1. 1982 (2:59) - This song, somewhat slower than moderate, was originally titled "1962" but was changed to '82 to fit Randy's age. This song was released in 1985, so that would mean three wasted years during which Randy's character laments the loss of his lady love. He begs the phone operator and the mail carrier to help him reconnect with her so he can apologize for taking her for granted. Hindsight may be 20/20, but his sight is waning from constantly staring in vain at her picture.
2. On The Other Hand (3:06) - This moderately slow song gives both literal and figurative meaning to the phrase "On the other hand." With the fingers of his right hand, he counts the reasons he could stay with the woman he sings to. But then he shows her the ring on his left hand to tell her that he's married, therefore he must leave her.
3. Diggin' Up Bones (2:59) - The measures count at a fast pace, with the bass drum playing on every first and third beat. Perhaps the story could be a subtle reference to the phrase "skeletons in one's closet." The narrator, recently divorced, rummages through sundry items in the bedroom they used to share; he looks not just in the closet, but also in the dresser and the rest of the room. The picture of her, the negligee, and other items are the "bones" that could perhaps be "better left alone." When I first heard this song on a country radio station as a child, I used to hear the words as "diggin' the phone."
4. Forever And Ever Amen (3:32) - The tempo is fast. The narrator used to be fickle and commitment-phobic in his youth, but people do change. Now he feels ready to settle down--and marry the woman he's singing to. He promises to love her "as long as old men sit and talk about the weather, as long as old women sit and talk about old men," even if her hair turns gray or falls out.
5. Too Gone Too Long (2:25) - The previous two songs were goodies, but this fast song is my favorite by Randy, because of the title and the theme of a girl coming back to an old flame, only to find he's gotten over her. Randy plays the role of the man she had left; he was very crushed when she left him, but in the time that she had been gone, he found a new, faithful lover. Now it's her turn to cry, to regret for the rest of her life that she had left him.
6. I Told You So (3:39) - The tempo is slow. The theme is the same as in the previous song, only this time the narrator is the one who left his love some time before and might reappear only to learn that she has a new special man.
7. Deeper Than The Holler (3:39) - The tempo is somewhat faster than moderate. Instruments include a tambourine and a harmonica. I like the various ways in which the narrator describes his love for the girl: "stronger than the river, higher than the pine trees...purer than the snowflakes," and of course deeper than the hollow ("holler" is country slang for "hollow"). But my favorite phrase here is "longer than the song of a wipporwill."
8. It's Just A Matter Of Time (3:57) - This song has a slow, 12/8 tempo, a similar pace to the original version by Brook Benton.
9. Hard Rock Bottom Of Your Heart (4:04) - The narrator of this fast song is sorry for his infidelity to his wife (or girlfriend). He asks her whether they should fix or burn their damaged house (a figure of speech for their relationship). She is still too hurt to even begin to forgive him, and he feels like a rock she has thrown to the bottom of her heart of stone.
10. Look Heart, No Hands (3:10) - The tempo is moderately slow. Now that the woman has entered the narrator's life, he no longer has doubts, fears, chains, strings, fences, or walls hindering him. He can face the world with confidence.