I hadn’t heard this song for years but the line, “And when I die you can bury me in Lubbock Texas in my jeans”, popped into my head the other day for no particular reason. The mind is a weird thing—an amalgamation of stored experiences, thoughts, and dreams. I was thinking about home and found homes and adopted homes and how all three meld together to form your true home. To me, now on the downslope to sixty years on this planet, that single line from this great 1980 song defines the essence of what true home means.
Mac Davis could do just about anything in the entertainment business. Songwriter of such megahits as Elvis’ In the Ghetto, I Believe in Music recorded by a whole slew of people, Baby Don’t Get Hooked on Me, and the late-night, driving home from a party anthem, Lord It’s Hard to Be Humble. Singer/songwriter of many popular hits and albums over a twenty-year career. He also acted. Over his long acting career, he starred in the 1979 movie, North Dallas Forty, hosted his own variety show, appeared in several TV shows, including a hosting gig for an episode of The Muppet Show, and was a voice-over talent in a handful of popular animated series. He could pull off just about anything and do it with his mix of down-home personality and general likeability.
For some reason, probably because he did so many things well and did them in his own easy-going style, Mac Davis was never really given the credit he deserved for the talent he exhibited. He died in November of 2020 from complications after heart surgery.
This song, Texas in My Rear View Mirror, will always be in my top 100 songs. It means as much to me now as it did in my 1980s crazy-ass youth. It’s about true home. Something I’ve been lucky enough to find and something I hope to never take for granted. Because every day, “ the vision was getting clearer in my dream”.
Texas in My Rear View Mirror by Mac Davis
I was just fifteen and out of control lost to James Dean and rock and roll
I knew down deep in my country soul that I had to get away
Hollywood was a lady in red who danced in my dreams as I tossed in bed
I knew I’d wind up in jail or dead if I have to stay
I thought happiness was Lubbock Texas in my rearview mirror
My mama kept calling me home but I just did not want to hear her
And the vision was getting clearer in my dream
So I let out one night in June stoned on the glow of the Texas moon
Humming an old Buddy Holly tune called Peggy Sue (pretty, pretty Peggy Sue)
With my favorite jeans and a cheap guitar, I ran off chasing a distant star
If Buddy Holly could make it that far then I figured I could too
I thought happiness was Lubbock Texas in my rearview mirror
My mama kept calling me home but I just did not want to hear her
And the vision was getting clearer in my dream
But the Hollywood moon didn’t smile the same old smile that I’d grown up with
The lady in red just wanted my last dime
And I cried myself to sleep at night too dumb to run too scared to fight
And too proud to admit it at the time
So I got me some gigs on Saturday night not much more than orchestrated fights
I’d come home drunk and I tried to write but the words came out all wrong
Hellbent and bound for a wasted youth too much gin and not enough vermouth
And no one to teach me to seek the truth before I put an end to this song
I still thought happiness was Lubbock Texas in my rearview mirror
My mama kept calling me home but I just could not, would not hear her
And the vision was getting clearer in my dream
Well I thank God each and every day for giving me the music and the words to say
I’d never had made it any other way he was my only friend
Now I sleep a little better each night and when I look in the mirror in the morning light
The man I see was both wrong and right he’s going home again
I guessed happiness was Lubbock Texas in my rearview mirror
But now happiness was Lubbock Texas growing nearer and dearer
And the vision was getting clearer in my dream
And I think I finally know just what it means
And when I die you can bury me in Lubbock Texas in my jeans
Songwriters: Mac Davis
Texas in My Rear View Mirror lyrics © BMG Rights Management