About The Song
In April 1987, George Strait released “All My Ex’s Live In Texas” as the second single from his album Ocean Front Property.
It became one of the most popular songs by George Strait and is widely regarded as one of his best. In fact, the song ranked No. 1 on Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart. It was also nominated for Best Country Song and helped Strait earn a Best Male Country Vocal Performance nomination during the 1988 Grammy Awards.
Written by Sanger D. Shafer and his fourth wife, Lyndia J. Shafer, “All My Ex’s Live In Texas” tells the story of a man who has lived most of his life in Texas. However, he was forced to move to Tennessee because things didn’t work out well in his previous relationships with women there. There’s Allison, who somehow lost her sanity; Dimples, who is sending the law after him, and so much more.
He continues to reminisce about the enjoyable moments he experienced in Texas through Transcendental Meditation, a unique form of meditation developed and taught by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi in India during the mid-1950s. Nevertheless, he comes back to himself long before daylight.
Interestingly, “All My Ex’s Live In Texas” seems to be a biography song of Shafer, who was born and raised in Whitney, Texas. He apparently had left behind a trail of broken hearts across the Lone Star State and has since moved to Tennessee. While it’s not really the reason for his change of residence, it’s a good kicker for the song.
Video
Lyrics
All my exes live in Texas
And Texas is a place I’d dearly love to be
But all my exes live in Texas
And that’s why I hang my hat in Tennessee
Rosanna’s down in Texarkana
Wanted me to push her broom
Sweet Eileen’s in Abilene
She forgot I hung the moon
And Allison’s in Galveston
Somehow lost her sanity
And Dimples who now lives in Temple’s
Got the law looking for me
All my exes live in Texas
And Texas is a place I’d dearly love to be
But all my exes live in Texas
And that’s why I hang my hat in Tennessee
I remember that old Frio River
Where I learned to swim
But it brings to mind another time
Where I wore my welcome thin
By transcendental meditation
I go there each night
But I always come back to myself
Long before daylight
All my exes live in Texas
And Texas is a place I’d dearly love to be
But all my exes live in Texas
Therefore I reside in Tennessee
Some folks think I’m hidin’
It’s been rumored that I died
But I’m alive and well in Tennessee
yenhu