Black veil

HOOK]

Black veil county where the dead folks walk

Front porch swing when the night winds talk

Chrome flash glint through the roadside fog

Pray real hard when the hounds get called

I been knee deep in the blood red clay

Hear boots drag when the church bell sway

Whole town know when I’m on my way

‘Cause the crows fly low and the dogs don’t pray

Rotten wood creak when I step through the screen door

Mask in the passenger seat with a trench coat

Shotgun shells rattlin’ loose in a Crown Vic

Moonlight shine off the rust on the round tip

Backroad baptized in the smoke from the tires

County line killer with a mouth full of wires

Old folks whisper “don’t go near the pines”

That’s where I dumped all the names from my old life

Still smell sulfur when the rain hit the asphalt

Still hear screams in the pipes of the bath hall

Mama said “boy that rage gon’ stain you”

Now the sink run black when I stand by the mirror

Got a grin full of gold and a fist full of vengeance

House full of crosses but they still can’t cleanse it

Whole crew move like wolves in December

Kick one door and the whole block remember

Black veil county where the dead folks walk

Front porch swing when the night winds talk

Chrome flash glint through the roadside fog

Pray real hard when the hounds get called

I been knee deep in the blood red clay

Hear boots drag when the church bell sway

Whole town know when I’m on my way

‘Cause the crows fly low and the dogs don’t pray

Grave dirt packed in the tread of my boots

No face witnesses left at the scene to accuse

Blue lights flash but they never get close

Sheriff saw me once now he chain-smoke ghosts

Bodies all sway from the trees by the river

Wind blow cold make the whole town shiver

Knife marks carved in the church house benches

Psalm 23 couldn’t stop what entered

Got a blacked out truck and a trunk full of secrets

Tape hiss static from a radio preacher

He keep yellin’ “son you can still be saved”

But the devil got my name on a numbered grave

I don’t sleep much

Just drive through the county

Windows rolled down hear the coyotes howl me

One eye red from the lack of rest

Other eye locked on whoever next

And the rain keep fallin’ on the tin roof top

Hear chains get dragged when the clock hand stop

Whole town froze when the dogs all barked

Means somethin’ came crawlin’ out the dark

Black veil county where the dead folks walk

Front porch swing when the night winds talk

Last thing seen was the roadside fog

Then the headlights died and the woods got calm…”