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Formation log · Well 2 of 3 · Logged by R. Pike · Caliche Records
Mud Weight
The heavy one. Slower tempos, lower tuning, and Rhonda Pike's rhythm parts tracked twice. Recorded while the boom was still running, with every member working seven on and seven off.
- 01Mud Weight3:22
Words, as written on the sample bag
Ten o'clock the pit went to gaining Driller saw it from the brake Shut the pumps down and it kept on flowing That's the kind of thing a well don't fake Close the preventer, call the pusher Call the company man in town Word come back across the radio Weight it up and hold it down Mud weight, mud weight Something a mile down wants out Mud weight, mud weight Get it heavy, hold it down You don't fight a well like that You just outweigh it Mud weight Hundred-pound sacks of barite Split 'em open on the hopper one by one Ten-two, ten-four, ten-six by midnight Gray dust in your teeth and in your lungs Mud man on the balance every half an hour Saying keep it coming, more Daylight finds the choke gauge falling And a crew asleep on the floor Mud weight, mud weight Something a mile down wants out Mud weight, mud weight Get it heavy, hold it down You don't fight a well like that You just outweigh it Mud weight Every hand on that floor's got something Down in him that wants out Nobody fights it Everybody holds it down Mud weight, mud weight Something a mile down wants out Mud weight, mud weight Get it heavy, hold it down You don't fight a well like that You just outweigh it Mud weight
- 02Kelly Down2:48
Words, as written on the sample bag
Kelly bushing riding down to the table Driller's eye on the weight Another thirty feet of Spraberry Another joint and it won't wait Here it comes, gloves on, step in Chain hand, tong hand, driller on the brake Kelly down, kelly down Pick it up and set the slips Kelly down, kelly down Break it out, swing it over, stab it in Spin it up and make it tight Pull the slips and go to bottom again Kelly down Thirty times a tour we do it Same six moves in the same two minutes Driller counts it off like a song And everybody's in it Hand on the next rig moved too early Left two fingers in the chain Nobody gets hurt if nobody's early Nobody's early and nobody's late Here it comes, gloves on, step in Chain hand, tong hand, driller on the brake Kelly down, kelly down Pick it up and set the slips Kelly down, kelly down Break it out, swing it over, stab it in Spin it up and make it tight Pull the slips and go to bottom again Kelly down Thirty feet and stop Thirty feet and stop That's how you get a mile down Thirty feet and stop Kelly down, kelly down Pick it up and set the slips Kelly down, kelly down Break it out, swing it over, stab it in Spin it up and make it tight Pull the slips and go to bottom again Kelly down
- 03Seven and Seven3:11
Words, as written on the sample bag
Calendar on the icebox Marked in red and marked in blue Red is when I'm on the rig Blue is when I'm home with you Name me any Tuesday next October I can tell you where I'll be Red's for the rig and blue's for you And the band gets what's in between Seven and seven Seven days I'm yours and seven I'm theirs Seven and seven And there ain't no eighth day anywhere Day four off I'm pacing Day five I'm short on cash Day six I'm out in the garage Changing oil I just changed last Day seven I'm in the truck by two With my hard hat on the seat You lean in at the window Say see you in a week Seven and seven Seven days I'm yours and seven I'm theirs Seven and seven And there ain't no eighth day anywhere You said what about a job in town Home every night at five I said show me one that pays like this And I'll quit this one tonight Seven and seven Seven days I'm yours and seven I'm theirs Seven and seven And there ain't no eighth day anywhere
- 04Tripping Pipe3:40
Words, as written on the sample bag
Bit wore out at seven thousand Pusher says pull it out of the hole That's seventy-eight stands up through the table And every one of 'em mine to hold Up the ladder to the monkeyboard Clip in and lean out on the belt Blue norther coming off the Panhandle Ain't felt my hands since twelve Tripping pipe, tripping pipe Seventy-eight stands out of the ground Tripping pipe, tripping pipe Put a new bit on, seventy-eight back down Rack 'em in the fingers Count 'em one by one Floor hands break 'em out below me Driller pulls the next one up New bit on and turn around Fill the pipe and run it in Every stand that I just racked back I latch up and send down again Tripping pipe, tripping pipe Seventy-eight stands out of the ground Tripping pipe, tripping pipe Put a new bit on, seventy-eight back down Twelve hours up and down For a bit about the size of a plate She'll drill two days and dull again And I'll be back up here to wait Tripping pipe, tripping pipe Seventy-eight stands out of the ground Tripping pipe, tripping pipe Put a new bit on, seventy-eight back down
- 05Every Ten Feet2:52
Instrumental. Rhythm guitar, Rhonda Pike.
- 06Out of Houma3:33
Dwayne Sikes's song about the Gulf.
Words, as written on the sample bag
Six years out of Houma Fourteen on and fourteen gone Crew boat leaving Fourchon in the dark Four hours of chop till the rig lights come on Ninety miles out on the water Not a tree and not a road Fourteen days to look at the edge of it And nowhere else to go Out of Houma Where the water never ends Out of Houma Nothing but the rig and the wind Fourteen days and nowhere to go But the rail and the swell below Out of Houma Storm came up the Gulf in August Chopper flew us in to the beach Mama at the kitchen table With the radio and her beads Brought my bass out to the Permian In a case I sealed against the spray Out here when the hitch is over A man can at least drive away Out of Houma Where the water never ends Out of Houma Nothing but the rig and the wind Fourteen days and nowhere to go But the rail and the swell below Out of Houma Some nights out here on the caliche Flat and dry as it can be I lay down in the bed of the truck And I still feel the Gulf under me Out of Houma Where the water never ends Out of Houma Nothing but the rig and the wind Fourteen days and nowhere to go But the rail and the swell below Out of Houma
- 07Penwell3:14
Words, as written on the sample bag
West on the interstate out of Odessa Fifteen miles and you're through Few old houses with the windows out And a pump jack or two Railroad runs right through the middle Freight don't stop no more Sign still says Penwell Like it's somewhere to stop for Penwell, Penwell Built in a hurry for the boom Penwell, Penwell Left the same way, just as soon Nobody ever thought they'd leave you Nobody ever does Penwell My granddad worked the field out here When the wells were new and wild Said there were tents along the tracks For better than a mile Said a man made five dollars a day And spent it all by night Said nobody thought it'd ever quit I said Granddad, it won't this time Penwell, Penwell Built in a hurry for the boom Penwell, Penwell Left the same way, just as soon Nobody ever thought they'd leave you Nobody ever does Penwell Every boom thinks it's the first one Every boomtown thinks it's the last I go by it twice a hitch at seventy I don't look, I just go past Penwell, Penwell Built in a hurry for the boom Penwell, Penwell Left the same way, just as soon Nobody ever thought they'd leave you Nobody ever does Penwell
- 08Hold What You Got3:04
Words, as written on the sample bag
Driller's got the brake in one glove Got the whole string in his hand Two hundred thousand pounds of pipe Hanging on one man Something on the floor goes sideways He don't jump and he don't drop He just leans his weight into the handle And he hollers hold what you got Hold what you got, hold what you got Don't reach for more and don't let drop Everything you ever had is hanging on the brake Hold what you got Bought a little house on the west side Paid the pickup off in June Saw the big bank in Midland go under Pulled my money out by noon Coffee can under the clothesline And the shovel knows the spot Everybody else is buying I'm holding what I got Hold what you got, hold what you got Don't reach for more and don't let drop Everything you ever had is hanging on the brake Hold what you got Every hand on the crew's got a bass boat Sitting in the driveway in the sun Every hand on the crew's got a new truck every year I'm still driving this one Hold what you got, hold what you got Don't reach for more and don't let drop Everything you ever had is hanging on the brake Hold what you got
- 09Total Depth2:43
Words, as written on the sample bag
Thirty-one days from the spud to the bottom Bit after bit through the rock Eighty-two hundred and the geologist says That's the number, boys, you can stop Circulate it till the shaker runs clean Trip it out of the hole one last time Logging truck's on the lease road at midnight And there ain't a soul asleep tonight A month of drilling For a few hours of knowing Total depth Eighty-two hundred and nowhere else to go Total depth Everything we came for is down below Run the logs and read 'em And then we'll know Total depth Geologist bent over the log in the trailer Pencil moving down the strip Company man out walking in the dark Coffee going cold in his grip Sun comes up and the trailer door opens Says set the casing, boys, she's good And every hand on the floor throws his hard hat Higher than he should Total depth Eighty-two hundred and nowhere else to go Total depth Everything we came for is down below Run the logs and read 'em And then we'll know Total depth It's been down there since the Permian When this whole Basin was a sea Laying in the dark for longer Than there's been a you or me Total depth Eighty-two hundred and nowhere else to go Total depth Everything we came for is down below Run the logs and read 'em And then we'll know Total depth Twenty trucks on the lease road Monday Lay the derrick down and go Total depth