Watertown - Good Medicine Band

Watertown Lyrics

He went down to Watertown expecting all his sin to be washed clean
He killed a man in Birmingham and he jumped the first train south to New Orleans
With a C-note from a dead man's coat; a pearl-handled pistol smoking still
He saw a shadow cross his path, in its wake he felt the dead man's chill
Down by the Mississippi his train stopped on a dime
And into that muddy river he threw his gun as though that'd free him from his crime
In the absinthe bar on Bourbon Street he heard a foreign voice call his name
He said, "Son, I see your weary eyes, and it looks to me like you're running from your shame."
Don't go down to Watertown expecting all your sin to be washed clean.
Well he said, "I have a plan, it might just set your conscience free
"There's a preacher man with a withered hand in a little town in northern Tennessee
"And for a tender price he'll throw the dice, and if it comes up seven, you will win
"Yeah, but if that man rolls snake eyes, my friend, you'll pay double for your sin."
He saddled up a stolen horse and he rode it north in the night

Yeah, come the second sun-up the little town was just within his sight
And it was sittin' by a river that was twisted like a snake
Ahh, little did he know that river soon would be his grave.
Don't go down to Watertown expecting all your sin to be washed clean.
When he rode on in to town all the people stood and stared
Yeah, he started feeling nervous, Lord, he started getting scared
And he turned a dusty corner, tried to hide, but he found a lynch mob waiting there
Yeah, they grabbed him quick, they grabbed him hard, they drug him right off that stolen mare.
Well the withered-handed preacher man pushed his way through the crowd
Yeah, he looked down at the stranger on the ground, he held his gut and he laughed out loud
"Well, I see you met my brother down in N'Awlins and you took his word for true
"Well, the man you killed in Birmingham, if you don't know, was the father to us two."
Don't go down to Watertown expecting all your sin to be washed clean.
Well, they strapped two mighty boulders upon his broken knees
And they laughed and kicked and spit on him despite him crying, despite him screaming "please"
And it took twelve men, three on each limb, to drag him to the river and throw him in
Yeah, he never had a prayer as the water baptized and drowned him with his sin.
Don't go down to Watertown expecting all your sin to be washed clean.
Don't go down to Watertown expecting all your sin to be washed clean.
Young man, you're gonna drown in Watertown.
Young man, you're bound to drown in Watertown.
---
Lyrics submitted by Meredith Harris.