Deep down in Virginia, there was born a child
To a lovely widow, sensitive but wild
He grew up meek and mellow
The girls all called him cute
He watched his mother's murder, it left him dumb & mute
He drifted up to Richmond, in his hand: his father's hat
A colt revolver hidden in his trench coat, worn and black
There he met a porter, late to catch a train
He shot him for a quarter, he stole his ticket and his name
Then he rode into Manhattan, 14th street
A folded photo in his pocket of the man he came to meet
There a man sat strumming, a rusty steel guitar
Picking out a love song, about a lady and her car
"I know why you're here", the old man sang in time
"Your old lady is no longer, and you've pinned me for the crime
Before I am dispatched, there's something I gotta say
Your momma tried to trade you for a brand new chevrolet
So I stabbed her in the heart, and I thought you were asleep
And when I saw your eyes were open, I knew you'd never speak
I couldn't leave you thinking you were made to give away
So I left you with a photo, and here you stand today"
"That tune you heard me played, that song was just for you
I've been waiting 20 years, so do what you gotta do"
A watch was slowly set in the eerie pregnant pause
The man had took his family, but left him with a cause
And as the daylight faded, stretching warming over the floor
They hummed the tune together, and outside the engines roared