James McMurtry - Painting By Numbers Lyrics

The gates of the schoolyard
are padlocked and chained
to keep all the children in out of the rain
the art teacher's preaching
the virtues of pastel shades
you pay no attention but it won't hurt your grades
'cause you're painting by numbers
connecting the dots
they don't have to tell you
you don't call the shots
you jump when they say jump
and you don't ask how high
'cause painting by numbers they know you'll get by
painting by numbers they know you'll get by
you take a position
in the old man's firm
he signs all the papers
you agree to the terms
they ley you run errands
and you don't get days off
you take off the garbage and hope it pays off
'cause you're painting by numbers
connecting the dots
you work from neck down
you might be in grad school
up ut M.I.T.
you might be down in the canal zone
being all that you can be
you might get to thinking you're ahead of the game
but when you break it all down
it all comes out the same
'cause you're painting by numbers
connecting the dots
you work from neck down
Source: LyricFind
Songwriters: J Mcmurtry
Painting by Numbers lyrics © Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd.

Every time l hear this great song l picture Matt Damon mopping floor

Filmed in and around Archer City, TX., possibly some Wichita Falls in there as well... McMurtry and Prine stand alone in the songwriting category...

McMurtry is the troubadour that has paid all of the dues.  He is a living legend and continues to kick ass.

Great video and song. The guy needs to get a personality and get happy once in while. “you jump when they say jump, you don’t ask why. You paint by numbers....”

just when i thought i couldn't find a worse aor song from 1989! this is absolutely awful! the 🎶, the arrangements, the musicianship and the vocals totally suck! No wonder this flopped and thank God it did otherwise it would be played on classic rock stations across the country! hallelujah!!!

Marc Gauthier At least you didn't diss the lyrics. Did you even listen to them?

Two sides to the coin -- there is JOY in honest work as well as there's drudgery and tedium. James McMurtry manages to make me realize both....!

"you work from the neck down as often as not"......just excellent.

Was going through some old videos I had recorded on VHS. Came across this song from an old Austin City Limits show. Dunn'o . . . 25-30 years ago? Had never heard of James McMurtry as I did not record the full episode. Love the song!

I heard this song in a hotel continental breakfast buffet this morning eating a waffle I made poured from a paper cup. I thought it was from that Johnny Cash cover album or something. It's a really good tune. I'm glad I was able to find it.

While I love his irony and almost monotone delivery here, he's yearning for an impossibility in my opinion. Humans are prisoners of the absurd. Enlightenment is never a guarantee for change. In the three decades since this song was released, we've become more technologically adept but little else has changed. We still cling to traditions, we still hold to tried and true political systems. And while I love this song, the delivery says as much as the lyrics. This is the youthful acknowledgement of the absurd, but not an acceptance of it. There is a sadness there of a being living in denial. When I compare this song to "Choctaw Bingo", I see that delivery has a greater bite and a playfulness to it that this song doesn't have. In that song, he has fully accepted the absurd and is rightly mocking it and it's corollary that human beings are just useless beings in the flywheel of the absurd. And yet, despite the melancholic tone of my review, his mastery of observation and language and music has given me pause and still gives me pause time and time again. Thanks for the work, McMurtry. You have my eternal respect.

James McMurtry and John Prine stand alone at the Summit....

They certainly occupy some of that very limited space, but alone? Whoa. Listened to, let’s say, “Tangled Up In Blue” lately? “2 Kool 2 Be 4-Gotten?” June bug vs hurricane.

@michael mazurek Dylan is "right there", and many Singer/Songwriters have what I would call "flashes" of it, but, song for song, Prine and Mcmurtry make it sound effortless. Their words, more than others, speak about the Human Condition more than almost anyone that I've ever heard!

Gram Armstrong I’ve heard the same of many, from 2Pac to Chris Stapleton. I guess it just depends on which bunch of humans you’re describing the condition of. Reminds me of a Zen saying, “The ways to the one are as many as the lives of men.”

Geek37 Yeah, that’s what he says... he writes it, records, performs it. It’s a song, not And analytical lecture... Yeah there’s mono tune that’s the way he sings. Sometimes it’s quite nice in the red table your every day life, a constant for a moment.

"You work from the neck down, you don't call the shots". Classic!!

You jump when they say jump and you don't ask how high.

looks like lennon!

sounds like cash!

Pretty much

You said it man

Angeline

Just a damn good ballad with some patented McMurty clever lyrics and his great guitar. Thanks James!

I'm mostly into death metal and hardcore rap, but McMurtry's song writing and guitar work has made me a new fan of him.

The more I listen to James McMurtry....the more I appreciate him....great songwriter and artist.

Poignant lyrics.

My Cat sits in my lap while yoou play

Takes me back when Grandma would get me Paint By Numbers and the lessons only she could teach.  Takes me back to my time in the Army and how it enabled me.  Takes me back to my time on the oil rigs and the skills it brings.  Takes me back to the lessons in Lonesome Dove and the fact Gus didn't rent pigs.  Great song James.

Red Desert here.

absolutely genius piece of music

Good song to summarize mankind in the the United States

Mankind in any civilization ever.

Brilliant as only James can be
Early classic

got lucky to hear on local station the dj played his copy of this so good yet so few have got to hear this kind of stuff.

"you work from the neck down".....how appropriate these days.

So true. I gotta wipe my ass & go paint some numbers right now.

This song really explains every aspect of oppression

Not really oppression, it's just the system, it doesn't hurt you, it just is

Luke Brown It only hurts you if you don't comply. It will kill you if you don't. All of government is obey or else. What planet are you living on?

Why is his music never played in England, this is the first time i have heard of his great music.

That's why it's called "Americana"....lol. Other great artists are...Ray Wylie Hubbard, Jason Isbell, The Mavericks....check them out.

Bob Harris does.

@Jeff Maas
And the late great Jimmy LaFave. Just got to know him when he died last year. Ray Wylie Hubbard is great too as is James McMurtry. Heard of these great musicians via Twitter.

One of my favorites. Thanks James!

I don;t think I want to live "Painting" by numbers.. just be yourself, and think "outside" of the "BOX"; what a life, right? <3

This song is so thought provoking

great artist, mucho thnxxx for posting :)))

Though I enjoy James McMurtry's music, accusing everyone who has to sell their soul for a paycheck as "painting by numbers" is pretty easy to do when your Fathers money buys you everything need. I guess daddies millions and lying around smoking pot for a living can leave a bitter taste. Who knew?

I think he addresses others like him who " take a position in the old man's firm" as well as those that don't have that opportunity to do so.. the song is more about not living a life outside of the box

5 years ago. But still - like Ray Wylie Hubbard said, the trouble with irony is that some people don’t get it.”

When the next American Revolution comes--sooner than the 1% could ever imagine--this tune will be the theme song.

Hey, NSA, are you listening?

Really like James McMurtry "alot" and since I am a "Lyrics" kinda guy, more so than the music in general, I knew McMurtry was extremely gifted first time I heard him, in the 80's-early 90's. Became a big fan. However, this video I don't care for as much, because it puts almost a "specific" brand or sect of sheeple, whereas, I feel that this pertains to everyone, cept the "FatCats" watchin us paint by numbers.

I hope you'al know how to "paint"; you might need to know how in order to servive in the "world" as we think we know "IT"!!! It is not what it appears to be on the surfice.; need to learn how to spell;; sorry, but, you get the "picture"...

when I connect the numbers with lines I get one big,fat politician staring down at me.

sundar mann Look back up at him and tell him to f-off.

One of my best birthdays involved James at the Mucky Duck (Hou) - I got drunk enough to approach him when they were loading up & get a birthday kiss......My only groupie experience!

the man has insight into the human condition as it is right now in the western world and comments on it. good stuff.

We were big fans in the 80s. Glad that we found him here on YouTube. We still know all the words!! It's like coming home.

@JPStrikesBack well it'd be a pretty boring world if we ALL thought the same! all people have a different frame of mind, if you cant relate to what he's saying move on! he writes beautiful lyrics and music, sure it might be a little more mellon collie than a lot of stuff, but it's amazing for what it is!

@JPStrikesBack - maybe you should listen again, with an open mind. it's not about whining....it's lamenting that so many people (sheeple!) spend their lives taking the safe road, painting by numbers....rather than being true to themselves & trying to live their dreams.

@GrannyTenderstone Condescending and pompous.

@JPStrikesBack Bob Dylan and Woody Guthrie and others did their share of "whining" too JP. Without such artists, some people would never stop to think about anything that MATTERS, too busy with their electronic gadgets to connect to the real world. SHAME ON YOU. You've apparently missed the point of the message. Therefore you are borderline between getting it and not quite getting it, I hope you make it over that fence without any suffering, violation of your rights, or hardship involved. peace

@jesus185517 good question jesus!! must be some heartless scum.....

@jesus185517 some CEO

I like the song, but damn, it's WHINY. Listen to the lyrics and think about them. All the singer is doing is complaining about not being in charge, not calling the shots. etc, Well, if you're in grad school up at MIT, who the hell do you think is supposed to be taking your orders?

JPStrikesBack He is not whining, he is trying to open your eyes to look at the system in place that oppresses you and you bow down in submission. Think, use reason and logic and quit living inside the box. We're all indoctrinated, first by parents, religion, schools, and then the main stream media. Be free and quit accepting authority.

More great music from James McMurtry.

@zhansen8 Thanks for your suggestions! Awesome tunes! Thanks!!!

Something's fucked up with the way "Painting by Numbers" was loaded. It starts out with two different songs playing, then after a few seconds, the only song is Painting and it plays normally.

@PlanTonto Choktaw bingo, lights of cheyene, hurricane party

This is from the LP 'Too Long In the Wasteland', which was produced by John Mellencamp.

Can someone recomend other songs by this cat to listen to, please? I put him up there with John Prine and Jon Astley...Obscure, but great!

PlanTonto several. are "song for a deckhands daughter' cheneys toy, we can't make it here any more

Outskirts, Stancliff's Lament, No More Buffalo, Out Here in the Middle, Song for a Deckhand's Daughter, Rachel's Song, Where's Johnny....

Angeline, Choktaw Bingo, Holiday, Childish things, & many, many more. Start with the "Too Long in the Wasteland" album & work your way forward. You won't be sorry.

His Daddy is Larry McMurtry who wrote Lonesome Dove and North Dallas 40.

You work from the neck down; You don't call the shots.

I LOVE IT!

One of the best songwriters you've never heard of.

@drummer1965usa And that's Kenny Aranoff (sp?) on drums I believe, Mellencamp's former drummer.

@drummer1965usa

according to rhapsody.com, James wrote the song.

"I enjoy his sketches, their weary women especially. But like so many singer-songwriters and so many local-colorists, he tends to a soft fatalism, especially when he tries a big statement: (like) the metametaphorical "Painting by Numbers," -- R. Christgau_Village Voice

I concur, but his attitude is central to his style, so...

Whatever. Funny, I have all of Jimmy McMurtry's records, none of Johnny Cougar's.

@BassPlayerSusan That's what I meant. Not only did he produce the album, but he and his band also play on the song. And I think John wrote "Painting By Numbers", too.

@drummer1965usa He produced the album.

Loved it. Thanks for doing it Jim.

What also makes this such a brilliant song is that it's got John Mellencamp's fingerprints all over it. :)