Dead Man’s Hand

[Verse 1]
Yellow lines in the dead of the night
Oh, I was heading back out west
Trying to keep my eyes open wide
I'd gone days without any rest
Saw him lying in the road looking bad
About 20 yards ahead
You come back from a trip to the East
But you don't come back from the dead

[Verse 2]
Sure as hell, he was dead as they come
And he was already starting to smell
Just a kid with his hair slicked back
And a knife tucked into his belt
Was he unforgiven or just tired of living a life
That never felt like his?
Though I was worn and weary, I thought I'd bury him
And lay his soul to rest out in the desert night

[Verse 3]
I laid him down in a grave in the sand
And he grabbed my arm with his dead man's hand
He said, "I know I'm dead, but I don't wanna lie
In a grave out here where the coyotes cry
I stared right into the endless void
And I ain't going back if I got any choice
I know how to live, I don't know how to die
And there ain't no thrills in the afterlife

[Verse 4]
So lift me up out of here, my friend
And I'll wander the night till the ages end"
Lit by the moon, he walked through the sand
And he waved goodbye with his dead man's hand

[Instrumental]

[Outro]
And he will roam forever, haunting the desert
And he will roam forever, haunting the desert