There was a murder in the red barn, a murder in the red barn
The trees are bending over and the cows are lying down
The autumn?s taking over, you can hear the buckshot hounds
The watchman said to Reba the Loon
Was that Pale at Manzanita, was it Blind Bob the Coon?
Pin it on a drifter, they sleep beneath the bridge
One plays the violin and sleeps inside a fridge
There was a murder in the red barn, a murder in the red barn
Someone?s crying in the woods, someone?s burying all his clothes
Now Slam the Crank from Wheezer slept outside last night and froze
Road kill has its seasons just like anything
There?s possums in the autumn and it?s farm cats in the spring
There was a murder in the red barn, a murder in the red barn
Now thou shalt not covet thy neighbor?s house or covet thy neighbor?s wife
But for some murder is the only door through which they enter life
Well they surrounded the house, they smoked him out, they took him off in chains
The sky turned black and bruised and we had months of heavy rains
Now the raven?s nest in the rotted roof of Chenoweth?s old place
And no one?s asking Cal about that scar upon his face
?Cause there?s nothin? strange about an axe with bloodstains in the barn
There?s always some killin? you got to do around the farm
A murder in the red barn, a murder in the red barn
Now the woods will never tell what sleeps beneath the trees
Or what?s buried ?neath a rock or hiding in the leaves
?Cause road kill has it?s seasons just like anything
It?s possums in the autumn and it?s farm cats in the spring
A murder in the red barn, a murder in the red barn
Now a lady can?t do nothin? without folks? tongues waggin?
Is that blood on the tree or is it autumn?s red blaze
When the ground?s soft for diggin? and the rain will bring all this gloom
There?s nothing wrong with a lady drinking alone in a room
But there was a murder in the red barn, a murder in the red barn
There was a murder in the red barn, a murder in the red barn
There was a murder in the red barn, a murder in the red barn
Taken from AlbumSongAndLyrics.comMusic & Lyrics by: Tom Waits and Kathleen Brennan
Official release: ?Bone Machine?, Island Records Inc., © 1992