The Death Of Johnny Mooring

On a day like any other day

Pavement turning red

Johnny laid down in the alleyway

Died with a song in his head

A long, long way from Springhill

In an unforgiving game

Came by with an eye for the spotlights looking for a

Place to make a name

So risk all or don't risk anything

You can lose all the same

Johnny hit town on a windy day

One morning in the fall

Couldn't smell the grass or the trees for the paper mill

Just another job and that was all

Every night looks like the next one

Every hotel in every town

Maybe in a smile he found variety

With a little rye to wash it down

When he played he was an animal

With a bow and roving eye, moving like a man undone, incredible

Couldn't win but he could try

That night he played like a warrior

Like he never had before

Maybe they were songs about a better life

Than the one he'd settled for

And by the time the night took Johnny

He'd won his soul but lost a war

Followed him out to the alleyway

With a blade he was taken down

He died so far from home and family

In an unfamiliar town

That night the sky had an open eye

He was left there in the rain

It washed his life to the shadows

Before he even made a stain

Johnny took his last bow running

And never picked up a bow again