Copper Canteen Lyrics - Complicated Game - James Mcmurtry

Honey, don't you be yelling at me when I'm cleaning my gun 

I'll wash the blood off the tailgate when deer season's done 

We got one more weekend to go 

And I'd like to kill one more doe 

So I'll shovel the sidewalk again 'cause you're still in a stew 

I bet the bridge tender's widow won't mind that I can't please you 

She's sure got the run of the men 

Out here where the pickin's are thin and there's not much to do 

I woke up last night in the grip of a fright scared to breathe for I might make a noise 

This life that we craved so little we saved between the grandparents graves and the grandchildren's toys 

We grew up hard and our children don't know what that means 

We turned into our parents before we were out of our teens 

Through a series of Chevys and Fords 

The occasional spin round the floor at the Copper Canteen 

Now the big boxes out on the bypass are shaving us thin 

I guess we'll hold on a couple more years 'til the pension kicks in 

Then we'll sell all the stock in the store 

Leave only the lock on the door 

And wonder what then 

When I wake up at night in the grip of a fright and you hold me so tight to your chest 

Then your breath on my skin still pulls me back in 'til I'm weightless and then I can rest 

So if Monsignor should pull you aside as you're leaving the church 

And I'm out on the ice, dropping lines for the walleye and perch 

Tell him it's not your job to bring me to the fold 

And I'd rather stand out in the cold 

And honey I know that the woodpile's low and you can't close the flue 

So I'll split up a couple more cords 'fore the winter time's through 

Hold on to your rosary beads 

Leave me to my mischievous deeds like we always do