[Verse 1] He came down the lane in boots of clay With resin on his hands His fiddle box split by winter rain And splinters in the bands At the fork where the hawthorn leans He set his case on stone The hedges shook, the river held A dark and waiting tone [Pre-Chorus] Three roads met under ash and thorn Three moons in the ditch He bowed once low to the elder fields And heard that cawing stitch [Chorus] Crow at the crossroad, black as coal What will you take for a fitful soul? Crow at the crossroad, eye to eye Give me your name and I’ll let you by Crow at the crossroad, sing me true I’ve got a tune and a bone to chew [Verse 2] The bird came down with a bent green twig And a bead of river glass It pecked the mud by the old man’s shoe Then turned the hourglass He said, “I played for a wedding wake For fen and furrow and fire I fed my strings to the summer moths But winter wants its wire” [Pre-Chorus] The crow hopped close on the broken stile And shook its sooty head The fiddler laughed with a cracked old grin And drew the bow across the bed [Chorus] Crow at the crossroad, black as coal What will you take for a fitful soul? Crow at the crossroad, eye to eye Give me your name and I’ll let you by Crow at the crossroad, sing me true I’ve got a tune and a bone to chew [Bridge] So he played for the kingfishers He played for the flooded reed He played for the men in earthen mounds And the dead who still must feed The crow kept time on the milestones Cold as flint and bright And when the last note cracked the air The mist became a night [Chorus] Crow at the crossroad, black as coal What will you take for a fitful soul? Crow at the crossroad, eye to eye Give me your name and I’ll let you by Crow at the crossroad, sing me true I’ve got a tune and a bone to chew
