Murder In The Red Barn

(tom waits/k. brennan)

There was a murder in the red barn
Murder in the red barn

The trees are bending over
The cows are lying down
The autumns taking over
You can hear the buckshot hounds
The watchman said to reba the loon
Was it pale at manzanita
Or blind bob the raccoon?
Pin it on a drifter
They sleep beneath the bridge
One plays the violin
And sleeps inside a fridge
There was a murder in the red barn
A murder in the red barn

Someones crying in the woods
Someones burying all his clothes
Now slam the crank from wheezer
Slept outside last night and froze
Road kill has its seasons
Just like anything
Its possums in the autumn
And its farm cats in the spring
There was a murder in the red barn
A murder in the red barn

Now thou shalt not covet thy neighbors house
Or covet thy neighbors wife
But for some
Murder is the only door thru which they enter life

Now they surrounded the house
They smoke him out
They took him off in chains
The sky turned black and bruised
And we had months of heavy rains
Now the ravens nest in the rotted roof
Of chenoweths old place
And no ones asking cal
About that scar upon his face
cause theres nothin strange
About an axe with bloodstains in the barn

Theres always some killin
You got to do around the farm
A murder in the red barn
Murder in the red barn

Now the woods will never tell
What sleeps beneath the trees
Or whats buried neath a rock
Or hiding in the leaves
cause road kill has its seasons
Just like anything
Its possums in the autumn
And its farm cats in the spring
A murder in the red barn
A murder in the red barn

Now a lady cant do nothin
Without folks tongues waggin
Is this blood on the tree
Or is it autumns red blaze
When the grounds soft for diggin
And the rain will bring all this gloom
Theres nothing wrong with a lady
Drinking alone in her room
But there was a murder in the red barn
A murder in the red barn