[thunder and deep rumbling as the song opens]
[Verse 1]
There's a courthouse on the square where the old boys cut the deals
Red clay under the fingernails, rust bleeding through the steel
Everybody tips the sheriff, everybody shakes the hand
Everybody's got a cousin who can make a ledger stand
[Pre-Chorus]
But I walked into the records with a lantern and a pen
Counting what they buried, naming every sin
[Chorus]
"Don't tread on me," son, that's what the rattler said
Coiled in the Peedmont grass where the Old Dominion bled
They'll smile to your face, and they'll bury you in kind
These foothills kept their secrets, but brother, now they're mine
So, Don't tread on me
[Verse 2]
There's a river cuts the holler like a scar across the chest
And the men who run the money keep their conscience well-suppressed
They'll baptize you on Sunday, call you brother, call you son
Then they'll take your name in darkness for a favor to be done
[Pre-Chorus 2]
I came down from the mountains with a truth they can't unsay
And a God who knew my name before I ever learned to pray
[Chorus]
"Don't tread on me," son, that's what the rattler said
Coiled in the Peedmont grass where the Old Dominion bled
They'll smile to your face, and they'll bury you in kind
These foothills kept their secrets, brother, but now they're mine
So, Don't tread on me
[Bridge]
There's a word in Ecclesiastes, every secret thing gets weighed
There's a badge behind the courthouse, there's a debt that must be paid
You can buy the good ol' boys, you can gavel down the poor
But you can't outrun the reckoning; it's already at the door
[Final Chorus]
"Don't tread on me," son, that's what the rattler said
Coiled in the Peedmont grass where the Old Dominion bled
They'll smile to your face, and they'll bury you in kind
But the gallows and the gospel, they always find the line
So Don't tread on me
Lord, don't tread on me
[Outro]
Don't tread on me
[rattle snake buzz fades out]
