by Lamesa Took a month to make the same Bank stays open till six on Friday Line's out the door and down the street Every hand in the county in a clean shirt And the work boots on his feet Friday check Truck note, rent and boots Friday check Send a little home to Mama too Whatever's left goes out the door Saturday night on the dance hall floor Then it's back to the rig for more Friday check Band's on at nine and the floor's full by ten Hard hats hanging off the chairs Girls from Kermit and Monahans Boys from every rig out there Nobody here is counting change Nobody here is counting days Monday morning we'll be broke again And Friday's on its way Friday check Truck note, rent and boots Friday check Send a little home to Mama too Whatever's left goes out the door Saturday night on the dance hall floor Then it's back to the rig for more Friday check Old man at the bank said son Put a little bit aside I said sir, there's a Friday every week And I ain't missed one yet in my life Friday check Truck note, rent and boots Friday check Send a little home to Mama too Whatever's left goes out the door Saturday night on the dance hall floor Then it's back to the rig for more Friday check
- 10Turn to the Right3:37
Words, as written on the sample bag
First week on the floor I was nineteen Didn't know the tongs from the slips Old driller out of Snyder Took the cigarette from his lips Said son, there's one thing on a drilling rig You need to get right Every pipe and every bit and every table Turns to the right Turn to the right, turn to the right Make it up and make it tight Anything turning left out here Is coming apart, so turn to the right I had a girl in Big Spring go left on me And a truck that threw a rod Had a joint back off a mile down the hole Spent three days fishing for it, by God Every time I heard that old man say Son, you know what's right Every pipe and every bit and every table Turns to the right Turn to the right, turn to the right Make it up and make it tight Anything turning left out here Is coming apart, so turn to the right Someday I'll be the old man With a green hand on the floor Scared to death and nineteen Like I was before And I'll tell him what I was told that night Turn to the right, turn to the right Make it up and make it tight Anything turning left out here Is coming apart, so turn to the right Every pipe and every bit and every table Turns to the right