Tonight

A song inspired by a visit with Wendell Berry.

John: vocal & guitar
Bryn Davies: bass
Tim O’Brien: vocal, mandolin, & fiddle
Richard Bailey: banjo

I know how to use it, the powder and lead
I’ve blowed up this mountain before
Back then I was underground drilling instead
For the black gold that lay in the ore
I was raised in these hills, I have fished every stream
I hunted the woods and the hollers
Now those memories are haunted and so are my dreams
By the bastards who reckon in dollars

Back in the day when my grandad was young
They came with their hat in their hand
The lies flowed like honey right off’n their tongues
Was a quarter an acre for land
Then they came with machines, stripped these hills to the bones
Backed up with their deeds and their guns
They threw women in jail for defending their homes
Even God won’t forgive what they’ve done

Now I’m sick and I’m tired, I’m pissed off and wired
And I know I got nothing to lose
It ain’t wrong, it ain’t right, but tonight is the night
And there ain’t nothing left of this fuse

Tomorrow the papers will carry my name
Right there on the very front page
The sheriff will tell them how I was insane
But no one will question my rage
Or the violence waged by the company plans
To lay waste to all we hold dear
In the last stand, the worth of a man
Is measured by love or by fear

I know how to use it, the powder and lead
I’ve blowed up this mountain before

May 29, 2012
Avondale Estates, GA

©2012 John McCutcheon/Appalsongs (ASCAP)