Live Oak

[Chorus] There's a man who walks beside me; he is who I used to be And I wonder if she sees him and confuses him with me And I wonder who she's pinin' for on nights I'm not around Could it be the man who did the things I'm living down? [Verse 1] I was rougher than the timber shippin' out of Fond du Lac When I headed south at seventeen, the sheriff on my back I'd never held a lover in my arms or in my gaze So I found another victim every couple days [Verse 2] But the night I fell in love with her, I made my weakness known Through the fighters and the farmers diggin' dusty fields alone The jealous innuendos of the lonely-hearted men Let me know what kind of country I was sleeping in [Verse 3] Well, you couldn't stay a loner on the plains before the war When my neighbors took to slightin' me, I had to ask what for Rumors of my wickedness had reached our little town Soon she'd heard about the boys I used to hang around [Verse 4] We'd robbed a Great Lakes freighter, killed a couple men aboard When I told her, her eyes flickered like the sharp steel of a sword All the things that she'd suspected, I'd expected her to fear Was the truth that drew her to me when I landed here [Chorus] There's a man who walks beside me; he is who I used to be And I wonder if she sees him and confuses him with me And I wonder who she's pinin' for on nights I'm not around Could it be the man who did the things I'm living down? [Verse 5] Well, I carved her cross from live oak and her box from shortleaf pine And buried her so deep, she touched the water table line I picked up what I needed, and I headed south again To myself I wondered, would I ever find another friend? [Outro] There's a man who walks beside her; he is who I used to be And I wonder if she sees him and confuses him with me