I buried Mama standing with the knife still in her chest
As per her last instructions at her death
Said you'll never get to Heaven, Son, so go to Hell real slow
Now the ground don't want me, Mama
The ground don't want me no, no, no
I've stacked the deck I've held the dead man's hand so many times
Eights and aces wishing for the death I hoped was mine
But cards and guns are all the same, each man must draw his own
Now the ground don't want me, Mama
The ground don't want me no, no, no
What is the body when the soul has flown?
Has it only been forgotten?
I wanna lay down in a field of bone
But an angel guards the Garden
I killed men in Blue Eye, Barbaco, New Life and Crystal Wells
In every town the broken-hearted rang their steeple bells
For every man a box and for every hole a rose
But the ground don't want me, Mama
The ground don't want me no, no, no
What is the body when the soul has flown?
Has it only been forgotten?
I wanna lay down in a field of bone
But an angel guards the Garden
Then one morning near Arkana I chanced to watch some violets rise
Their lunar blues undoing down the fastening stays of night and I
Thought how sweet to sleep beneath flowers such as those
But the ground don't want me, Mama
The ground don't want me no, no, no
What is the body when the soul has flown?
Has it only been forgotten?
I wanna lay down in a field of bone
But an angel guards the Garden
Sometimes I think 'bout Mama with the knife still in her chest
Sometimes I think 'bout all those lucky men I sent to rest
And how it's them who are a'sleeping and how it's me who is the ghost
Now the ground don't want me, Mama
The ground don't want me no, no, no
What is the body when the soul has flown?
Has it only been forgotten?
I wanna lay down in a field of bone
But an angel guards the Garden
