Theres a man who walks beside me He is who I used to be And I wonder if she sees him And confuses him with me And I wonder who shes pinin for On nights Im not around Could it be the man who did the things Im living down? I was rougher than the timber Shippin out of Fond du Lac When I headed south at 17 The sheriff on my back Id never held a lover in my arms or in my gaze So I found another victim every couple days But the night I fell in love with her I made my weakness known Through the fighters and the farmers diggin dusty fields alone The jealous innuendos of the lonely hearted men Let me know what kind of country I was sleeping in Well you couldnt stay a loner On the plains before the war My neighbors took to slightin me I had to ask what for Rumors of my wickedness had reached our little town Soon shed heard about the boys I used to hang around Wed robbed a Great Lakes freighter Killed a couple men aboard And I told her her eyes flickered like the sharp steel of a sword All the things that shed suspected Id expected her to fear Was the truth that drew her to me when I landed here Theres a man who walks beside me He is who I used to be And I wonder if she sees him and confuses him with me And I wonder who shes pinin for On nights Im not around Could it be the man who did the things Im living down? Well I carved a cross from live oak And a box from shortleaf pine And buried her so deep She touched the water table line I picked up what I needed And I headed south again To myself I wondered Would I ever find another friend Theres a man who walks beside her He is who I used to be And I wonder if she sees him and confuses him with me
confuses, wonder, pinin, used, beside