[Verse 1]
Spanish moss
Hanging like old prayers
Grandma’s voice
Says “boy
You best beware”
There’s a road out past the cypress
Where the gravel just turns to bones
You can feel that heat behind you
When you walk it home alone
[Chorus]
Down in the bayou
Where the stories crawl
Where the river keeps your secrets
Takes ‘em all
If you listen in the dark
You can hear ‘em moan
All these Deep South legends
Cut straight through the soul
To the bone
[Verse 2]
Old man Jean
With his faded rosary
Keeps a jar
Of river mud under his seat
Says he bargained with the shadows
For another year to breathe
But the price of every heartbeat
Is the name you gotta leave
[Chorus]
[Bridge]
[low vocal register]
There’s a lantern on the levee
Never seems to burn out
Some say it’s a warning
Some say it’s a lost way out
[harmonica solo]
Mama told me “child
Be careful
What you swear in that heat”
‘Cause the bayou hears it all
And it comes back in your sleep
[Chorus]