The Canterbury Kid v4 Remastered)

**[Intro – slow, mournful lute drone]** Upon a halt and withered steed, I rode into the gates, Cast out from the northern herd by cruel and fickle fates. The hempen neck-tie swayed aloft, a-dancing in the gale, While every post did bear my face, to tell my wretched tale. **[Chorus – bold, driving rhythm, group chant on refrain]** My trusted musket, heavy-wrought, hangs low upon my thigh, The Canterbury Kid am I — prepare thyself to die! --- **[Verse 2 – building tension, percussion enters]** I bound that sorry, limping beast unto the hitching post, And stepped within the "Busted Wench," where sins are bought and sold, I called for spirits, burning hot; the tapster asked for gold, I paid two bits, then filled his breast with leaden shot and cold. **[Chorus]** My trusted musket, heavy-wrought, hangs low upon my thigh, The Canterbury Kid am I — prepare thyself to die! --- **[Verse 3 – tempo drops, low strings, sinister tone]** A damsel of the shadows cast her gaze from high above, Upon the wooden balcony, she sought no virtuous love. With breath that reeked of sulfur-smoke, she drew herself a-near, The Ace of Hearts upon her hip did bleed with crimson fear. By lower lip I hauled her up, to chambers dark and drear. **[Chorus]** My trusted musket, heavy-wrought, hangs low upon my thigh, The Canterbury Kid am I — prepare thyself to die! --- **[Verse 4 – hushed, then explosive on the final couplet]** I laid me down; she loosed my boots and stripped my denim hide, And loosed the knots upon my loins, in youth so firmly tied. But then the portal burst asunder, shaken from the frame, A knave of sin and filth stood there, to cry his lady's name. "That wench is mine!" the villain roared. Quoth I, "Thy words are true," Then through his heart I carved a hole, as vast as heaven's blue. --- **[Outro / Final Toll – grand, slow, triumphant]** My trusted musket, heavy-wrought, hangs low upon my thigh, The Canterbury Kid am I — prepare thyself to die! The Canterbury Kid am I — *I bid thee now... prepareth thou to die!* **[Solo lute fadeout]**