There's a man who walks beside me

It is who I used to be

And I wonder if she sees him

And confuses him with me

And I wonder who she's pinin' for

On nights I'm not around

Could it be the man who did the things

I'm living now

I was rougher than a timber

Shippin' out of Fond du Lac

When I headed south at 17

Ol' sheriff on my back

I never held a lover in my arms

Or in my gaze

So I found another victim every couple days

But the night I fell in love with her

I made my weakness known

Through the fires and

The farmers diggin' dusty fields alone

The jealous innuendos of the lonely hearted men

Let me know what kind of country

I was sleeping in

Well you couldn't stay a loner

On the plains before the war

My neighbors took to slightin' me

I had to ask what for

Rumors of my wickedness had reached

Our little town

Soon she'd heard about the boys

I used to hang around

We'd robbed a Great Lakes freighter

Killed a couple men or more

And I told her her eyes flickered like

The sharp steel of a sword

All the things that she'd suspected

I'd expected her to fear

Was the truth that drew her to me

When I landed here

There's a man who walks beside me

He is who I used to be

And I wonder if she sees him and confuses

Him with me

And I wonder who she's pinin' for

On nights I'm not around

Could it be the man who did the things

I'm living down

Well I carved a cross from live oak

And a box from shortleaf pine

Buried her so deep

She touched the water table line

I picked up what I needed

And I headed south again

To myself I wondered

Would I find another friend

There's a man who walks beside her

It is who I used to be

And I wonder if she sees him and confuses

Him with me