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Wicked Lines & Veins

by Murder Murder

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1.
A quarter pasture on a rich man’s farm Turn the rich man’s soil I left school when I was young To turn a rich man’s soil And we ran water all through the fields A dime for a dollar We prayed for rain and autumn’s yield A dime for a dollar In the summer months we steeled our will Dreaming of the snow Our landlord sat up on his hill Dreaming of the snow We shucked that corn and ground that wheat Bloody on the brow We culled the herd for autumn feed Bloody on the brow Mama died in early June A shadow in the dark And soon my daddy followed suit A shadow in the dark I started out at the fields and trees The only life I’d known I begged the landlord for the deed And the only life I’d known He said, “No, no boy; you know you’re just fifteen You ain’t got the wits in you to make a dime for me I’m calling in the suits, they’ll know what to do So pack up what you need and leave the keys out on the stoop.” A bible for to keep my prayers And whiskey from the jar And a ribbon from my momma’s hair And whiskey from the jar And a thirty aught six, a thirty aught six And a pocket full of shells I made my way up to the ridge With a pocket full of shells A quarter pasture on a rich man’s farm Turn the rich man’s soil Six feet deep and six feet long Turn a rich man’s soil I turned a rich man’s soil
2.
Well I took a ride down a canyon road Yes I took a ride down a canyon road Where the rocks and the rivers all shine like gold And the dogs all bark at the mountain snow Have you seen that rider like a thunder rolls Cause I seen that rider like a thunder rolls Got a white collar neck, 6 bullet holes And he come for a ride down a canyon road Mean mister called the marshal and he come for blood That dirty old marshal, he come for blood So they dam up creeks, and dry up the floods ‘Til the hacks and the buggies wade in the mud 6 deputies dyin’ on the canyon floor 6 deputies lyin’ on the canyon floor 6 bullets in the back, can’t take no more That poor old marshal got blood for sure Pale rider blues
3.
If you please it's forty five degrees And it looks like it's only getting hotter I won't lie I would be obliged If you could spare just a little cup of water Old Mr. Baer and his mean old mare And five of his pretty little daughters Went down to the river while the sun burned high To fill five barrels full of water He went around the bend with his gun in hand Hoping that he'd shoot a couple otters There was one in the grass and she was fast But Mr. Baer pulled the trigger back and shot her With his mood improved he went to find his brood With his arm slung firm around his slaughter But to his surprise one of the pails was dry And he was down one pretty little daughter Mrs. Baer took her remaining heirs And sat ‘em all so prim around the table She put the pan on the heat for to fry the meat When a little grease dribbled on her apron She bent and reached for a jar of bleach And was shocked when she couldn't find the bottle She turned around and that bleach she found And they were down yet another pretty daughter Then three young gals and a schoolyard pal Went out walking Miller’s Ridge The friend bent down for to fix her gown And a Baer girl went over the edge Old Mr. Baer, he put a team together And they all went searching ‘round the bottom And as the story’s told the trail went cold And they never did find his little daughter Bad times come in threes Sometimes the bad times never go When something oh so sweet decides to let a little darkness show In the morning the sheriff, he pulled up to the Baers’ Said I think it's time we speak Don't you find it suspicious that you and the missus Have lost three babies in a week As he spoke he turned and choked And saw a Baer girl brandishing a knife Pointing at the breast of a Sunday dress She was aiming for to take her sisters life Well Mr. Baer that's your trouble there Grabbed her arm and threw her in the car One was safe but it was far too late For the other three pretty little daughters
4.
I’ve been east and west From the lowlands up the mountain’s steps And back beneath a prairie sun I was born to shoot and raised to run From the willow to the cedar’s shade In the darkness where I work my trade In the snow and sleet come wintertime In the wetlands where I set my lines Well if I was an honest man, you know I’d hold a losing hand anyhow This livin’ ain’t a winning game, it’s mostly only ice and rain anyhow And who the fuck are you to say What a man like me can do today anyhow? I got run out of Reesor County Chased off by the Mounties Damn strikers just kept coming ‘round So we staked out a shipment and shot ‘em down Well I said I’d give up farming I loaded up my Browning And I settled down in this here place And if the money’s good, to me, it’s all the same Ain’t got no shame and I got no fear, I got twenty sides of whitetail deer out here Got beaver hides and otter pelts, a skinning knife swings from my belt out here And who the fuck are you to say What a man like me can do today out here? It’s a shame you’ve come to find me And I know you’re bound by duty I got one thing left to say here son You oughta run Cause there’s living yet for you I can’t say the same is true for me I’ve known death as long as life And I’ve flushed the lights out from many sets of eyes Listen: guttin’ a man ain’t all that different, guttin’ a man ain’t all that different to me And the law don’t mean a goddamn thing, the law don’t mean a goddamn thing to me And who the fuck are you to say What a man like me can do today anyhow? And if today the good lord’s burning hand Should take me to the promised land At least I know I’m going home Either way I’m going home tonight To the fields up north where I was raised My brothers rolling bales of hay Or maybe just down the road a ways It’s hard to say And who the fuck are you to say What a man like me can do today anyhow?
5.
I have marked the land Watched the foothills shape the sand Where a dead man made his stand In the Tansey's faded light Foreign soil on my feet But damn the borders, damn the beast Laws be left out in the east And as I've read, eye for an eye Wicked lines and veins Mark the north side of the plains They've got nothing left to claim Not even God, his eternal right Wicked voices tempted me Said "Cut 'em down before they flee" They've got nothing left to bleed Only dark left for the night Little Soldier pleaded peace Stolen horses be set free Bootleg whiskey let it be This blood's worth more than all the price But I saw something on that plain Like a fire within my veins You can't expect something to gain Without offering sacrifice We burned that cabin down Ashes smoldered to the ground Headed south, Montana bound Sobered up, I start to writhe Moments passed more like a dream Broken thoughts I can't unsee As the coyotes crossed the stream Sad and bruised, I pondered life
6.
Me and my brother Jimmy, we made a thousand dollars Rolling delivery trucks on Highway 17 Jimmy spent his cut all on whores and coke and discount liquor I had other schemes I took my five I bought a gun and stole my cousin’s pickup Made it to Bayfield before I dumped it at the pier I thought I’d hole up in a motel for a couple days That’s when I met Irene Irene was hard, she packed a knife, and she swore like a trucker She ran the scams on all the boys in from the bay She wore her hair in Monroe curls and boys she was a beauty I could not look away Next day she moved her things into that room where I was staying That old grey motel all the way down Legion lane We spent our days in that double bed wrapped ‘round each other Boys I felt no pain And every Tuesday evening we’d go down to Miller’s Pool Hall We’d find some sucker sitting lonely at the bar She’d take him to the men’s room, get his pants down to his ankles I’d wait in the car And when she’d finished and she’d snuck off with that bastard’s wallet She’d hop in the car and we would flee the scene It didn’t bother me the things she did at Miller’s Pool Hall I knew she loved me After three odd months when we’d amassed a tiny fortune Little by little through our various charades We kept it hidden in the top drawer of our motel dresser Hollowed out King James Friday morning I went into town to get the paper Stopped for a carton of her favourite cigarettes When I got home that old King James was out and he was empty I had lost my breath Well I went through the dresser drawer and found her clothing missing That she had cleared all her belongings off the sink Well it was then I found my world had gone and crashed around me I couldn’t even think Irene, goodnight Irene, goodnight Goodnight Irene, goodnight Irene I’ll see you in my dreams
7.
I’ve always been a gambler, I always play to win I kissed the lips of Harlem queens, shook hands with crooked kings You may not know me now son, but it’s time that we begin Cause I can tell that you’ve been ‘round too long I’ve broken hearts in England, and I killed a man in Spain That posse chased me off them shores and sent me home again But not without the parting words a lonely bullet said Well I can tell that you’ve been ‘round too long The spread of scars upon my back, the tungsten in my veins like Christ upon the mountain top I fell and rose again But unlike Him I never could forgive my fellow man The hour’s getting late, I guess it’s time to show my hand Now the cuckoo, she’s a pretty bird, she warbles as she flies Just like that little hand of yours, it trembles when you lie You can play the Jack of Diamonds on the fourteen of July But I can tell that you’ve been ‘round too long I’ve always been a gambler but I never can recall If I ever shed my wicked ways or worn them, thorns and all ’Til your very image slighted me, the blood boiled in my veins You play the part of Abel, now it’s time I raise the Cain I’ve always been a gambler, I always play to win And I’ll be sure to cut your throat if I see you again Won’t you lay your money down, now won’t you make peace with your sins Cause I can tell that you’ve been ‘round too long
8.
Well I’m afraid this train’s gonna set me down Some place that I know And if I get seen you’d best believe Lord, I’m swinging from the rope But all I know is this freighter’s headed south-southeast And it’s burning coal and just like my soul It’s running on the heat And if all goes well I’ll blow this hell Never ride again Cause when you done the thing I done It’s the gallows or the pen It’s the gallows or the pen It’s the star-hearted men The bottle or the brick The rifle or the stick It’s a dead man on the ground And the living all around And a candle burning low down the wick My one regret is my sweet Yvette She died on the floor She was sweet and she was mine Lord I owed her more If I could bring that Waylon Green back to life again I’d do so just to kill him twice And then I’d lay my head Understand I’m a wanted man This freight car is my cell Cause when you done the thing I done It’s a one-way road to hell It’s a one-way road to hell It’s the flowers in the dell The needle or the chair Bullets in the air It’s a dead man on the ground And the living all around And a priest come ‘round to say a prayer
9.
Well, eighteen years I've been cleaning this gun But it ain't make a lick of sense I can shoot damn straighter than any grown man could By the cotton on my dress Now the trouble and strife of a barkeep's wife You don't hear much anymore When you settle right down in a one horse town It's the bottle or the floor It was round last year when the pass was clear And the winter all but done The bar was filled with drink and cheer And Cain, the lumberman's son Now Cain and Bill, that man of mine Could not see eye to eye And he saw his chance to end it all But he did not see my knife She held him up on a cool clear night And she robbed him of his life You may pass through town but don't mess around With the cold bartender's wife Now young Nadine was a pretty little thing With locks upon her head And any man who'd pay the price Could take her to his bed But the night I found that bastard Bill Well, he paid a price or two With a corkscrew pin in my good right hand I stuck them through and through She held them up on a cool clear night And she robbed them of their lives If you have your fun you will come undone By the cold bartender's wife So they found the bodies all wretched and cut The sheets were stained and red And the fear and shock and restless thoughts Went running through my head You see, something snapped that night I found them Loving and entwined I thought of Cain and that sweet Nadine And I damn well lost my mind So I hacked and cut my way through men The rich and poor and meek The look of fear upon their face Sent me laughing in a shriek But I finally felt the cudgel blow And the gash across my cheek And my throat was cut but with any luck They'll be cleaning it for weeks Cause they held me up on a cool clear night And they robbed me of my life There's no jailhouse cell but a place in hell For the cold bartender's wife For the cold bartender's wife
10.
He wore a tattoo It read “hard as stone” Underneath his chin and just above his collarbone Six foot two, and he drank Walker Red Towed around his wife who hung on every word he said That skinny little wife She made her living dancing To pensioners and veterans who'd stick dollars in her panties They'd go out and she'd drink Cuervo Silver He'd shoot pool and lose and then he'd go home and he'd hit her That was their life Such as it was Spending all her money on lingerie and cover-up Tongues of silver Hearts so cold Wash it all away out in the hemlock grove Shaking off the dust until I shine like gold It's gonna shine like gold Even her mama said that she should leave him The next day he'd be sober, say he'd changed and she'd believe him She'd buck up, put something on with sleeves Sit down in that chair and close her eyes and make believe Cars rolling by Young couples in love The winds come blowing and they’re kicking up the dust He wore a tattoo that read “hard as stone” One day she woke up and found some fire of her own There went his life Such as it was Sometimes enough is just enough
11.
Abilene 04:11
Once I had a darling wife Her name was Abilene She had hair like ravens’ feathers And eyes of olive green If she ever looked at me with sadness Her sadness I would end And if she'd cried for nothing I'd fire into the wind I could not spare a thought for those Who could not understand That evening we went walking And I asked her for her hand She was my religion And I loved her like a sin How could we have know of all the trouble we'd be in I've never been a man who’s took to weeping But I cried like a child when she wouldn't leave our bed It seemed her very soul had took to grieving She couldn't shake those memories from her head When she was finally void of hope And I found her hanging from that rope It took all the strength I had to cut her down And I packed my horse and rode off into town I knew how to find them I knew where they hung around So I showed up and barred the doors and I burned them to the ground Now all has turned to ashes And that smoke hangs thick and still The shell that is my body is all that's left to kill Once I had a darling wife and I'll see that girl again When I hear the riders coming I'll fire into the wind

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released September 15, 2017

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Murder Murder Greater Sudbury, Ontario

Northern Ontario’s Murder Murder are a full string band with suitcase percussion who create a unique blend of bluegrass and outlaw country. Their virtuosic musicianship and evocative songwriting are backed by a wealth of original and traditional murder ballads. ... more

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