My lover has gone far away,
cross the blue horizon.
Left my heart’s flag here to sway,
a wound to gather poison.
Said he’d send me somethin back,
down the jagged range,
but I’m the Queen they dealt his Jack,
some things never change.

Bought a pitch and staked his claim,
stretched the wire round
Pray there’s more than dirt and shame
in that stony ground.
The water rushes thin and clear
back here on the plains,
pray he’ll find the colour
to repay me for my pains.

Lover, won’t you come on home
cross this dusty land?
Don’t care if all you’ve got to show
is nothin in your hand.
I miss your tender weary eyes,
your hungry travellin heart,
give all the gold in China
that we may never part.

Ain’t no colour in the mountains,
ain’t no colour in the sea,
ain’t no colour in the riverbed,
no colour for you and me.

Drank all the beer in your parlour,
ate all the honey in your jar,
took a hundred dollar bill from your coffee can,
drove away in your brand new car.

Don’t you send the state cars for me,
you don’t even know my name.
All I ever wanted was to be free,
no trouble, no blues, no blame.

Well, baby, I shoulda told you
a long long time ago,
wherever I come from I always finish up
on Extrication Row

Think a gold band gonna hold me,
think a veil gonna tie me down?
I’m married to the darkening highway,
left a trail of dust in every town.

Once saw a bird on a millblade,
high above the black tree fern,
but he flew away as soon as the wind blew,
and them arms began to turn

Well, baby, I shoulda told you
a long long time ago,
wherever I come from I always finish up
on Extrication Row

Now baby don’t you fret so plaintive,
don’t you know that leavin ain’t no crime?
I might not have given you my heart, but
I gave you a grand ole time

And if you stand out on your front porch,
look out of your window now and then,
you might see me on the horizon
if I’m passin through here again…
 
Well, baby, I shoulda told you
a long long time ago,
wherever I come from I always finish up
on Extrication Row

Ten years waitin in a dust-bowl town
for my gambler’s luck to come around,
said to my demons, come follow me down,
Ten Gallon Mile put my bones in the ground.

Saw you out walkin in the yellow sunshine,
Jack of Hearts stridin your invisible line,
desert rose bloomed in this heart of mine,
cold steel thorns all silver and fine.

Took you in cause brother, it’d been a while,
fallin for you would be my heart’s sore trial,
said, this Capulet collapses for your rhinestone smile,
kickin your heels down the Ten Gallon Mile.

Lonesome hearts are hungry for a human love,
I was hangin on your every breath,
thought your soul fit mine like a hand in a glove
but we were severed, my love, in death.

Cut you from the cross with my pearl-handled knife,
laid your hands across your chest.
The sherriff’s court done taken your life,
the buzzards’ll do the rest.

When that dark day of Judgement’s finally here
I won’t fly up with the angels to the cold blue air,
just come to the crossroads and I’ll be there:
the girl with the ribbons in her long red hair.

Ten years waitin in a dust-bowl town
for my gambler’s luck to come around,
said to my demons, come follow me down,
Ten Gallon Mile put my bones in the ground.

You were swingin down the street
you were makin some noise,
knockabout singin with yer whisky boys.
And you took me by the hand
with my red boots on,
sayin, ‘now I’m gonna show you where we
truly belong’

Baby, you got a heart of rags
scraps hangin down from the tree
rolled right up from the dirty street
wrapped your ragged hands over me

Took me dancin downtown
to the twelve-bar blues,
pistols in your pockets and
buckles on your shoes,
and you led me right up
through the hotel door,
laid me on the bed and
made me your whore

Baby…

With your buckskin swagger and your
poolhall smile,
god knows the devil never goes
outta style,
but darlin you’ll be sorry
when Judgement comes down,
you’ll swap your shirt for shackles
and a thorny crown

Baby…

My darlin ain’t got no time for me
he’s baskin in the glory of his new-found sanity, sayin
‘Lord, now I know how it feels to be free’
Well, Jesus why don’t you have mercy on me?

Gonna buy me a bottle of railroad wine;
gonna drown my tears in fire and lime.
Sold my soul on the state line,
asked the Devil if I could borrow a dime.

Well, sit me down, breathe out, breathe in,
if I can’t have you in my bed then I’ll have you in my skin.
Cauterise the needle in a thimbleful of gin,
two pulls of whiskey and slide the colour in.

He said, ‘Annie the sea is callin me,
put your Bible down.
Your calico dress and your pale fair brow can’t
keep me in this crofter’s town’

He said, ‘Annie the sea is callin me,
put your needle down;
just get out your thread and sew me a sail, don’t
make yourself a wedding gown.’

He said, ‘I’ll get us a thousand acres,
don’t you give me that doubtful frown.
When we’re King and Queen of the prairie,
I’ll buy you a ruby crown.’

I said, ‘Darlin the sea was callin me,
I stole your passage claim.
I took your boots and your cap and coat
but I won’t ever take your name.’

(McKee, arr. Hill/Moffat/Giannini)
There is no damn reason I should have to be so alone
I’m smothered by this emptiness, Lord I wish I was made of stone
Like a fool I lent my soul to love and it paid me back with shame
God help me, am I the only one who’s ever felt this way?

A heart that’s worn and weathered would know better than to fight
But I wore mine like a weapon, played out love like a crime
And it wrung me and strung me out, hung years on my face
God help me, am I the only one who’s ever felt this way?

There is a wound inside me and it’s bleeding like a flood
There are times when I see light ahead but hope is not enough
As another night surrounds me and it pounds me like a wave
God help me, am I the only one who’s ever felt this way?