Iron

Well it's iron that he hangs
 He loves his work
 He drives hours each day
 He's never been hurt
 Got a back of steel
 Got burns on the sleeves of his shirt
 He drinks too much when stuff gets heavy
 He can't think straight his mind gets hazy
 He stops at a sports bar and everybody knows he's a flirt
 So he's driving to work
 With his head split open
 From last nights drinking and last nights smoking
 And he never got home
 And now there will be hell to pay
 'Cause she'll be yelling and he'll be screaming
 And the kids will be crying
 Like a house full of demons
 Says to himself, "Why do people live this way?'
 She says to Lou Ann, "He's the father of my babies
 I know you think I'm wrong, I know you think I'm crazy
 Sticking around while he's drunk all over town
 But you don't see he can be so sweet
 He only gets mean when he gets in his drink
 He's good to the kids
 It's just sometimes he gets down"
 Iron drops bad
 You know it just seems to fit
 He gets busted on his wells
 He wants to just quit
 He wants to curl up tight on a cold white ground and cry
 But he works full shift
 Picks up a six
 It's almost Christmas
 The roads are getting slick
 She's gonna be at the door
 Gonna be hell of a fight
 So he's an hour out of Lincoln
 No shoulder on the road
 Its dark and its snowing
 He oughtta go slow
 But he pushes it forward
 Planes and slides like a sled
 The tires hit the edge
 He spins at the top
 The truck slides low in the ditch till it stops
 It hurts where he banged his head
 So he sits in the cab
 He can't read the gauges
 The wipers whip like wind over pagers
 It's loud
 There's static on the radio
 It gets too light to see
 He just stares
 It gets too light to see
 And then he gets scared
 Then the light was gone
 Just wipers, wind turned snow
 Well she says to Lou Ann, "He's the father of my babies
 I know you think I'm wrong, I know you think I'm crazy
 Sticking around when he's drunk all over town
 But you don't see, he can be so sweet
 He only gets mean when he gets in his drink
 He's good to the kids
 Its just sometimes he gets down"
 So he pulls back on
 He drives real slow
 Throws the last of the six out the window in the snow
 Something's changed
 Saw light, he should have seen dark
 That's the last time he drank
 Still a hell of a fight
 She knew he wasn't lying when he told her about the light
 She knew he wasn't lying about the light
 (Girl)
 "It's iron that he hangs
 He loves his work
 Drives hours each day
 He's never been hurt
 Got a back of steel
 Got burns on the sleeves of his shirt"