I had lover her name was Grace She found me down in a lonely place She dug me out with an old jar bow She dressed me up for to take me home She fed me words that I could not taste For I had no tongue it had been replaced By a green and growing flower which grew And I knew if I ever spoke I would speak true
We lived together in an old hotel A broke down palace with a wishing well The neighbor girl taught me how to spell And how to steal what I could not sell But I fed my tongue on the Devil's rum In a roadhouse run by godless bum On a drunken night with a stolen gun I shot my lover as she made to run The judge said "son, what've ya done?" But I didn't speak a word, no I didn't speak one And the judge sent me away And they buried my Grace, yeah the very next day
They sent me out on a midnight train In the rain rolling down through the dusty plain Four men sitting with an old shotgun Silver stars pinned on every one They busted my mouth for to get at my tongue To see just how this had all begun So I opened my mouth like a dragon's breath I only spoke truth but it only brought death And I laid those boys to rest For the truth, in truth, is a terrible jest
For there ain't no road but the road to home There ain't no crops but the ones you've sewn And if you learn one thing from me You better guide your tongue like your enemy
I came to ground in a one horse town On the western rim where the sun go down Where a branded man might start again For to right his wrong for to lose his sin But my tongue kept growing it would not cease I grew quite weary couldn't get no release So I went to the magistrate to turn myself in Picked up a shovel and he made the grin And they planted me by the sea Now the birds of the air make nests on me