Peik had only one good eye and a troubled mind He lost the other eye fighting the sheriff in the jail one night Homeless for the past fourty years, carried all he owned How he made it through those winter nights I guess I’ll never know When they found that poor young girl dead in the woods It didn’t take too long before poor Peik had his neck in the noose It was on the news Crowd was standing, Peik was on the landing Took the dive one minute to midnight Oh it’s a shame about old Peik When the light died in his one eye Couldn’t shake the feeling it wasn’t right Oh it’s a shame about old Peik The girl she came from a foreign country, she was pale and fair Everybody just loved her accent and her frizzy hair Peik was seen maybe once or twice following her around But she always smiled at him and never put him down When they found her body laying in the shallow grave Seemed right then and there they knew on who they’d pin the blame And a plan was made Crowd was standing… The morning paper had a whole page picture of Peik The mayor said the sheriff was the one to congratulate The Main Street ladies all went out to celebrate But a guilty conscience kept the sheriff awake Oh it’s a shame about old Peik

I was all of 17 when you moved from Monterey And I’d never known loving quite that way In the throws of youthful bravado we had nothing else but time And I swore I’d never take that job working down the mine We keep falling We keep falling You weren't fooled by dreams of money or a young boy's quest for fame It was something else that made you take my name We were of a time when people lived according to the Lord And a girl in your condition had to fall upon her sword We keep falling… Now the winters here are brutal and the wind it chills your bones And the dampness never leaves your clothes The years have done their damage and the whiskey’s played its part As the calluses upon my hands moved towards my heart We keep falling… The mines are all a-closing and there's no work to be found Our faces match the thunder brewing on the edge of town And the litany of promises that disappeared like ice Left us like a gambler shooting craps with loaded dice We keep falling… Now you're sitting here and dreaming bout the bluffs of Monterey It was never all that warm there anyway And all the things we should have said so many years before Are flaking like the decaying paint upon the kitchen door

Grandpa's at it again Woke me up with the sound of chopping wood behind the shed Choppin' and cussin' like a butcher with Tourettes Don't know if he's been to bed yet Lord knows if he's been to bed yet Grandma's fixin' her hair Pays no mind to the noise outside just sits in her chair Sturdy and grey like a grizzly old bear hoping today he'd work himself to death hoping that today he'd work himself to death Splintered hands How they run with blood Drive the axe down so hard His heart on the chopping block Splintered hands Drive the axe down hard Through all these past mistakes And all them sour grapes Splintered hands Now Grandpa's in a home It's all for the best cause he couldn't cope alone Found him in the shed Talking in the dark like Grandma was there Didn't have the heart to tell him she's dead Never have the heart to him she's dead Winter's coming on Grandpa's worried the wood's running low So I tell him there's plenty more The thought seems to warm his tired old bones Can't have grandma sleeping in the cold, says Can't have grandma sleeping in the cold Splintered hands… Grandpa's dead and gone I only went back to the house once more Took the axe from the wall The handle was rotten and the blade all gone Threw it in the well, I heat my house with coal Threw it in the well, I heat mine with coal

Have you heard about the Ashidas, no one’s seen them since Christmas Heard that they left during the night the husband, the wife, and the child Said nothing to anyone in the morning they were gone But after what they had been through who could blame them It was only last winter they moved here to that big ol’ house on the hill We had no snow the whole winter, the weather man blamed the foehn wind Said it made it too warm for the snow to fall but nobody here had ever heard of such a thing Foehn wind Foehn wind She was pregnant and he had invested in a local business plan But his partner ran off with all of their money and the ultra sound didn’t go as planned And he got arrested drunk out of his mind And when he got out there was no life in his eyes The baby was born twelve weeks premature by emergency surgery The first time she held her son she asked why did he stop breathing The husband ran screaming down the hallway, they made it in time but it took two months before they got home Foehn wind… The first few months were rough there was so much to learn and do The baby couldn’t eat on his own so he was fed through a gastric tube He had to be fed every four hours and it took more than an hour and a half at a time But sometimes you’d see them and hear them through the open window at night Holding each other their voices joined in a quiet lullaby Heard that they moved back in with his folks, I guess in times like that you need people around you Foehn wind…

I was born on a river of maize crops grew strong and the cattle grazed and I wonder if things have changed The rivers flowed and the valleys were green kids spent their summers in the apple trees and I wonder, oh my how I wonder, if things have changed The famine hit us and the wells dried up when there's no water boy you're straight out of luck and I wonder if things have changed Crops perished there's nothing to pick The cattle are dead and the kids are all sick and I wonder, oh my how I wonder, if things have changed Winter's on us and the rust sets in so many men give in to the drink They take the farm and they take the land the bank no longer care about them ten year plans and I wonder, oh my how I wonder, if things have changed Payments past due and the banks have got the right to say no sir no more time to make it all right for you But nothing ever changes and the breaks they don't come You can holler and pray till the day is done and I wonder, oh my how I wonder, if things have changed Everybody knows that nothings for free the toll man came and took it all from me and I wonder if things have changed They take your money leave you homeless and cold and if they want it you will mortgage your soul and I wonder, oh my how I wonder, if things have changed When you're rich you got nothing but time you'll never do a day for your god damn crimes Years pass but things stay the same cos everybody's playing the same damn game and I wonder, oh my how I wonder, if things will ever change The man of the land hollers and chants for rain the preacher man down on his knees is doing the same but nothing ever changes and the rain it don't come you can holler and pray till the day is done and I wonder, oh my how I wonder, if things will ever change

I throw a shoe through the window pane Feel the breeze but the view it stays the same Stopped counting the days, left the bed unmade It's these goddamn pills they make me take When they caught me on your Father's lawn Peeled my face off the ground and you were gone Guess it didn't surprise me much It's safe to say you had more pull with the judge Oh wild wild animals we used to be You broke my cage and set me free Two wild beasts on a killing spree Oh wild wild animals we'd ram the gates of hell like the renegades we saw on our favourite late night tv show On the day of the trial you took the stand And once again my life was in your hands You had your little act down to a tee While I was looking at you you weren't looking at me You had one hand on the good book The other one pointed at me And I just thought that's my girl And I waived my right to appeal

I was just a love struck fool first time I said “baby I love you” I don't think my baby's true to me I often catch her on the sly giving other men the fuck me eyes I don't think my baby's true to me I often ask her late at night come on baby let's multiply I don't think my baby's true to me My baby's never in the mood she says it's cos I’m so damn crude I don't think my baby's true to me My baby tells me all the time no one else is on her mind I don't think my baby's true to me In Shakespeare's words I think I trust the lady doth protest too much I don't think my baby's true to me When I got home late last night I was in for quite the sight I don't think my baby's true to me Her clothes were laying on the floor another man's shoes were by the door I don't think my baby's true to me This time I caught her in the act she said “honey sometimes facts ain't facts, you can't believe your goddamn lying eyes” Well I can't say that I was surprised be she sure was when I shot that guy Now she's staring down the barrel of a loaded gun

I was born a poor boy on the poorer side of town Mama passed when I was young and papa never hung around So I was raised by a cold cruel man my mama used to call him pa He beat this boy till Josephine ran him down with his own car We gathered all our trinkets and we left this place behind Josephine had heard about a place that frees your mind We drove along those country roads till we met Jeremiah Finn He said he wore a golden coat; salvation lay within Oh Josephine, Josephine, let's ride until we're free The love we have will do for gasoline Oh Josephine, Josephine, won't you tell me what you mean when you say that this will be our final scene Oh Josephine As Jeremiah wove his web his words they rang so true I've known the tongues of evil men and the way they split in two If it was up to me my dear we'd leave this place tonight Fire up that Oldsmobile and drive into the night With every month that passes we lose a little more But all that I keep hearing is we're closer to God's door So many of God's children have been blessed by father Finn That golden coat he talked about has touched them deep within Oh Josephine, Josephine… Now the midday sun is beating down and the drinks they cool our brow As Josephine lays next to me I see it clearly now She says she sees the golden gate described by father Finn but all I see is the Oldsmobile and the rust that's setting in Oh Josephine, Josephine, you were the sweetest thing I'd seen and the love we had it burned like kerosene Oh Josephine, Josephine, now I know just what you mean when you say that this will be our final scene Oh Josephine

I was born here in the badlands The only place I've ever known My people lived amongst the shadows With all of nature as their home I've Lived my life just like my father He was proud and dignified He always did his best for others Now something's changed him deep inside I'll hold on cos I don't wanna watch my world burn down I'll stand tall and I won't let you make me fall Now I'm told that I need saving In someone else's name and blood Cos everyone is born a sinner It's been that way since before the flood If you bathe me in these waters And you wash away my sins Can you really make me purer If human darkness dwells within I'll hold on… I'll lay me down amongst the flowers The only pretty things I've seen Maybe I don't need redeeming Maybe my soul's already clean

I went to the funeral of my old man today The urn that he came home in was a charcoal shade of grey He wanted his ashes spread across the prairies of the USA 'Cause he loved John Wayne, the American dream but he never made it out that way He spent his whole damn life working for the man at the power plant driving coal He shovelled that shit from a mountain high and the mountain broke his soul He was driving coal when I was born And he drove it until he was gone and the only time he hit me was when I asked him for a job driving coal And the coal mountain blocks the sun from my window Sitting in the horizon so stern and strong Oh the coal mountain, within five miles of it nothing grows I've lived in the shadow of that mountain all my life Now the service it was simple just the kind he would have liked Mama wept as she read those words about the dying of the light That same night the snow came down and for a moment it was all white But the ash in the air turns everything here grey like that mountain side And when we got to who gets what It sure turned ugly enough One grey morning Mama left the house in her robe and she never came home And the coal mountain… His ashes never made it to prairies of the USA Visas are a nightmare and getting harder everyday Instead I went in the dead of night Buried the urn in the mountain side Said "Here it stops", poured some whiskey on top and left them both, left them both behind And the coal mountain blocks the moonlight from the road Disappearing in the horizon as I go The coal mountain, within five miles of it nothing grows I won't live in its shadow for a moment more