Six Strings and Seven Wanted Posters

[Verse 1]
Got a guitar with three strings missin' and a hole where the sound hole oughta be
Plays a little flat but so do I, so it sounds just fine to me
Got seven posters with my face on 'em from New Haven to the Salt Flats gate
They say "wanted dead or alive" — hell, boys, I've been both since '08

[Chorus]
Six strings and seven wanted posters
That's about the only family that I need
I don't need no wife, no kids, no dog, no piece of land to bleed
Just a busted-up guitar and a reason to run far
Six strings and seven wanted posters
And a backseat full of scars

[Verse 2]
Tried to settle down once. Got as far as buyin' boots.
She left me for a vending machine mechanic. Can't say I blame the gal, truth is
I wake up mean and go to bed meaner and somewhere in between I play
A little song about a man who loved too hard and threw it all away

[Chorus]

Six strings and seven wanted posters
That's about the only family that I need
I don't need no wife, no kids, no dog, no piece of land to bleed
Just a busted-up guitar and a reason to run far
Six strings and seven wanted posters
And a backseat full of scars

[Bridge — spoken, picking rhythm keeps going underneath]
The posters ain't specific. Just "armed and highly unstable. Laughs before he shoots."
I'd be offended if it wasn't kinda accurate, truth be told.
One of 'em's got my eyes wrong. Says "brown" but they're more of a... what's the word...
Empty.
[chuckles]
Yeah. Empty's a color, right?

[Guitar break — slide guitar crying like a wounded animal]

[Outro — sung, quieter but still quick]
Six strings and seven wanted posters
Gonna make it eight by Friday if the wind don't change
I ain't runnin' from the law, boys, I'm just rearrangin' my range
So put my face on every can of every gas station beer
I'll be out there in the dust somewhere
Laughin' where they can't hear

[strums one last chord, holds it, then:]

[spoken, quiet:]
...still funny.

Outlaw Country, Tempo: driving, dusty, male