Tom Waits — Murder in the Red Barn

There was a murder in the red barn A murder in the red barn The trees are bending over And the cows are lying down The autumn's taking over You can hear the Buckshot hounds The watchman said to Reba the loon Was that pale at Manzanita? Or was it Blind Bob the coon? Pin it on a drifter They sleep beneath the bridge One plays the violin And sleeps inside a fridge It was a murder in the red barn Murder in the red barn Someone's crying in the woods Someone's burying all his clothes Now Slam the Crank from Wheezer Slept outside last night and froze Roadkill has its seasons, just like anything There's possums in the autumn And there's 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 neighbor's house Or covet thy neighbor's wife But for some, murder is the only door Through which they enter life Now they surrounded the house They smoked him out, 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 Chenoweth's old place And no one's asking Cal About that scar upon his face 'Cause there's nothin' strange About an axe with bloodstains in the barn There's always some killin' You got to do around the farm A murder in the red barn A murder in the red barn The woods will never tell What sleeps beneath the trees Or what's buried 'neath a rock Or hiding in the leaves 'Cause roadkill has its seasons Just like anything It's possums in the autumn And it's farm cats in the spring A murder in the red barn Murder in the red barn Now a lady can't do nothin' Without folks' tongues waggin' Is that blood on the tree? Or is it autumn's red blaze? When the ground is soft for diggin' And the rain will bring all this gloom And there's nothing wrong with a lady Drinking alone in a room But there was a murder in the red barn A murder in the red barn There was a murder in the red barn A murder in the red barn There was a murder in the red barn A murder in the red barn