Lyrics

[Verse 1] There's a man who walks beside me, he is who I used to be And I wonder if she sees him and confuses him with me And I wonder who she's pinin' for on nights I'm not around Could it be the man who did the things I'm living down? [Verse 2] I was rougher than the timber shippin' out of Fond du Lac When I headed south at seventeen, the sheriff on my back And I'd never held a lover in my arms or in my gaze So I found another victim every couple days [Verse 3] But the night I fell in love with her I made my weaknеss known Through the fighters and the farmеrs diggin' dusty fields alone And the jealous innuendos of the lonely-hearted men Let me know what kind of country I was sleeping in [Verse 4] Well, you couldn't stay a loner on the plains before the war My neighbors took to slightin' me, I had to ask what for Rumors of my wickedness had reached our little town Soon she'd heard about the boys I used to hang around [Verse 5] We'd robbed a Great Lakes freighter, killed a couple men aboard When I told her her eyes flickered like the sharp steel of a sword All the things that she'd suspected I'd expected her to fear Was the truth that drew her to me when I landed here [Verse 6] There's a man who walks beside me, he is who I used to be And I wonder if she sees him and confuses him with me And I wonder who she's pinin' for on nights I'm not around Could it be the man who did the things I'm living down? [Verse 7] Well, I carved a cross from live oak and a box from shortleaf pine And I buried her so deep she touched the water table line And I packed up what I needed and I headed south again