dust storm blowing through a cardboard town

tore the rooftops off left the asphalt brown

flax sun setting on a junkyard road

with the tin piled high Lord, it shines like gold

living in the country born to push that mule

gonna plow these fields til our train comes through

looking for revival down the slackjaw line

with the unknown saints in a roadhouse shrine

they rearranged the letters on the cracked marquee reads

"YOU STILL CAN'T TOUCH AND THE DEAD DRINK FREE"

big hipped woman she's a tennesee belle

with a the memphis thighs gonna cast that spell

poor boys pacing up a main street holler

with the bullet proof hair and a g-string dollars

need a little mercy gonna spend our time

with the half nude prophets in a roadhouse shrine

Nothing left to cover but our ashtray breath

caught a white freightliner back to Nazareth

bought a plastic jesus off an antique vendor

she spit out her gum and I stuck him to the fender

said she spent another evening in a dim motel

in three way tryst with a tennessee belle

tired seeking shelter with the rambling kind

found little piece of heaven in a roadhouse shrine

long faded billboards raw from weather and rust

all that paint starts to bleed Lord it's planting the seeds

of our history dissolved in the dust

and I hear them rattle...from behind this old screen

every spirit that runs from the rays of the sun

and reside in a dying man's dreams

caught the glare off a silo and it's silver roof sang

and that sweet pungient air made these old nostrils flare

and it moves like a ghost through the grain

and I hear the rattle...of a new baby's cry

every spirit that screams but can never be seen

making love in a gasoline sky

gonna tear down that trailer it's stood abandoned for years

the roofs caving in every wall's stained with sin

and the salt of some poor angel's tears

oh, and I hear the rattle...of an old chevrolet

she had no second glance back at life's circumstance

just a four wheels left to roll her away

this unbroken circle round our old restless hearts

soon the strands start to fray when the love fades away

til it finally rips us apart

yeah but I heard the rattle...though I never knew why

every spirit that screams somehow ends up redeemed

in the light of a gasoline sky

every spirit that screams somehow ends up redeemed

in the light of a gasoline sky

took a sawmill road to the river bed

off the black hill shore where the creek runs red

up a Rapid City ribbon of dirt without a ticket to ride

left a cigarette girl with the devil

in a big black buick quoting john the revelator

on a monumental getaway with a Lakota Sioux bride

little pinetop sugar in a hot rod six

moving like a wrecking machine back to the land of the sticks

big black buick gonna carry the dead

from the sawmill road down to the river bed

took a sawmill road to the river bank

down the black hill shore where a freight train sank

off a Rapid City ribbon of dirt trying to fight off the urges

left that reservation woman with the engineer

on a tripped out chopper with a bucket of beer

in a celebrated motorcade until we pulled into Sturgis

little pinetop sugar in a hot rod six

moving like a wrecking machine back to the land of the sticks

tripped out chopper on a half a tank

from the sawmill road down to the river bank...to the river bank

took a sawmill road to the river bed

off the black hill shore where the creek runs red

up a Rapid City ribbon of dirt without a ticket to ride

left a cigarette girl with the devil

in a big black buick quoting john the revelator

on a monumental getaway with a Lakota Sioux bride

little hilltop sugar in a hot rod six

moving like a wrecking machine back to the land of the sticks

Big Black Buick gonna carry the dead

from the sawmill road down to the river bed

Big Black Buick on a half a tank

from the dry bone gulch down to the river bank

ten long years since a studebaker sank

and a matchstick devil gone and lit that tank

folks round here said they heard hell's choir

in the jet black flames of a river on fire

Flat Bed Creek thicker than blood

gonna lay your body in the gravel and mud

cold brown water gonna pull you down

into the Flat Bed Creek on the edge of town

oil slick spread when it sprung that leak

every fuel line bled into the flat bed creek

devil went running when the angels came

but the heav'nly host couldn't cross them flames

Flat Bed Creek thicker than blood

gonna lay your body in the gravel and mud

cold brown water gonna pull you down

into the Flat Bed Creek on the edge of town

ten long years lingering on

the fire died down and the studebaker's gone

where a grey ghost suffers and the angels weep

for a body in the belly of the Flat Bed creek

Flat Bed Creek thicker than blood

gonna lay your body in the gravel and mud

cold brown water gonna pull you down

into the Flat Bed Creek on the edge of town