Shooter Jennings lived his first few years in a crib on his parents' tour bus. By age five, he was playing drums. Between tours, he took piano lessons. He started playing guitar at fourteen and sometimes played in his father's band. He and his father recorded a few things together when they happened to have some microphones set up and the tape recorder plugged in. At age sixteen, Jennings discovered rock 'n' roll.
As an adult, Jennings left Nashville, Tennessee to seek his fortunes in Los Angeles. He assembled and performed with Stargunn, a southern rock band whose sound he described as Lynyrd Skynyrd mutating into Guns N' Roses. Stargunn performed at local clubs for six years, built a rabid following and earned praise from the local music press. But the Hollywood party scene eventually began to bother him. He says, "I was posing as a rocker—a country guy trying to be something he wasn't."
On March 30, 2003, Jennings dissolved Stargunn and moved to New York City to spend time with his girlfriend and sort out what he wanted to do next. An unexpected gig at the House of Blues a few weeks later revived his creativity. He returned to Los Angeles to form another band, the 357s. After six weeks in the studio, he completed his first solo album, Put the O Back in Country. Universal South released the album in early 2005.
Jennings portrayed his father in the Johnny Cash biopic, Walk the Line. He is the host of Shooter Jennings' Electric Rodeo, a two-hour weekly music show on Sirius Satellite Radio's Outlaw Country channel. He currently dates Drea de Matteo. Shooter Jennings' second solo album "Electric Rodeo" was released on April 04, 2006.
A Hard Lesson To Learn
Shooter Jennings Lyrics
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On my daddy's old record machine
Something bout a when you got love
All you got is love to lose
And if I learned one thing about hank
Is that him and his kid like to drink
Living whiskey bent, feeling lovesick blues
Straight to hell
I'm a whiskey drinking, new low sinking
Love em and leave em kind
And if it's worth keeping, you better believe it
I'm loosing it with my mind
Anything I pick up from one of them songs
Just a new way not to get burnt
But it's the same old bottle
Same old blues
The same hard lesson to learn
Well I heard that old George Jones
Bottomed out from all the no shows
Girl I'm watching my heroes run away like hall up pow
And a little like a rolling stone
I ain't worth it if I gotta be alone
I'm a lost highway, the devil collects the tolls
I'm a whiskey drinking, new low sinking
Love and leaving kind
And if it's worth keeping, you better believe it
I'm loosing it with my mind
Anything I pick up from one of men song
Just a new way not to get burnt
But it's the same old bottle
Same old blues
The same hard lesson to learn
Anything I pick up from one of men song
Just a new way not to get burnt
But it's the same old bottle
Same old blues
The same hard lesson to learn
It's the same old bottle
Same old blues
The same hard lesson to learn.
The song 'A Hard Lesson To Learn" by Shooter Jennings talks about the hard lessons that life teaches us through different experiences. The lyrics are filled with references to country music legends like Jimmy Rogers, George Jones and Hank Williams Sr., and their hard lives and struggles with booze and love. The singer sings about learning new ways of not getting burnt from their songs, but eventually realizing that it's always the same old bottle, the same old blues and the same hard lesson to learn.
The lyrics also suggest that the singer is someone who likes to drink and move on to the next woman. He admits to being a "whiskey drinking, new low sinking", "love em and leave em kind," but he also acknowledges that if it's worth keeping, then he's prone to lose it with his mind. The song reflects on the universal experience of people trying to navigate life and their choices, and the inevitability of making mistakes and learning from them.
Overall, "A Hard Lesson To Learn" by Shooter Jennings is a reflection on the cyclical nature of life, and the hard lessons we must learn along the way. The song is a tribute to the country music legends who have influenced Jennings throughout his career.
Line by Line Meaning
Well I heard Jimmy Rogers sing
I was listening to Jimmy Rogers on my dad’s old record player
On my daddy's old record machine
The record player belonged to my dad
Something bout a when you got love
There's something about love that I heard in the song
All you got is love to lose
When you have love, all you have is something to lose
And if I learned one thing about hank
I learned something about Hank Williams
Is that him and his kid like to drink
Hank Williams and his kid liked to drink
Living whiskey bent, feeling lovesick blues
They were living in a drunken state and dealing with the pain of love
Straight to hell
I am headed down a dark path
I'm a whiskey drinking, new low sinking
I am drinking a lot and hitting new lows
Love em and leave em kind
I tend to love and leave people without looking back
And if it's worth keeping, you better believe it
If something is valuable, I won't let it go without a fight
I'm loosing it with my mind
I am losing control and going insane
Anything I pick up from one of them songs
I learn something from the songs I listen to
Just a new way not to get burnt
I am always looking for advice on how to avoid getting hurt
But it's the same old bottle
Despite the advice, I keep drinking from the same bottle
Same old blues
I am still feeling the same sadness and pain
The same hard lesson to learn
I am still struggling to learn the same lesson
Well I heard that old George Jones
I heard a song by George Jones
Bottomed out from all the no shows
George Jones hit rock bottom because of missed shows
Girl I'm watching my heroes run away like hall up pow
I am seeing my role models disappear and fail
And a little like a rolling stone
I feel a bit like a wanderer without a clear path
I ain't worth it if I gotta be alone
I don't want to be alone, and I question my own worth as a result
I'm a lost highway, the devil collects the tolls
I feel lost like a highway, with the devil taking a toll on me
Anything I pick up from one of them songs
I still learn from the songs I listen to
Just a new way not to get burnt
I am still trying to protect myself from getting hurt
But it's the same old bottle
I keep relying on the same old solution
Same old blues
I am still feeling the same pain and sadness
The same hard lesson to learn
I still struggle with the same difficult lesson
It's the same old bottle
I am still drinking from the same bottle
Same old blues
I am still feeling the same pain and sadness
The same hard lesson to learn.
I still struggle with the same difficult lesson
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, CONCORD MUSIC PUBLISHING LLC
Written by: JONATHAN GRABOFF, WAYLON JENNINGS
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind