Are We Saved? [Dark outlaw country-gospel with smoky female vocals, raw and emotive, delivered like a haunted sermon, Heavy stomping drums, chain-rattle percussion, and eerie handclaps drive a relentless march, Twangy electric guitar and fiddle scrape against mournful steel slides, weaving through a brooding acoustic backbone, Choruses swell with ghostly chant-like gang vocals, equal parts revival and ritual, fierce and unholy yet radiant with fire] [Tempo: Slow, heavy marching beat. A lone, dry acoustic guitar strums a minor chord. A heavy chain rattles on the downbeat.] [Verse 1] Dirt under the fingernails, rust on the plow We sweat out our sins by the sweat of our brow The preacher man told us the blood washed us clean But he ain’t seen the things that these prairie fires seen There’s a rattle in the brush, there’s a shadow on the wall And the shadow’s too big for a mortal to fall We’ve been digging these graves with our own two hands Praying for rain in a wasteland. [Pre-Chorus] [Electric guitar scrapes a high, mournful whine; fiddle weeps a slow, sour note] Is the water too deep? Are the promises kept? While the angels turned round And the village just wept. [Chorus] [Drums drop in heavy—thud, stomp, chain-rattle. Gang vocals rise like a smoky, revivalist swarm] Are we sinners? Are we saved? Just a couple more fools in a shallow-dug grave! Wash us in the river, let the dirty water burn! Ain’t no redemption when the wheels don’t turn! Hallelujah! (Clap) Let the fire come down! Ain’t no holy water in a godless town! [Verse 2] [Acoustic picks up a relentless, galloping rhythm; steel slide groans underneath] I seen the devil at the crossroads, sitting on a stone He didn’t have horns, he was made out of bone He offered up silver, he offered up gold For the price of a heartbeat, the weight of a soul. My mama left a Bible on the kitchen sill With the pages all torn from the book of Goodwill She said, "Child, don't you look at the face in the glass, Some things are meant to be broken and passed." [Pre-Chorus] Is the water too deep? Are the promises kept? While the angels turned round And the village just wept. [Chorus] [Guitars swell, grittier and louder; gang vocals echo like a possessed choir] Are we sinners? Are we saved? Just a couple more fools in a shallow-dug grave! Wash us in the river, let the dirty water burn! Ain’t no redemption when the wheels don’t turn! Hallelujah! (Clap) Let the fire come down! Ain’t no holy water in a godless town! [Bridge] [Music strips back to just the stomping drum and the rattling chain. The vocal is a raspy, whispered confession, close to the mic] Dust to dust, and rust to rust Put your dead-man’s money in a dead-man’s trust. We built this altar out of sin and bone And we’re carving our names on a heavy tombstone. Tell me, brother… [Fiddle screeches like a breaking heart] Who’s gonna judge us when the trumpet blows? Nobody knows. Nobody knows. [Guitar & Fiddle Solo] [A chaotic duel of weeping steel slide and screaming electric twang, driven by the relentless, pounding march and rhythmic handclaps.] [Chorus] [Full band explosion, vocals searing and unholy] Are we sinners? Are we saved? Just a couple more fools in a shallow-dug grave! Wash us in the river, let the dirty water burn! Ain’t no redemption when the wheels don’t turn! Hallelujah! (Clap) Let the fire come down! Ain’t no holy water in a godless town! [Outro] [Drums slow to a single, heavy heartbeat. Chain rattles out.] Godless town… [A single acoustic chord rings out and fades into feedback] Amen. [END]
