Appalachian Nightmare

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Lyrics

I was born in Cincinnati
 My daddy worked on the river
 The work dried up back around that time
 And he took us down to West Virginia
 See my night trouble started early
 I was stealing, gettin' in fights
 Smoking and drinking by age thirteen
 Skipping class and getting high
 When I quit school at fifteen
 My daddy put me out
 My mama cried, waved goodbye
 Never heard such a lonesome sound
 I went to staying with my best friend's brother
 Made his living cooking speed
 Says a man can always get by
 Who can cook it up nice and clean
 So I stuck around for a couple years
 'Til he was busted in '89
 Was eighteen years old, out on my own
 Out to get what I saw as mine
 ♪
 By '92 I was twenty-one
 I was back out on the street
 Two whole years of county time
 Charged with manufacturing
 Now I was aware, come a new thing
 Took like wildfire to the hills
 Speed was no longer king
 Now everybody was wantin' pills
 Now you might say that I'm just the type
 To seek his honey at the source
 So me and this cat that I met back in county
 We started robbin' drugstores
 But Lord, we was reckless
 We was high as a Tennessee pine
 You gotta know a junkie's gonna let you down
 It's just a matter of time
 When our time come, it was midnight
 Two weeks ago in Morgantown
 Was knocking off a little local
 Just when the clock run out
 We were all packed up
 Turned out to be quite a score
 Had the car waitin' in the alley
 Was walking out the door
 Well my partner takes two steps outside
 He stops and he hollers, "Police!"
 With voice that I didn't recognize
 Said, "Son, don't take so much, just breathe"
 And then I come out over my partner's shoulder
 And I squeezed off a couple shots
 First time I ever pointed a gun at a man
 And I done killed a cop
 Now it's a fact, you can't get a bullet back
 Once you've pulled the trigger
 There's no way in hell
 They gonna just ever stop looking for a cop-killer
 ♪
 Looking back, I knew it all along
 Knew we never had a chance
 Right now I know it makes no difference
 That I never meant to kill that man
 But now I'm held up in a hotel in Canton
 Surrounded by police
 No way I'm gettin' out alive
 There's no way I'm going free
 So I'm twenty-four years old
 I was trouble most of my days
 But I must say that I never thought
 It was gonna end this way
 And of all of my regrets
 Two that trouble me most
 Wish I could've been better, mama
 Wish I'd never took a shot of dope
 So Lord, if you're listening
 I never asked much of you
 And I already know I ain't going to heaven
 If what they say is true
 Then you'll forgive me
 What I'm 'bout to do
 

Audio Features

Song Details

Duration
05:37
Key
8
Tempo
120 BPM

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