From the recording Give'em What They Want

Some years ago, when I was out touring behind the "When I Was Your Age..." record, I played a few shows that inspired the first couple verses of this song. After that record, I resolved for a moment, that instead of singing songs people didn't necessarily want to hear (especially in a live setting), that I would simply give them what they wanted—it wouldn't be hard, just to do entertaining, up tempo songs that were, you know...fun. "Yeah," I thought, "and that's what I'll call the record—Give'em What They Want".
Well, the title stuck, but I'm afraid all I can do is give you the songs that show up, even if they're not what you want.
This one's pretty lively, though.
Josh Hunt on drums, my longtime friend Jonathan "Doc" Simons on harmonica, and Brian Langlinais and Julie Christensen on vocals. The rest is me.

Lyrics

Give ‘Em What They Want (5:24)
--Patterson Barrett ©2017 (BMI) Criminal Tunes
 
A bar in New York City, a line running out the door
Inside it’s shoulder-to-shoulder on every inch of floor
Somehow I climbed up on the stage, started to sing
Thirty minutes later you could’ve heard a dropped pin ring
I wasn’t giving them what they wanted---But I tried
I didn’t give ‘em they wanted that night
But if you give them what they want
Well, you might get what you need
A brew pub in Frederick, Maryland, outside Washington, DC
Where people come to hear the songs, now all ears are on me
I sing my songs about heartbreak full of sweet, sad misery
Somehow hearing those me sing those songs helps to set their poor hearts free
I was giving them what they wanted
Well, I give them what they wanted that night
If you give them what they want
Then you might get what you need
 
Sometimes I’m set to wondering, what was I sent here to do
The only time I know my mind is when I sing and play for you
 
Somewhere out in Virginia, playing with my boy and young KT
Doing our best to be seen and heard above the big flat-screen TV
The place was full, the crowd was loud, call it chaos and cacophony
But everyone sings along when they play the song about Johnson City, Tennessee
 
We were givin’g them what they wanted
Yeah, we give ‘em what they wanted that night
If you give them what they want
You might get what you need
 
I got a family to feed . . . two kids in college
You know knowledge don’t come cheap
They got to eat, they need shoes on their feet