1. Don't Get Above Your Raisin' (3:07) - The tempo is moderately fast. The narrator has a girlfriend who apparently used to have loose morals, but now has settled down with him. She may still be "a little high-headed," but he tells her, "Stay down to earth with me."
2. You May See Me Walkin' (2:27) - The moderate pace goes well with the image of a man walking. As the narrator says goodbye to an unfaithful girlfriend, he tells her that when he speaks to others from now on, not one word will be about her. He is moving on with his life.
3. Crying My Heart Out Over You (2:58) - The tempo is slightly faster than moderate. The narrator didn't really appreciate his lady until after watching her walk away from him. Now he slowly dies as each day passes; he cries as he imagines her with some other man.
4. I Don't Care (2:17) - This song has a similar speed to the previous one. The narrator will never ask the woman he loves whether she had previous lovers; all that matters is that he'll be her last love. I might add that it usually takes loving a few wrong people to learn who Mr. or Ms. Right is. If I ever find Ms. Right, I too will tell her, "Yesterday's gone; love me from now on."
5. Heartbroke (3:14) - The narrator of this fast song is in love with a gal who has just had her heart broken by a man who told her goodbye. He begs her to believe in him, telling her that her presence prevented his own heart from breaking. One thing is for sure: "We all have our weak sides and need soft good touchin'."
6. I Wouldn't Change You If I Could (2:59) - This song has a similar tempo to "I Don't Care" and even sounds a bit alike, especially since both songs are in the key of E. The girl and the narrator are a princess and a king as it is. Her eyes, lips, smile and everything else are "all that I would wish for if I wished upon a star," he tells her. That's just how I'd love a gal--the way she is; I'd ask only the same in return.
7. Highway 40 Blues (3:09) - The fast tempo matches the pace at which the narrator yearns to take some Highway 40 back home. When he was young, he pursued dreams of fame and fortune, only to wind up broke and disillusioned. While roaming various towns, he met plenty of pretty girls, but even they don't allay his homesickness. The middle instrumental starts at 1:14 and lasts a little over a minute.
8. You've Got A Lover (3:55) - The tempo is somewhat faster than moderate. In the wee hours of the morning, when all the nightclubs are closed, Ricky's character wanders the streets, despondent over the end of his relationship with the woman to whom he sings. She has found a new man, of whom the narrator sings, "He can't love you like I can." By the same token, he doubts that subsequent women could ever please him like his ex could.
9. Don't Cheat In Our Hometown (3:17) - The tempo is moderate. The narrator and his wife live in a town so small that "everyone knows everyone for miles and miles around." So while her cheating on him with his best friend hurts him badly enough, it hurts him even more to know that the affair will soon be the gossip of the town (if it isn't already).
10. Honey (Open That Door) (3:28) - I like how low-pitched instruments open this moderately fast song, and also how a piano rolls during the middle instrumental. The narrator has lost all his money gambling in Dallas. From the line "I walked halfway to Memphis," I infer that he walked across eastern Texas and western Arkansas; that's quite a long walk. He also attempts to visit an old friend only to learn that the friend has been arrested. He ends up at the doorstep of his girlfriend, who he hopes will let him come in from the cold.
11. Uncle Pen (2:23) - This very fast song has an instrumental before each verse, and also one before the last singing of the chorus. The title character is a fiddler so widely renowned that when he dies, he is also widely mourned.
12. Something In My Heart (2:59) - I like how the fiddle plays in this moderately paced tune. Just when Ricky's character thinks he's gotten over his ex-girlfriend, he calls a previous one, only to wish he were talking to the more recent one. He is so heartbroken, he doubts he could ever love again.
13. Country Boy (3:49) - This song is fast at least, dizzyingly fast at most. The guitar playing is so rapid that it must have taken those pickers a lot of practice! The narrator may be living the city life, but underneath that city-slicker image is a cotton picker; he begs someone to "find a horse and cart" for him so he can switch to the country life. Somewhere in the long ending instrumental, one pattern of notes sounds much like the opening music to a Bugs Bunny cartoon show I used to watch as a kid.
14. Wheel Hoss (3:16) - This instrumental piece, like "Uncle Pen," was composed by Bill Monroe. Instruments include guitars and a piano, but the one I notice most is the fiddle, which plays rapidly compared to the moderately fast pace of the drums.
15. Cajun Moon (3:41) - By the applause at the beginning and the end, I can tell this is a live recording. This song has a moderate tempo with rapid playing of a fiddle (a common instrument throughout this disc). To the narrator and his girlfriend Sherry, who live on the Louisiana bayou, a full moon makes a nice "nugget of gold" to shine over them at night and help their romance bloom. Just before the end of the middle instrumental, the key rises from C to D.
16. Lovin' Only Me (3:33) - The tempo is moderately fast. Ricky's character sings to a woman who is reputed to be unfriendly and not likely to give a man a second look. But he has no doubt that one day she will see the light and be his special woman. "No more lonely you when you're lovin' only me," he tells her. Just before the 2-minute mark, the key rises from C to D.