feneon

I just bought this LP by Wilderness Road the other day because it was fifty cents and looked interesting. Boy, was that the case.

It's almost a perfect mixture of country and hard rock (yeah, I know it's not cool to like country, but this is good, I swear), but it's the lyrics that caught my attention.

They are a bizarre mix of christianity and ruthless murder in the wild west.

Look:


PEACEFUL LIFE

the peaceful life on the homestead
it makes me want to get up and move, my thinking's all done
city folks with all of their gold, their fine houses, their fancy clothes
i gotta get me some

i mean to say that everyone
this is not my kind of life
stealing, killing, i know it ain't right
buti got to start a new life

a they say it's only hard to kill
the very first time you do
but after that it don't take much nerve
to do what you got to do

you know i've always obeyed the lord
but i ain't gonna watch the world go by
without getting known

when all the money's in the hands of the few
that only means there's some shootin' to do
and i ain't gonna run

i mean to say that everyone
this is not my kind of life
stealing, killing, i know it ain't right
but i got to start a new life

a they say it's only hard to kill
the very first time you do
but after that it don't take much nerve
to do what you got to do


I HAD THE RIGHT

i've always been a peaceful man
i've always shunned a fight
i've always lived within myself
and walked in the lord's own light

but it happened that i killed a man last night
you know it seemed to me i had the right

i did not even know the man
his name i never learned
i followed close behind him
and shot him as he turned

it wasn't done from anger or from spite
it just seemed to me i had the right

well his body reeled and spun around
and then collapsed in place
i wonder if he heard the shot
or if he'd seen my face

he lay there dead, it was a bloody sight
still it seemed to me i had the right

a-last night i dreamed that christ appeared
his body torn and bruised
well and he said that "i never saw your face
so you don't stand accused"

then he turned and said, "good luck in your next fight...
reload your gun, you know you have the right"


Bounty Man

livin every day by the sweat of my hands
bounty man, bounty man
living off the lean and the fat of the land
oh, the bounty man

a man can be driven just to keep on tryin
even maybe get into a little bit of lyin
when you make your livin off another man's dyin
bounty man, bounty man

don't turn your back on the bounty man
he'll shoot you in your tracks any time that he can
don't turn away from a bounty hungry kid
or you'll never be able to say that you did

some folks like to work their lives all away
bounty man, bounty man
makin just enough to eat a little every day
oh, the bounty man

me, i like to lounge in the lou'siana sun
handin out silver dollars tips to everyone
makin sure the undertaker's havin his fun
bounty man, bounty man

don't turn your back on the bounty man
he'll shoot you in your tracks any time that he can
don't turn away from a bounty hungry kid
or you'll never be able to say that you did

i make my livin my livin by another man's dyin
i'm a bounty man
i may be forgivin for a little bit of lyin
i'm a bounty man