There's a church where the windows never catch the dawn, Just cracked old saints with their halos gone. Preacher says the Devil's walking these plains tonight, Better lock your doors before the fading light. There's a thing in the hills with antlers of bone, Never bothers folks that leave well enough alone. He drinks from the creek when the moon rides high... Never told a single living soul a lie. They tell you fear the things that howl... The shadows... the claws... the empty prowl. But I've seen kinder eyes in a creature's stare Than I ever found in a man full of prayer. Some beasts kill hungry... some ghosts kill slow... That's just the way the old winds blow. But the worst of all, Lord, I've come to know... Walk upright... and never show. There's a widow by the edge of the cedar line, Says a pale dead miner visits every night. Brings her wood when the winter bites the land, Tips his hat with a cold, transparent hand. Folks call him cursed, say he's bound for Hell, Never stole a thing, never wished 'em ill. Funny how the town still spits his name... While the banker sleeps with a conscience unclaimed. They tell you fear the things that howl... The shadows... the claws... the empty prowl. But I've seen softer hands on a vampire's face Than the men who smiled while they took a man's place. Some beasts kill hungry... some ghosts kill slow... That's just the way the old winds blow. But the worst of all, Lord, I've come to know... Walk upright... and never show. [music strips down—just guitar, distant whistle] A witch once warned me, "Son, don't trust the grin. The fangs are honest... it's the smiles that sin." The werewolf tears before he feeds. The outlaw laughs while children bleed. One fights a curse he never chose... One chooses every evil road. [full instrumentation] They tell you fear the things at night, The burning eyes beyond the light. But every grave I've stumbled by Has more names carved by men than monsters' crimes. If Hell rides out, it don't need horns... It buys a suit and swears an oath. The devil's easiest disguise... Is looking just like you and I. So if you hear something howl out west... Leave it be if it lets you rest. 'Cause the creature beneath the pale moon's breath... May have more mercy... than the man you met. [spoken over lone guitar and whistling] "I've buried monsters... ...most of 'em were human."
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