Rock Salt And Nails

(B. Phillips)

By the banks of the river
where the willows hang down
And the wild birds all warble
with a lonesome sound
Down in some hollow
where the waters run cold
It was there I first listened
to the lies that you told

Now I lie on my bed
and I see your sweet face
The past I remember
time cannot erase
Letters you wrote me
were written in shame
And I know that your conscience
still echoes my name

[ harmonica ]

Oh the nights are so long
Lord, sorrow runs deep
And nothing is worse
than a night without sleep
I walk out alone
I look at the sky
too lonesome to see
too empty to cry

If the ladies was blackbirds
and the ladies was flushes
I'd lay there for hours
in the chilly corn mushes
If the ladies were squirrels
with high bushy tails
I'd fill up my shotgun
with a rock salt and nails


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from other versions

By the banks of the river where the willows grow cold
Wild birds warble the strange soundin' song
By the banks of the river where the waters run cold
Well that's where I first listened the lies that she told
[ guitar ]
He lays there each night all alone and he weeps
Nothing ain't worse than a night wothout sleep
The letters she wrote him they were written in vain
But I know that her conscience still echoes my name
[ guitar ]
If the ladies were blackbirds and the ladies were fishes
I'd lay there for hours in the cold rainy matches
If the ladies were squirrels yeah with a big bushy tail
I'd fill up my shotgun with a rock salt and nails
We'd fill up our shotgun with a rock salt and nails