ARIZONA RAIN

ARIZONA RAIN

Your loves as sweet as Arizona Rain
Blowing dust of fear, blinded by the pain
I didn't know
The sweetness of a soul
Til I looked in your eyes
and I lost all control

Loves as Sweet as Arizona rain
I rememeber the first time
time and time again
I will remember
The Arizona rain

Desert skies are beautiful
over barren mountain range
But the sun can burn you
So you're numb to any change

My heart was empty
As an endless sea of sand
til your love came to tempt me
And you held out your hand

Loves as sweet as Arizona rain
I remember the first time
Time and time again
I will remember
The Arizona rain

Words and Music
by
Joe Harrelson/Randy Darbone

I love to doodle. I've been doodling as long as I can remember. If theirs a piece of paper in front of me for any length of time, something will be drawn on it soon enough. I draw pictures of dogs, people, cartoon characters, you know the ones you find in the little magazine where you take the "art test". I don't think I'd be invited to the art school, but I don't suck. I do it for my own entertainment.

There's this one picture I've drawn for as long as I can remember. The picture is of a desert highway heading into the sunset. It's a quick picture, one line across a page, a big curve for the sun, and a couple of lines for a two lane road and a mountain on either side of the road. I can draw it in about 20 seconds. After drawing this picture for 20 some odd years, something amazing happened to me. I saw my picture come to life looking out the windsheild of my car.

For many years of my life I was not in a good place. I had made many bad choices which caused me and others in my life grief and hardship. I was at a crossroads and had very few options. Death and jail were two of those options and neither really appealed to me. The other option was to jump in my old 82' Z28 and hit the highway and head west. So I chose what was behind door number 3.

I had a friend in Arizona at the time, his name is Randy, he was also in radio and we met about 10 years prior in Mississippi. He worked for a country station in Yuma Arizona and had told me their classic rock station was in need of some help. That was all I needed to hear. I had this one chance to get my life back and headed down a road I had never been, hoping, praying this is where I needed to be. I found the answer to that question, even before making it all the way to Yuma.

I drove for about 18 hours before pulling over somewhere in east Texas, I had to get some sleep. So I found a roadside park, used the restroom and jumped back in the car and fell asleep. I woke up a few hours later and hit the road again.

After driving for about 3 hours it started to rain pretty good, this went on for about an hour. The rain smelled sweet that afternoon, with my window rolled down just a little, I could feel the drops coming in the window, but I didn't care. I was just this side of El Paso as I came over a hill and in the distance I saw the most beautiful sunset. The more I looked at it, the more familiar this was to me, and at that moment the rain slowed to just a sprinkle and there it was. My picture!

The picture I've been doodling all my life is right here in front of me, the moutains in the background, the long winding 2 lane highway with this breathtaking sunset at the end, I could see the cactus in the distance, this was it! I never had a more calming moment in my life.

I stopped my car and got out. I sat on the hood of my car for about 20 minutes just looking, enjoying the moment, feeling like this is where I'm supposed to be. I had no idea what lay ahead for me, but at that moment it didn't matter, because I knew whatever it was, it was going to be right.

Arizona changed my life in too many ways to list here tonight, but I will tell you a few things that I've gained. Arizona gave me peace of mind, Arizona gave me my best friend, my wife Dora. Finally, Arizona gave me a new beginning that I've never taken for granted. I live in Alaska today, but I will always remember that Arizona rain.

Night,

Joe

IN YOUR ROOM

IN YOUR ROOM

By

Joe M. Harrelson

I walked in your room today

It smelled like flowers

It's where you and I would sit

And talk for hours

In your room

In your room

I went to church today

To say goodbye to you

I found myself laughing

and cryin' with you

In your room

In your room

Everything is still the same

Every picture will remain

In your room

In your room

I sit in your room these days

And still I talk to you

Even though Heavens called

I feel it's still you

In your Room

In your Room

Everything I hold and touch

Oh my God I miss you so much

In your room

In your room

I walked in your room today

It smelled like flowers

==============================================================

I wrote this song a couple of weeks ago. I won a bid on a acoustic Fender guitar, that was autographed by country singer and musician Marty Stuart. The silent auction was for St Judes Childrens Hospital, so it did my soul good to give money for something I would get so much pleasure from, and at the same time helping these babies that are so sick.

The day I picked up the guitar, I went home that evening and went straight to my brother's room, I wanted John to see the guitar, because we both love to play. I sat on the couch with that guitar and wrote this song in about 20 minutes. I wrote the words on a envelope I found in his room. It just kinda flowed right out of me.

For the last 2 weeks I have gone in my brother's room and played that song for him, hoping, wishing, praying that he can hear me and know just what he means to me.

I miss my brother today. It's the first Super Bowl in my 40 years I've spent without him and it has not been easy.

Today I will go see him, sit down with that beautiful guitar and play this new little tune I wrote and watch the Super Bowl. I will scream at the tv, I will laugh at the stupid plays and I will remember my brother today, in his room.

Go Steelers,

Joe