I Buried the Punchline

[Verse 1]
Got a hole out back behind the shed
Took me three days and a busted back
Didn't dig it for a body, didn't dig it for the law
I dug it for the one good joke I had before the fall

[Chorus]
I buried the punchline
Right next to my good name
Put a rock on top so it don't crawl out
And try to start the same
'Cause every time I tell it now
The laughter sounds like shame
I buried the punchline, boys
And I forgot the grave I dug in case I want it back again

[Verse 2]
It was a simple thing, the setup
Somethin' 'bout a man, a mule, and a train
Used to make 'em howl, used to make 'em cry
Used to make 'em forget the blood on my hands and the look in my eye
But lately when I get to the end
They just stare at me like I lost a friend

[Chorus]
I buried the punchline
Right next to my good name
Put a rock on top so it don't crawl out
And try to start the same
'Cause every time I tell it now
The laughter sounds like shame
I buried the punchline, boys
And I forgot the grave I dug in case I want it back again

[Bridge — spoken, exhausted]
I told it to a skeleton once. Just bones and dust.
Got to the end and I swear... it almost seemed to smile.
Or maybe that was the wind.
[long pause]
I can't tell anymore.
I can't tell if I was ever funny
Or if they were just too scared not to laugh.

[Instrumental break — single guitar, low strings, a few notes hanging in the air like questions]

[Outro — sung, fading]
I buried the punchline
Deep as I could go
But every night I hear it scratchin'
From six feet below

[spoken, barely there:]
"Knock knock."

[silence.]

[whispered:]
"...who's there?"

[another silence. Then, soft:]
...nobody.

[last chord. No laugh this time.]

Outlaw Country, Tempo: slow-mid, trudging. Like a shovel hitting hard ground. Acoustic gui, male