[Verse]

Woke up with the dust settling heavy on the floor

The screen door is hanging by a thread and nothing more

The river bank is dry where the willow used to weep

And I am buried in a promise that I meant to keep

The copper sun is burning holes in the cotton field

Waiting on a harvest that the gravel will not yield

There is a rusted iron kettle whistling on the stove

Songs about a woman and the ghost of our love

[Chorus]

Take me back to the mud and the clay

Where the delta wind carries the sins of the day

Lay me down where the cypress roots grow

In the deep muddy water where the slow currents flow

Oh the hard road is long and the spirit is thin

But the southern rain washes the salt from my skin

[Bridge]

The freight train is howling like a hound on a trail

Bound for a station where the memories fail

I traded my pride for a bottle of gin

Just to stop the vibration of the shape I am in

There is no mercy in the heat of the noon

Only the shadow of a dark crescent moon

[Verse]

I saw the preacher standing by the hickory tree

He said the truth is the only thing to set a man free

But I have seen the truth in the bottom of a glass

Watching every hour and every heartbeat pass

The moss is crawling up the side of the porch

Holding onto daylight like a flickering torch

My boots are worn through from the miles and the years

And the sound of the highway is ringing in my ears

[Pre-Chorus]

The crickets are screaming in the tall yellow grass

Counting the shadows as the carriages pass

The air is so thick you could cut it with steel

Spinning the fortune on a broken down wheel

[Chorus]

Take me back to the mud and the clay

Where the delta wind carries the sins of the day

Lay me down where the cypress roots grow

In the deep muddy water where the slow currents flow

Oh the hard road is long and the spirit is thin

But the southern rain washes the salt from my skin

[Outro]