Pine Grove (Madhouse)

Stranded inside a madhouse, baby.
Down in old Pine Grove.
Been up for days
in a drunkards haze,
just lit up by this stove.
We got the band in the basement, mama.
Fire on that mountain steel.
Don't need your plow
or that old milk cow --
We're working on this hill.
Hang up the wagon wheel.

Here comes Lorraine:
she's a stumbling terror,
high on her bathtub gin.
Shows me her kids,
tells me how she is
and how she was back when.
Said, Back when I worked
For the county clerk...
when I wore those finer clothes,
now them days are gone
and we ain't got long --
But I'm still a mountain rose.
Heart like a young Pete Rose.

Ain't coming down.
It's a-roaring now,
High on your river town.
Dance on your porch
'round that old cane torch
and let your mountain sound.
Too late to lay it down.

Well, out on the ridge
where they're rolling, mama.
Stray dogs and sirens fight.
Barred all the doors
nailing two by fours
brushed off the coal oil light.
and if I slip -- don't you catch me, baby.
I'll find that back road bend.
I'll turn around
like an old blood hound.
Cut out my trail again
back to my trailer den.

Ain't coming down.
It's a-roaring now,
High on your river town.
Dance on your porch
'round that old cane torch
and let your mountain sound.
Too late to lay it down.