I been runnin’ these ridges since I’s knee-high tall
Boot tracks cut in that red clay wall
Sheriff’s siren cryin’ down Route 9
Echo bouncin’ off that Mason line
Cut through laurel, cross Dry Fork bend
Up past Tucker’s field and back again
They say Boy, you best slow down
But these hills put gravel in my sound
It’s a cat and mouse in the West Virginia night
Blue lights racin’ up the mountainside
From the barn to the creek where the cold runs deep
I’m a ghost they just can’t keep
I’ll never be famous past this state line road
Ain’t no headlines where the big lights glow
But ’round this town they all know my name
Me and the law, we the same old game
Old man Harlan killed his porch light quick
When he heard them tires on gravel kick
Waved me through his back fence gate
Said Son, you best not hesitate
Miss June down at the Marathon
Tops my tank and says Be gone
Swears she ain’t seen me all week long
While the scanner hums its midnight song
Deputy’s cruisin’ by the VFW
Radio cracklin’ what I might do
But half this county raised me up
They ain’t in no rush to lock me up
It’s a cat and mouse in the West Virginia night
Sirens wailin’ under coal dust sky
Through them switchback backroad bends
They think they got me, gone again
I might not be right, might not be good
But I’m carved in this mountain wood
Outside these hills I’m just another guy
But here I’m a legend they can’t deny
Last night they cornered me by the trestle tracks
Floodlights cuttin’ through the black
I dove down by the sycamore line
Cold creek water up to my spine
Heard ’em shout my given name
Heard ’em cuss and stake their claim
But I know these woods like I know my skin
Every rock and root my kin
Deputy Carter just shakes his head
Says You’ll slip one day, like he always said
But there’s a grin he tries to hide
Like he loves this wild goose ride
Ain’t no hate and there ain’t no feud
Just small-town blood and mountain code
They chase me hard, I run ’em thin
Next Friday night we’ll laugh again
It’s a cat and mouse in the West Virginia night
Blue lights dancin’ in the pines
From Harlan’s barn to the riverside
Whole damn county on my trail tonight
I’ll never be famous on a TV screen
Never see my name in a magazine
But at the diner they all just smile
Lord, he’ll outrun ’em another mile
So if you hear them sirens cry
Roll them curtains, let me slide
‘Fore the rooster crows at break of dawn
I’ll be up where the fog hangs on
Yeah, I ain’t no star in the big world’s eyes
But I’m kinda famous in these mountains of mine
“Cat And Mouse” is track number 5 on the Thumper Barrel album, Bush Bond.
Track: Cat And Mouse
Album: Bush Bond
ISRC: QZNWX2632103
ASCAP: 935049075