you been drinking, drinking hard
drinking like everyone I know who drinks to heal a scar
lying low friend, disappearing and then
rising up like a river after the storm
I first left town on an old freight train, rode them winds with the river cranes
and I never passed a bottle to a man that I could kill
Settled down on a back woods town, had me a girl but she fooled around
She drank all night and stuck me with the bill
chorus
Middle of the grass lives a bird and a bear, shes got no wings and hes got no hair
but they raised me up and taught me to be fair
After years on the road I came back home, was afraid to show my face anymore but they were way too old, a little to drunk to care
chorus
So many people buried on the hill
some of them folks walk around there still
when you place my bones, put em deep into the ground
walk me out so far from town, backtrack across the river so you wont be found and tip that bottle, pass it all around