This is the ninth track I’ve featured from Lyle Lovett’s excellent 1996 album The Road to Ensenada, still his finest ever moment on record and one of my all-time favorite albums.
This is where I have to express my incredulity and dismay that Lovett hasn’t released an album of any sort in seven years, and no album of largely original material in 12. I’d like to think he has another Ensenada in him, but I don’t know if he’ll ever record again.
I remember hearing today’s SOTD, ‘Don’t Touch My Hat,’ for the first time in a concert prior to the release of this album. He played this and another cut from Ensenada — the brilliant ‘Her First Mistake‘ — and even though they were completely unfamiliar, I instantly fell in love with them both.
You can’t hold on to
What belongs to me
And don’t belong to you
I caught you looking
With your roving eye
So Mister you don’t have to act
So surprised
If it’s her you want
I don’t care about that
You can have my girl
But don’t touch my hat
I grew up lonesome
On the open range
And that cold North wind
Can make a man feel strange
My John B. Stetson
Was my only friend
And we’ve stuck together
Through many a woman
So if it’s her you want
I don’t care about that
You can have my girl
But don’t touch my hat
My mama told me
Son to be polite
Take your hat off
When you walk inside
But the winds of change
They fill the air
And you can’t set your hat down
Just anywhere
So if you plead not guilty
I’ll be the judge
We don’t need no jury
To decide because
I wear a seven
And you’re out of order
‘Cause I can tell from here
You’re a seven and a quarter
But if it’s her you want
I don’t care about that
You can have my girl
But don’t touch my hat
If it’s her you want
I don’t care about that
You can have my girl
But don’t touch my hat
No it never complains
And it never cries
And it looks so good
And it fits just right
But if it’s her you want
I don’t care about that
You can have my girl
But don’t touch my hat
You can have my girl
But don’t touch my hat
You can have my girl
But don’t touch my hat
Meet Me In Montauk 
New music is on the way….
https://www.udiscovermusic.com/news/lyle-lovett-represent-all-my-music/
Well, that’s great news!
It seems he may have been unhappy with his former label and, therefore, satisfied his contractual obligation by sharing artists he loves and saving his original music. As you might imagine, I’m over the moon at what this implies… years of original songs that he will start releasing very soon!!!
This song reminds me of Kevin Kline in Silverado 😊