[Intro] (sound design: saloon piano far off, glasses clinking, then cutting to silence) [Verse 1] I've played ten thousand hands since then Tried to lose that Tuesday in the wind But every table's got the same two ghosts Black aces, black eights, and a dead man's boast [Verse 2] He never seen it coming, back turned to the door That's the only way I could've won that war Face to face I'd have lost my nerve He was faster than the death he didn't deserve [Pre-Chorus] They call it murder now, back then I called it fair Funny how the truth waits for you everywhere [Chorus] Aces over eights, black as a moonless night I carry them like a debt I can't make right Every game I play, every hand I'm dealt Somewhere Bill's still laughing at the cards I felt Dead man's hand, dead man's hand Following me like a curse across the land [Verse 3] They hung me high in seventy-seven Said the rope would send my sins to heaven But heaven don't want a back-shooting man And hell just deals me the same old hand [Pre-Chorus] They call it murder now, back then I called it fair Funny how the truth waits for you everywhere [Chorus] Aces over eights, black as a moonless night I carry them like a debt I can't make right Every game I play, every hand I'm dealt Somewhere Bill's still laughing at the cards I felt Dead man's hand, dead man's hand Following me like a curse across the land [Bridge – spoken, low, 56 BPM] They still play that table in Deadwood. Tourists sit right where he sat. Somebody always orders the same hand for a photograph — aces, eights, laughing about it. They don't know the cards remember. They don't know I do too. [Final Chorus – stripped down, vocal + single guitar, building slightly, back up to 60 BPM] Aces over eights, black as a moonless night I carry them like a debt I can't make right Every game I play, every hand I'm dealt Bill's still holding cards nobody else has felt Dead man's hand, dead man's hand Following me long after the rope, long after the land [Outro] (sound design: a chair scraping back, cards being laid face-down on wood, one by one — four taps, then silence)
