Well, he came from Northern Ireland
Searching for the free man's ground
And he came to bet his fortune
On a West Virginia plow
He built a house of timber
And raised a redhead son
Then they worked the land together
And prayed the rain would come

There's a scarecrow in the garden
That looks like Lucifer
And I've been reading revelations
With my bare feet in the river

Well, the redhead son got older
And took a brown-eyed wife
And the fields were green as dollars
'Cause the dirt was black as night
I came in late September
The youngest one of three
And my sisters off and married
So the land was left to me

There's a scarecrow in the garden
That looks like Lucifer
And I've been reading revelations
With my bare feet in the river

I know every single fence-post
Every rock that goes around
I've been staring at the red oak
Where I know they'll lay me down

The fields ain't what they once were
The rains just seem to flood
And I've been thinking about that river
Wondering how it turns to blood

I've been sitting here all morning
I was sitting here all night
There's a bible in my left hand
And a pistol in my right