[Verse 1] [Vocal: low-mid bari-tenor, weary, intimate; cracked timbre, almost conversational] Rust creeping down the magnolia leaves, Red water running through the roots. The river keeps the names I've lost, And every one still leads me back to you. I left my coat beside the doorway, Left my boots beside the bed. Thought if I kept on moving long enough, I could outrun every word I said. [Verse 2] [Vocal: smoky storytelling; heavier ache, restrained grit] Cypress shadows bend in the water, Old boards groan beneath my feet. There's a crossroad past the cotton field Where the dead and living meet. I buried letters in the garden, Burned the pictures in a coffee can. But ash don't mean a thing to memory— It just gets underneath your hands. [Chorus] [Vocal: open upper-baritenor; aching, gritty; rough harmony enters] Magnolia rust, won't you cover me? Lay this old sorrow down beneath the trees. Magnolia rust, let the rain come through, Wash these hands of everything I couldn't undo. [Vocal: stronger; call-and-response feel, congregation building] Let the river take what I can't carry, Let the mud take what I can't explain. If I've got to leave something behind me, Let it be my name. [Bridge] [Vocal: nearly spoken, exposed, confessional; pull everything back] Silence knows the truth I fear. I've been running from it for years. I know the things I never told you. I know the places where I lied. I know some wounds don't close with time— They just learn to hide. [Silence Drop] [Vocal: distant, nearly whispered; let the last word echo] And the river keeps on moving... [Return] [Vocal: hollow, fragile; slowly recovering] Magnolia rust, I hear your call. Rain keeps knocking on the chapel wall. If there's mercy underneath this ground, Maybe I don't have to carry it now. [Chorus] [Vocal: fuller, weathered; congregation harmonies rising] Magnolia rust, won't you cover me? Lay this old sorrow down beneath the trees. Magnolia rust, let the rain come through, Wash these hands of everything I couldn't undo. [Vocal: increasingly raw; surrender replacing resistance] Let the river take what I can't carry, Let the mud take what I can't explain. If I've got to leave something behind me, Let it be my name. [Outro] [Vocal: exhausted, breathy, almost disappearing] The river knows... The trees remember... I don't have to. [Vocal: final whisper; no vibrato] Bury me beneath the clay.
