Seven Ride Out (v2)

Instrumental Intro

Verse 1

Little Joe was the first to fall

His horse spooked hard on a razored stone

Didn't suffer, if that's worth a call

We laid him out and left him alone

Verse 2

Left his share right there in the ground

Somehow felt wrong to carry his things

Funny how that kind of thinking sounds

When you don't stop to ask what trouble brings

Instrumental interlude

Pre-Chorus

I thought back then on how we'd come by it

Down in Orleans, some long-rotten pit

Pulled the whole haul out and laughed at our luck

Never once thought to give a damn or a-

Chorus

Seven ride out, and fewer ride back

The road keeps taking what the road is owed

Something's been following our track

Since we pried open that dead man's abode

Short instrumental interlude

Verse 3

Burke laid down outside Jamesville to rest

Said his arm had gone cold as a nail

Other one burned like fire in his chest

We rode on come morning, one man shy of the trail

Verse 4

We split up then, figured safer that way

Agreed we'd all meet in Calderon Town

Two went south on the old river clay

The rest of us north when the sun went down

Chorus

Seven ride out, and fewer ride back

The road keeps taking what the road is owed

Something's been following our track

Since we pried open that dead man's abode

Instrumental interlude

Bridge

Some Louisiana merchant, long in the grave

We never asked his name, never cared

Thought dead men had nothing left to save

Turned out he had more than we dared

Verse 5

When I rode into Calderon, just two of us made it

The others - word came slow, then came fast

Each one taken, though I'll not detail it

Reckon some debts are designed to outlast

Chorus - slowed

Two ride in where seven rode out

The road took the rest, and the road was owed

Now I know what that curse was about

We broke open a dead man's abode

Outro

My hands feel strange, been riding all day

Probably nothing, just saddle and dust

I'll sleep it off, be fine come Sunday

That's what I tell myself - I guess I must