Constellation Blues

You can tell a few things about the soul of a townFrom the blood of the men gone in the groundBankrupt and buried by war that is carried outBy messengers nowWas born here and married too young staringThe nose of the barrel downWent milk to whiskey to the courthouse sittingWith her stoned in her wedding gownMy birthday's in two months and I'll be twenty oneI am the second oldest to an only sonThird generation to carry a gunI've got brown eyes like my mother doesFirst I saw blood was in a soldier's hairDrying to his forehead in the dessert airI knew his name once but his face I don't dareRecall in the moments I go back thereOff the record do you see my tearsOn my face and in my earsAs the silos reappearAnd all of our journeys have led us right back hereThere's something in the water we've been passing aroundWe've eaten the berries there is no doubtLike our father before us in his paper crownKings of nowhere that was ever foundThe angels that used to be guarding our bedsHave all wandered off and left us insteadToo strung out and much too sick to defendLaying in the bathwater all lit up againIt's not a rumor it's more than trueThere's nothing I wouldn't doBe somewhere with only youShare a little of these constellation bluesWhen it comes to my death let it be slowMay I be hunted in the hills I knowLet God be certain I was ready to goBut keep that secret from my children though