Ride the Line (Bisbee & Standing Deer)

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[Intro: a lone screaming slide guitar wailing in the desert dark like a ghost, a Harley idling, a coffee pot on a camp stove, then the country band comes in slow]

[Verse 1: warm deep southern baritone, heavy twangy drawl, ghostly slide moaning underneath]
Coffee on at sundown, same as sixty-nine
I pour two cups out of habit, been pouring two a long time
Harley coughs awake in the Mule Mountain dark
and Ghost rolls in beside me, never makes a sound to start

[Instrumental: the slide guitar screams once, like a ghost far off in the dark]

[Verse 2: warm deep southern baritone, ghostly slide creeping underneath]
He takes the second cup and he doesn't say a word
Suits me fine, son, I've said everything I've heard
Douglas to Nogales, out on ninety-two
somebody's daughter in a shallow grave, and something coming through

[Chorus: full country band, fiddle and pedal steel, the screaming slide answers each line like the voices of the dead]
We ride the line
where the dead don't stay down
We ride the line
between the grave and town
Some we carry home
some we put in the ground
Lord, we ride the line

[Instrumental: pedal steel and fiddle trade the melody, the slide shrieking beneath like ghosts, two engines opening up on the highway]

[Verse 3: slower, only acoustic guitar and the ghostly slide, which screams after the last line]
Fifteen years of finding kids they turned and threw away
Some come up with their minds still in 'em, some come up all hunger and rage
The ones who hold together go to Abuela's door
The ones too far gone, I make it quick, I make it clean, I don't make 'em suffer more

[Bridge: half-time, almost spoken like a campfire story, a single slide note bending slowly into dissonance]
I walked out of a firebase with a duffel and a ghost
outlived every man I ever poured a cup for, most
Never abandon the abandoned, that's the only creed I keep
and now I ride with a man who doesn't sleep

[Instrumental: the slide guitar screams high across the desert like every ghost he ever left behind, then settles]

[Final Chorus: full country band, warm and strong, the screaming slide answering each line like ghosts]
We ride the line
where the dead don't stay down
We ride the line
between the grave and town
Some we carry home
some we put in the ground
Lord, we ride the line

[Outro: the band drops away, the ghost slide moans alone, engines idling, a tin cup set down]

[Spoken, warm southern drawl]
Same time tomorrow.

[Instrumental: one slide note answers, low, engines fade down the highway, silence]

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[Intro: a lone screaming slide guitar wailing in the desert dark like a ghost, a Harley idling, a coffee pot on a camp stove, then the country band comes in slow] [Verse 1: warm deep southern baritone, heavy twangy drawl, ghostly slide moaning underneath] Coffee on at sundown, same as sixty-nine I pour two cups out of habit, been pouring two a long time Harley coughs awake in the Mule Mountain dark and Ghost rolls in beside me, never makes a sound to start [Instrumental: the slide guitar screams once, like a ghost far off in the dark] [Verse 2: warm deep southern baritone, ghostly slide creeping underneath] He takes the second cup and he doesn't say a word Suits me fine, son, I've said everything I've heard Douglas to Nogales, out on ninety-two somebody's daughter in a shallow grave, and something coming through [Chorus: full country band, fiddle and pedal steel, the screaming slide answers each line like the voices of the dead] We ride the line where the dead don't stay down We ride the line between the grave and town Some we carry home some we put in the ground Lord, we ride the line [Instrumental: pedal steel and fiddle trade the melody, the slide shrieking beneath like ghosts, two engines opening up on the highway] [Verse 3: slower, only acoustic guitar and the ghostly slide, which screams after the last line] Fifteen years of finding kids they turned and threw away Some come up with their minds still in 'em, some come up all hunger and rage The ones who hold together go to Abuela's door The ones too far gone, I make it quick, I make it clean, I don't make 'em suffer more [Bridge: half-time, almost spoken like a campfire story, a single slide note bending slowly into dissonance] I walked out of a firebase with a duffel and a ghost outlived every man I ever poured a cup for, most Never abandon the abandoned, that's the only creed I keep and now I ride with a man who doesn't sleep [Instrumental: the slide guitar screams high across the desert like every ghost he ever left behind, then settles] [Final Chorus: full country band, warm and strong, the screaming slide answering each line like ghosts] We ride the line where the dead don't stay down We ride the line between the grave and town Some we carry home some we put in the ground Lord, we ride the line [Outro: the band drops away, the ghost slide moans alone, engines idling, a tin cup set down] [Spoken, warm southern drawl] Same time tomorrow. [Instrumental: one slide note answers, low, engines fade down the highway, silence]

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