Reason to Believe (Nebraska Live)

Seen a man standin' over a dead dog
By the highway in a ditch
He's looking down, kinda puzzled
Pokin' that dog with a stick
Got his car door flung open
He's standin' out on Highway 31
Like if he stood there long enough
That dog'd get up and run

Struck me kinda funny
Funny, sir, to me
Still at the end of every hard-earned day
People find some reason to believe

Mary Lou, loved Johnny
With a love mean and true
She said, "Baby, I'll work for you every day
Bring my money home to you"
One day, he up and left her
And ever since that
She waits down the end of that dirt road
For young Johnny to come back

Struck me kinda funny
Hmm, funny, yeah, indeed
How at the end of every hard-earned day
People find some reason to believe

Take a baby to the river
Kyle William, they call him
Wash the baby in the water
Take away little Kyle's sins
In a whitewashed shotgun shack
An old man passes away
They take the body to the graveyard
And over him, they pray

Oh, Lord, won't you tell us?
Tell us, what does it mean?
How at the end of every hard-earned day
People find some reason to believe

Congregation gathers
Down by the riverside
Preacher waitin' with his Bible
Groom stands waitin' for his bride
Congregation gone as the sun sets
Behind a weeping willow tree
Groom stands alone and watches the river rush on
So effortlessly

Mm, he's wonderin'
Where can his baby be?
Still, at the end of every hard-earned day
People find some reason to believe

Hey!
Ooh
Hey
Hoo
Hoo