Man in the Long Black Coat

Crickets are chirpin', the water is high

There's a soft cotton dress on the line hangin' dry

Windows wide open, African trees

All bent over backwards from a hurricane breeze

Not a word of goodbye, note even a note

She gone with the man

In the long black coat

Somebody seen him hanging around

At the old dance hall on the outskirts of town

He looked into her eyes when she stopped in to ask

If he wanted to dance, he had a face like a mask

Somebody said from the Bible he'd quote

There was dust on the man

In the long black coat

Preacher was a talkin' there's a sermon he gave

He said every man's conscience is vile and depraved

You cannot depend on it to be your guide

When it's you who must keep it satisfied

It ain't easy to swallow, it sticks in the throat

She gave her heart to the man

In the long black coat

There are no mistakes in life, some people say

It is true sometimes, you can see it that way

But people don't live or die, people just float

She went with the man

In the long black coat

There's smoke on the water, it's been there since June

Tree trunks uprooted, 'neath the high crescent moon

Feel the pulse and vibration and the rumbling force

Somebody is out there beating on the dead horse

She never said nothing, there was nothing she wrote

She gone with the man

In the long black coat