Barren Ground

(Verse 1) Sunrise paints the peaks outside my door Same damn view I've seen a thousand times before Got my axe, my dog, my rifle by the bed Only company for the thoughts inside my head Yeah, up here the air is thin and cold and mean Just like every dirty goddamn thing I've ever seen. (Pre-Chorus - Voice starting to crack, building) Oh, they call me crazy, say I'm lost and gone But I ain't lookin' for no place where I belong! This old mountain's got my back, it holds my pain And I ain't comin' down to play no fool's game! (Chorus - Full power, a soaring, almost desperate wail) 'CAUSE THE WORLD, IT SCRATCHED ME UP, IT TORE ME DOWN! AND I AIN'T GOT NO GODDAMN USE FOR YOUR DAMN TOWN! NO, I AIN'T GOT NO USE FOR NO ONE ELSE'S CROWN! JUST LEAVE ME HERE TO BLEED ON THIS BARREN GROUND! (Verse 2) Once a month, the truck starts up with a groan Gotta get my flour, whiskey, just to be left alone Passin' strangers with their pity in their eyes They don't know the truth, they don't hear my lonely cries Yeah, I grab my goods, I pay my goddamn tab quick Before the poison of your judgments makes me sick. (Pre-Chorus - More urgent, slightly manic) Oh, they call me crazy, say I'm lost and gone! But I ain't lookin' for no place where I belong! This old mountain's got my back, it holds my pain! And I ain't comin' down to play no fool's game! (Chorus - Even more raw, a defiant scream) 'CAUSE THE WORLD, IT SCRATCHED ME UP, IT TORE ME DOWN! AND I AIN'T GOT NO GODDAMN USE FOR YOUR DAMN TOWN! NO, I AIN'T GOT NO USE FOR NO ONE ELSE'S CROWN! JUST LEAVE ME HERE TO BLEED ON THIS BARREN GROUND! You wanna know why? You wanna know why I'm up here, huh? 'Cause that pretty little smile? Yeah, that was a goddamn bluff! They promised love, they promised truth, they promised a goddamn ray of light Then they ripped it all away, left me bleeding in the night! Stripped me bare, showed me what a fool I'd been! Left me with a hole so deep, ain't nobody gonna win! Oh, that goddamn world, it took everything I had! And now I'm just a broken... (voice cracks, then a guttural, raw scream) ...BITTER GODDAMN MAD! (Chorus - Returns with full force, a desperate, almost frantic energy, fading at the end) 'CAUSE THE WORLD, IT SCRATCHED ME UP, IT TORE ME DOWN! AND I AIN'T GOT NO GODDAMN USE FOR YOUR DAMN TOWN! NO, I AIN'T GOT NO USE FOR NO ONE ELSE'S CROWN! JUST LEAVE ME HERE TO BLEED ON THIS BARREN GROUND! (Outro - Vocals become ragged, breathless, fading into whispers and rasps over a slowly dying guitar riff) Yeah... the world... it broke me... Ain't no goddamn fix for what they did to me... Just this mountain... and my misery... (Whispers, hoarsely) Leave... me... alone...