Knee-Deep in Slaughter Creek

[Short Instrumental Intro] [Verse] They don't put it on the map now But the old folks know it well Runs between the ridge and Tatum land Like the moat around a cell Grandpappy called it Slaughter For the hogs they drove across Half would make the other bank And half was counted loss [Chorus] Knee-deep in Slaughter Creek Water black and slow Halfway's just a word they use For them that's never crossed before Knee-deep in Slaughter Creek Too far to turn back now The far bank keeps on movin' And the cold don't care about my vow [Verse] First the water took my boots Sucked 'em down beneath the clay Then old Blue stopped on the near bank Whined and slowly walked away Fourteen years that dog beside me Never left my heel but once And I watched him climb toward home Like he knew somethin' I don't [Chorus] Knee-deep in Slaughter Creek Water black and slow Halfway's just a word they use For them that's never crossed before Knee-deep in Slaughter Creek Too far to turn back now The far bank keeps on movin' And the cold don't care about my vow [Fiddle Break] [Bridge] [Stripped Back] And the current whispered, "Buckner, Set that anger down It's the heaviest thing you're carryin' And it's how the strong ones drown" [Verse] I come up on the far bank Barefoot, shakin', half a man Spilled the matches, lost the cornbread Kept the coat and kept the plan And I thought about the widow What she said the mountain's owed I left my boots, I left my dog Lord, what else is comin' toward the toll [Chorus] [Harmonies] Knee-deep in Slaughter Creek Water black and slow Halfway's just a word they use For them that's never crossed before Knee-deep in Slaughter Creek But I made the other side Whatever's left of me that's dry Is climbin' up the Tatum side [Outro] [Decrescendo] Water black and slow