Down by the River - Ray Wylie Hubbard

Gonna take you down by the river

Smell the gunpowder hear the ghost sing

There’s kids in the shadows drinking by the water

Smoking, blowing smoke rings

Gonna take you on down to the river

Learn about the viper and the mad dog wine

The bloodstains make a soul shiver

Feel a cold chill running up your spine

Gonna cross the Santa Fe Bridge

Got a pocket full of quarters and a fake ID

Sip a little poison on the Juarez side

There’s bones in the ground singing way off key

Gonna cross the Santa Fe Bridge

Got to walk fast keep between the lines

Nobody flinch when the shots ring

Out stealing a young souls vital signs

Undertakers look like crows

Red eyed and dressed in black

Undertakers say you cross that river

There’s a chance you might never come back

Undertakers bury them bones

Way over yonder by the railroad tracks

Undertakers look like crows

Red eyed and dressed in black

Blackbird flies through a broken city

Streets weep for the lost ones

Old folks say it’s a crying shame

The kids are dying by damn drug gun

Dogs howl in the old scarred city

Running wild out in the rain

We all cry for those who bleed

Shooting a little thrill into their veins

Undertakers look like crows

Red eyed and dressed in black

Undertakers say you cross that river

There’s a chance you might never come back

Undertakers bury them bones

Way over yonder by the railroad tracks

Undertakers look like crows

Red eyed and dressed in black

Undertakers look like crows

Red eyed and dressed in black