Jeri Katherine Howell

Lyrics

Devil’s Hollow
© Nat Colten

Walking upstream to Devil’s Hollow
Limestone bedrock sleep will follow
Gotta look east real early tomorrow
‘cus that Louisville train’s gonna come

Not far down that old side track
Past Red Bridge and the devil’s backbone
Cold waters run down the neck
of the man who works down the road.

Oh lord it’s a long way down
Through the rock and the silt and the clay
Oh lord it’s a long way down
But there aint no better way.

Hop out of bed to the windowpane
While momma listens for that old coal train
Those men ride high so that we may gain
Some warmth throughout the winter

Tracks pulled up now the tents are gone
But the water still falls after all
This stream was carved but not by god
In a little slice of heaven

Oh lord it’s a long way down
Through the rock and the silt and the clay
Oh lord it’s a long way down
But there aint no better way.

Ring that bell come summertime
Call the last train stepping single file
We’d eat first but they’d not mind
For a warm meal in the summer

Now they huddle ‘neath the city streets
Ridiculed while they wait to eat
Some still live down Benson creek
Like a fish dammed out of water.

Oh lord it’s a long way down
Through the rock and the silt and the clay
Oh lord it’s a long way down
But there ain’t no better way.