I've got some mighty tall tales from livin' hard and fast   I'm a walkin,' talkin,' livin,' breathin,' portrait of my past   I've double-crossed the devil, prayed the Lord my soul to keep   Escaped some early graves by the skin of my teeth      All the deepest secrets of my soul the world can plainly see   'Cause everything I've ever done is written all over me   If you just read between the lines of this well-weathered face of mine   Every wrinkle, every scar was a painful work of art      That reminds me of mistakes that I've made   And no story I can tell can tell it quite as well   As these souvenirs that livin's left behind   So take a long, hard look at the cover of this book      And read between the lines   And read between the lines      They might be hard to find on this rigid face of stone   There are pleasant deep impressions that are solid as gold   And I'll be the first to tell you that this ol' boy's been blessed   'Cause even the worst of times have turned out for the best      Like roads on a map they cross a battered stretch of skin   You can trace your way through memory lane to anywhere I've been   If you just read between the lines of this well-weathered face of mine   Every wrinkle, every scar was a painful work of art      That reminds me of mistakes that I've made   And no story I can tell can tell it quite as well   As these souvenirs that livin's left behind   So take a long, hard look at the cover of this book      And read between the lines   And read between the lines