I Still Don’t Kneel

Verse 1

Badge in the dash and a half-burned match in the tray

I was raised on a razor’s edge of a debt I never could pay—

Pay no mind to the county line sign bending in the wind

Where the pine trees lean like they’re listening in

In the hollow of a throttle full of borrowed time

I was riding that dividing yellow line—

Line gets thinner when your sinner side grins

And your shadow don’t follow, just swallows your sins

Pre-Chorus

They say lay low, stay slow, let it all heal

But steel don’t feel and I still don’t kneel

Chorus

I’m outlaw bound, dust cloud crown,

King of the lost and the never-back-down—

Down in the valley where the rally cries wail

And the jailhouse blues set sail

on a pale moon rising, surprising the night

I was born in the scorn of a barroom fight—

Fight me or write me off, I will

But I still don’t kneel

Verse 2

Black hat flat on a map with a crack in the fold

Every road I’ve rode got a story untold—

Told my mama I’m a comma in a long run-on

Sentence of repentance I keep leaning on

On the brink with a drink and a think too loud

In a crowd full of doubt I stand my ground

Bow to no throne of chrome or fame

I was branded in a thunder roll of coal and flame

Flame turns ember, remember my name

When the rain hits tin and it sings that same

old hymn of the dim street light

Where wrong feels strong and right feels slight

Pre-Chorus

They say lay low, stay slow, let it all heal

But steel don’t feel and I still don’t kneel

Chorus

I’m outlaw bound, dust cloud crown,

King of the lost and the never-back-down—

Down in the valley where the rally cries wail

And the jailhouse blues set sail

on a pale moon rising, surprising the night

I was born in the scorn of a barroom fight—

Fight me or write me off, I will

But I still don’t kneel

Bridge

From Crowe to crowbar, I pry these bars apart

Heart in the dark where the spark won’t start—

Start to finish, diminish my doubt

I’ll burn out long before I ever bow down

Out in the drought of a truth half-told

I sold my soul for a song this bold—

Bold enough to hold my will

And I still don’t kneel