A Lot Like Me

(Mary Chapin Carpenter) He was a long tall stranger from way down south where he'd left his life behind He had a big old Gibson and a pickup truck and Shenandoah eyes And I remember him sitting in that local bar where I earned my pay each night Singing my songs to empty chairs and going home half tight So the nights rolled by like headlights shining on a lonesome strip of tar I kept his words of kindness close to me like a pick on my guitar; And we Talked about the singers and the songs we loved and the songs we'd most forgot In that run-down bar they'd make last call and I'd never want to stop 'Cause I was living on nothing but a young girl's dreams With my cowboy boots and my old six-string Hitching my wagon to a star, dreaming of leaving those local bars When I'd get him up at closing time for a couple of songs and a chance to shine Like the star that he longed to be, he looked a helluva lot like me