She said, “Why’s it got to be so hard?
Why you want to make it so Goddamn hard?
What if falling down was just falling down,
and not worth it after all?
Cause we all got trouble don’t we,
Aint we all cut from that same old ragged cloth?
But I would take your ragged company
over any other I’ve come across.
So, don’t you dare go being happy without me,
If you ever did I don’t know what I’d do.
The only thing I know with any certainty
is that everything I thought I knew…

Everything I thought I knew…
Yeah, Everything I thought I knew…
Everything I thought I knew…
Before you was wrong.

Alright. All wrong. Oh oh.

---

So, drop your car keys down into the punch bowl.
Pick a walking stick out by the back door.
We’ll go cut a new trail up off of the old road
Where ain’t nobody looking for us.
Cause I ain’t got nothing to do today
And ain’t nothing in this world I’d rather do
Than go wandering off into the backwoods
Wherever you’re leading me to.
How’d you pick up that broken sky so easily?
How’d you trick that rose into bloom?
How’d you take away all that uncertainty
Along with everything I thought I knew?

Now, everything I thought I knew…
Everything I thought I knew…
Everything I thought I knew…
Before you was wrong.
All wrong, all wrong, oh oh.
Alright, All right, All right. oh oh.

I spent all my money in a Mexican whorehouse
Across the street from a Catholic Church
Then I wiped out my Revolver and buttoned up my burgundy shirt

---

I shot the morning in the back had my red wings on
I told the sun he better go back down
If I can find a book of matches I’m gonna burn this whole Goddamn town down

---

Can you tell me brave captain why are the wicked so strong?
How do the angels get to sleep when the devil leaves his porch light on?
And the devil left his porch light on.
Oh no

See, I’d be up all night driving if I just had somewhere to go
But as it stands I’m stranded, I’m up at night alone
I tried to go out walking in the drizzling rain
But the moonlight in the alleyway was keeping me awake
There were tires swishing by and halos on the lamps
And everything around me here is just cold and dark and damp
And the cars sound like an ocean with the tide just rolling out
And I am a sailor tonight as I go wandering around town

---

Lord, why is this world so heavy at night?
And where was my relief with the last sunrise?
Cause it’s early in the morning now
I’ve got somewhere to be
I wish this was a nightmare
But I cannot fall asleep

---

Well maybe it’s the moonlight pulling at the water in my head
Or maybe it’s these city lights instead
The cars sound like an ocean with the tide just rolling in
And I am a sailor again as I lay awake in bed
There is rain falling silently and mountains making clouds
There’s fog drifting these city streets like a rambler new to town
And I watch him through the windows as the fog takes my eyes
And I can’t certain any longer which mist is his
And which is mine

---

Lord, why is this world so heavy at night
And where was my relief with the last sunrise
Cause it’s early in the morning now
I’ve got somewhere to be
I wish this was a nightmare but I can’t fall asleep

My bones feel like broken glass
My skin feels wet and waxy
My head has been filled with sawdust and wrapped in plastic
I have a headache
I can’t fake it today
I can’t splinter these wooden lips into a smile

What you said made sense
If you hold onto the broken bits
You’re holding onto the chance of putting it back together again
But with the jagged edges
And the crumbling
It’s bad medicine
It’s just bullshit

Further Down
Further down
I’m headed further down

---

I woke up in the sun
With your smell on my skin again
Again
And the taste in my mouth
I couldn’t wash it out
It tasted just like death

And I had tasted it before
Though I couldn’t remember where
Was it a motel balcony in some old burned out town
Or in the broken branch you offered me
In a line of poisoned poetry?
It was colder than the water in a well

Further Down
Further down
I’m headed further down

---

The first thing I learned
About digging in the earth
Is if you’ve got a shovel, brother, it ain’t over
And the last thing they tell ya
About the blues when you got em
Is you can keep on falling, there ain’t no bottom

Further Down
Further down
I’m headed further down

There’s a body in the river and the rain’s coming down
A body done drowned in that river
There’s a body in the river and the rain’s coming down
Now, somebody’s got to go to get her
I said, somebody’s got to go and get her

---

Lord, what was she doing near the water?
Should’ve known better to get close when that water’s up like this
When that Riverbank crumbles ‘neath your feet it’s already too late to swim
Yeah, it’s already too late to swim.

There’s a body in the river and the rain’s coming down
A body done drowned in the river
There’s a body in the river and the rain’s coming down
I said, somebody’s got to go to get her
I said, somebody’s got to go and get her

---

Was she with someone when she died or was she left all alone?
Was she someone’s mother, someone’s wife or someone’s child
And how are they ever gonna know?
How are they ever gonna know unless we go?

There’s a body in the river and the rain’s coming down
A body done drowned in the river
There’s a body in the river and the rain’s coming down
Now, somebody’s got to go to get her
I said, somebody’s got to go and get her

---

It’s a lazy river some would say, but that rain, she been coming down for days
And in every lazy river sleeping in the water
laying in that riverbed there’s a rage
Sleeping in that water there’s a rage

There’s a body in the river and the rain’s coming down
A body done drowned in the river
There’s a body in the river and the rain’s coming down
Now, somebody’s got to go to get her
I said, somebody’s got to go to get her

---

Grab a rope and make it quick she’s gonna wash away
That river’s foaming like a rabid dog
And she already tasted some blood today
Yeah, she already tasted some blood today

Grab a rope and make it quick she’s gonna wash away
And pray.
I said pray.
I said pray.
I said PRAY!
I don’t’ wanna ever see her face
No, I don’t wanna ever know her name
No, I don’t’ wanna ever see her face
and I don’t wanna ever know her name

There’s a body in the river and the rain’s coming down
A body done drowned in the river
There’s a body in the river and the rain’s coming down
Now, somebody’s got to go to get her
I said, somebody’s got to go to get her

Outside the Dancehall there’s always a bonfire
For a place for folks to go whenever their feet get tired
And you’ll always find a few of us there, just passing some bottles around
Then waiting for the folks to come out whenever the dance dies down
When it dies down.

---


I met her there on one of those nights
She came out of that Dancehall breathing hard and smiling wild
I was tending the fire, I had soot all over my hands
But I made her laugh like no one else ever did
She said
, that’s what she said.

---

She tried to teach me to dance in her living room
She knew so many steps and I, well learned me a few
But it never came easy and she never smile that smile
So I take her out dancing and I dance a little while, then step outside
Go tend the fire


---

There was that Ledford boy, he was so tall and thin
He moved around at Dancehall so easy sending them girls away spinning
She swore there wasn’t nothing more, but she had that smile again
So I made her swear to meet me out by that bonfire like we did in the beginning
and swear she did

Where were you when that fire went out?

---

I waited there until that last coal died down
Went back into that Dancehall, but there wasn’t nobody around
I don’t remember going to her house and I don’t remember why
But when I got there I cleared her living room and I started a fire
I started that fire.

Where were you when that fire went out?
Where were you when that fire went out?

---

She started screaming whenever the walls went up
I panicked for a moment ’til I heard the other voice
I remember thinking then, this is where I belonged the whole time
She can burn out up Dancehall while I will stand outside and tend the fire
I will tend that fire.

Where were you when that fire went out?
Where were you when that fire went out?
Where were you when that fire went out?

In my mind, sometimes I buy a boat and go out on the ocean
I anchor it some place I find somewhere way offshore
And with no one there to bother me I slip into the water
and I swim until I can’t see that old boat anymore

With no one there around in miles and miles of ocean
I’m just floating there and hoping for something I’ve left behind
But I ain’t never bought a boat and I don’t know nothing about sailing
I’m just sitting on the courthouse steps waiting for those bells to chime


Out an old song like one folks used to sing
It comes floating into my mind sometimes like a distant memory
And I close my eyes, let the sound wash over me
Just sitting and listening to the bells Marshall ring



---

Sometimes I think, I’d like to ride the rails on a rusty train
And not get off until I’m certain that I don’t know where I am
Never stay one place for long and never go back again
Just let the rhythm of the riding rot away my old name

But I ain’t never bought no ticket
I’ve never hopped a freight
I just watch them rolling into town and then slowly roll away
And I watch them as they go and swear to myself someday
I won’t be sitting on the courthouse steps waiting for those bells to ring

Out that old song like one folks used to sing
It comes running through my mind sometimes like a distant memory
and I close my eyes, let the sound wash over me
Just sitting and listening to the bells Marshall ring
Just sitting and listening to the bells Marshall ring
Just sitting and listening to the bells Marshall ring