[INTRO — dark desert night | slow driving corrido/outlaw 4/4 | BIG BOOMING DREADNOUGHT, hard-picked low strings | dry bass + low drums] [TRUMPET — distant two-note minor corrido call across open desert] [PEDAL STEEL — barely audible ♭5→5→6 glissando | sustain 6 against minor harmony] Verse 1 [LOW WEATHERED BARITONE — dry, restrained, behind beat] Old man down in Apache Junction Said, “Son, you want my advice? Leave them hills before the sundown. Gold ain't worth the asking price.” I laughed and bought another whiskey, Asked which trail would get me there. He said, “Gold ain't all that's buried. And some things don't like to share.” [DREADNOUGHT — low-string 1–♭3–4 figure | hard percussive attack] [TRUMPET — short distant answer] Verse 2 Moon came up on Superstition, Painted every stone bone-white, Saguaro shadows crossed the wash Like fingers in the night. Found a marker scratched in sandstone, Found a boot without a man— Then something moved along the ridge. [PEDAL STEEL — slow ♭5 begins bending] I blamed shifting desert sand. [5→6 — HOLD] Chorus [BRASS enters restrained | dreadnought remains dominant] Don't go digging where the mountain sleeps, Don't go counting another man's gold, Some things buried in the desert deep Were buried there to stay cold. When the moon hangs low on Superstition And the canyon calls your name— Gold ain't all that Montezuma left. [PEDAL STEEL — ♭5→5→6] Some treasure guards the claim. Verse 3 I found three nuggets in a crevice, Then another twice their size, That's when every sound went missing And my horse rolled back its eyes. Rocks were sliding somewhere higher. Dust came drifting from the face. Moonlight fell across the mountain— [DROP drums] Then the mountain... changed its place. [PEDAL STEEL — enormous slow glissando ♭5→5→6 | wide vibrato] Verse 4 What I'd taken for a ridgeline Curled against the desert sky, What I'd taken for a boulder... [PAUSE] Opened up a yellow eye. [PEDAL STEEL — low growl → screaming 6] Scale by scale the ridge kept moving, Stone by stone the canyon shook— I never saw the whole damn creature. [BEAT] I didn't need another look. Instrumental — The Snake [DREADNOUGHT FEATURE — pounding low-string VOODOO riff 1–♭3–4–♭5–5–6 | minor chords, woody boom, NO bluegrass flatpicking] [TRUMPETS — terse corrido calls | ♭3 + ♭5 tension, short 5→6 answers] [PEDAL STEEL LEAD — THE SERPENT | long liquid glissandi, low snarls, enormous ♭5→5→6 bends | sustain MAJOR 6 against minor harmony | phrases coil across bar lines] [BRASS + DREADNOUGHT drive forward | BUILD WEIGHT, NOT TEMPO] Bridge [HALF-TIME VOCAL over continuing groove | brass falls distant] I dropped the gold and started riding. Never stopped to watch it fall. Heard stone breaking right behind me— Then I heard... nothing at all. [ONE BAR SILENCE] Half a mile across the valley, Safe beneath the moon—or so I said— [PEDAL STEEL — ♭5 begins rising] Something taller than the cactus... [5] Slowly... [6] raised its head. [TRUMPETS — sharp minor blast] Final Chorus [FULL GROOVE — dark corrido/outlaw fusion, NEVER triumphant] Don't go digging where the mountain sleeps, Don't go counting another man's gold, Some things buried in the desert deep Are better damn well left alone. When the moon hangs low on Superstition And you hear stone call your name— Gold ain't all that Montezuma left. And some treasure guards the claim. [PEDAL STEEL — long ♭5→5→6, sustain] Outro [Dawn | dreadnought alone, sparse] Made it back by early morning. Folks asked what I'd found up there. I said, “Nothing worth remembering.” Old man smiled from his chair. Then I reached into my jacket. [PAUSE] One gold nugget in my hand. I threw that bastard in the wash And watched it disappear beneath the sand. [TRUMPET — very distant two-note call] Folks ask why I quit prospecting. I tell 'em gold got cheap. [PEDAL STEEL — distant ♭5 starts rising] Truth is... [5] Some mountains oughta sleep. [6 — LONG SUSTAIN over minor tonic] [NO RESOLUTION]
