Look me in the eye when you're talkin' to me
Wanna see in your soul when you lie
Don't try and tell me that you couldn't foresee
What everybody reckoned was a matter of time
Goddamn right, I'm emotional
I ain't nothin' but a man
Hell yes, this is personal
Before we leave here you're gonna understand

It's about fathers
It's about sons
It's about lovers wakin' up
In the middle of the night, alone
It's about muscle
It's about bone
It's about a river runnin' thicker than water
And it's about blood

Once upon a time in America
Workin' man knew where he stood
Nowadays just gettin' by is a miracle
Probably couldn't give it up if I could
Don't wanna hear about the state of the economy
Fiscal reality, profit and loss
None of that matters once you're underground anyway
Damn sure can't tell me nothin' 'bout cost

It's about fathers
It's about sons
It's about lovers wakin' up
In the middle of the night, alone
It's about muscle
It's about bone
It's about a river runnin' thicker than water, and
It's about blood

Tell yourself it was an accident
Isolated incident, part of the job
Yeah, well tell that to the families
Kids without daddies, tell it to God
That the wind you hear howlin' through the holler
Or a ghost of a river that crashed?
For every man that died for a coal-covered dollar
Lung full of dust and a heart full of lies

It's about fathers
It's about sons
It's about lovers wakin' up
In the middle of the night, alone
It's about muscle
It's about bone
It's about a river runnin' thicker than water, and
It's about blood

It's about Carl Acord and Jason Atkins, Christopher Bell
Gregory Steven Brock, Kenneth Alan Chapman, Robert E. Clark
Charles Timothy Davis, Corey Davis, Michael Lee Elswick
William L. Griffith, Steven Harrah, Edward Dean Jones
Richard K. Lane, William Roosevelt Lynch, Nicholas Darryl McCroskey
Joe Marcum, Ronald Lee Maynor, James E. Mooney
Adam Keith Morgan, Rex L. Mullins, Joshua S. Napper
Howard D. Payne, Dillard Earl Persinger, Joel R. Price
Duke Scotten, Gary Quarles, Grover Dale Skeens, Benny Willingham, Ricky Workman

It's about blood

Copyright: Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Writer(s): Steve Earle