Higher Lonesome

Turned around in Tidewater or all alone in Pueblo

I been drivin' with a deathwish down mountains on my phone

Half the places I been might be laced with psilocybin

I been dreamin' of a country I saw at the rodeo

Packed a bowl in the Bojangles 'cause Tennessee's so cold

Charlottesville by sundown's a nightmare to behold

There's an old-time dame with a twisty name, I couldn't read it if she wrote it

She's got a black-powder revolver, wants to see if it's still loaded

I been called by a higher lonesome than low as low can be

You can write it on my tombstone, outlaw life looks pretty wholesome

When you pay the price in foolishness it takes to get you free

Higher lonesome, kill the bitter parts of me

Codependents, SLA, and AL-Anon, they all know how I felt for ya

Felt it in my guts before two steps in Philadelphia

With every coin the joiners get, they're farther from the pain of it

With all the hurtin' that we did, it's a shame no coin will pay for it

I think I fell in love again on a walk in city park

Jodorowsky on the tiny screen and zig-zags dark

And I figured I should let it go or give it a couple days

It's a ton of bricks in Minneapolis, she don't know my last name

But I been called by a higher lonesome than low as low can be

You can write it on my tombstone, outlaw life looks pretty wholesome

When you pay the price in foolishness it takes to get you free

Higher lonesome, kill the bitter parts of me

I saw the darkness comin' at me in a Jeff City motel

There was writing on the mirror, said you messed up, so go to hell

Cormier's pills were on me still, and her letter just half-read

By the time the sun was up, I just got breakfast instead

I wish I could call the old folks that aren't with us anymore

I feel Granny dancing recklessly at the Floyd County Store

And the artist has his suffering, and the gods will have their pain

By the time the ride is over, I'm sure I'll ask to ride again

To see the snowfall in Wyoming strung out on Johno's Coke

Keep a mailbox in Nebraska so I know that Laura knows

She can write a letter once a year and say that we're still close

I can put my sins on Benjamin, hear the songs he wrote

See, I don't want to hit rock bottom just to see how deep it goes

Shine a light on six feet under so I ain't afraid to go

Prove in fact it is as lovely as can be

When higher lonesome kills the bitter parts of me

I been called by a higher lonesome

Higher lonesome, kill the bitter parts of me