Blackwood

(Verse 1) The alpine was white as bone and the creek was running dry

I was eating roasted rattler ‘neath a cruel and copper sky

Just a farmer out of Kansas with a fever in my chest

Trying to squeeze a living from the belly of the West

But the drought, it took the cattle, and the fever took my bride

And something in my spirit just crawled up and died

I traded in my wedding ring for a piece of heavy steel

To see how much of justice a hungry man could steal.

(Chorus)

Now I’m the name the mothers whisper when the lanterns start to dim

A ghost upon a buckskin horse, with a pistol on his hip

I wasn't born for killing, but I learned the trade in hell

When the hammer hit the firing pin, I rang the devil’s bell

Yeah, the man who met his match that day, he's resting in the clay

And I’ve been running south of mercy ever since I walked away.

(Verse 2) I was camping near the Pecos when the stranger rode in slow

A high-plains executioner with a heavy debt to owe

He was a legend in the territory, "Blackwood" was the name

He’d sent a dozen outlaws to a grave without a name

He stepped down off his stallion, and he didn't say a word

The quiet in that canyon was the loudest thing I’d heard

He drew a line in the gravel with the point of a Bowie blade

And I knew that I was standing in the bed that I had made.

(Bridge)

The sun hit the canyon rim, and the shadows started long

Blackwood’s hand was moving like the rhythm of a song

He was fast as heat-stroke lightning, a flash of blue and gray

But my thumb was slick with sweat and fear, and I blew his life away

I felt his lead tear through my coat, a hot and angry hiss

But the Reaper got a handshake while I got a Judas kiss.

(Verse 3) I didn't take his gold watch, and I didn't take his pride

I just buried him in silence where the desert lizards hide

But a man who kills a giant becomes a giant too

And the legend grew much taller than the man I ever knew

Now I’m the King of the High, the prince of every raid

The greatest living outlaw that a single bullet made.

(Verse 4) Now I ride the broken ridgelines where the law don’t dare to go

With a thousand miles of trail behind and a thousand more to show

They say I’ve got no conscience, they say I’ve got no soul

Just a heart of cold obsidian and a barrel in control

But every time the moon is high and the coyote starts to wail

I see old Blackwood standing there along the dusty trail

He gave me his reputation with the pulling of a cord

And I’m just an outlaw preacher with a six-gun for a Lord.

(Chorus)

‘Cause I’m the name the mothers whisper when the lanterns start to dim

A ghost upon a buckskin horse, with a pistol on his hip

I wasn't born for killing, but I learned the trade in hell

When the hammer hit the firing pin, I rang the devil’s bell

Yeah, the man who met his match that day, he's resting in the clay

And I’ve been running south of mercy ever since I walked away.

(Outro)

So pour a glass of whiskey, boys, and keep the fire high

And watch the dark horizons for a rider passing by

I’m a ghost, I’m a legend, I’m a story to be told...

The man who found his future in a hollow-point of gold.

Just a hollow-point of gold.

Yeah, I’m still riding.