There's a black dog following
Hard on my trail
Set firm on hollowing
My heart till it fails.

Gone nine days sleepless
Seeking to keep this
Dog off my tail,
Lugged this old bag of bones
Through seven time zones.

Oh I'm ten degrees of strange
But I'm trying to change,
Tryin' to shake off my shadow,
Still hoping to get out
Of the black dog's range.

So I run 'cause I must
Leave that dog in the dust
Gonna run like a river
Right down to the sea
Gonna run like the sap
Through the heart of a tree
I run 'cause I must
Leave that dog in the dust.

You were the pebble
And I was the ripple
You were the puzzle
And I was the riddle
Together, together,
We got lost in the middle.

We took signs for wonders
In summer the meteors,
In winter the thunder,
The trees split asunder
Wherever we wandered.

Now I'm stormbound on high ground,
A jack of the hedge,
A wreck on the beach,
Trying to stay out
Of that black dog's reach.

Some days I long
For the grace of an end
Dam up the river, dry out its bed
Bury me there, body and head,
Far from the black dog's song.

But I run 'cause I must
Leave that dog in the dust
Gonna run like a river
Right down to the sea
Gonna run like the sap
Through the heart of a tree
I run 'cause I must
Leave that dog in the dust.

Copyright: Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd., RESERVOIR MEDIA MANAGEMENT INC
Writer(s): Johnny Flynn, Robert Macfarlane