The Fiery Death Of Willie Bodine

(album: Unchained - 1985)

Saturday night down in Harlan, Kentucky
And a song on the radio winds
When the DJ broke
Lord, it made my head spin
Cause the death that he announced was that of Willie Bodine

Willie Bodine, he was a criminal
A practicing soldier of crime
In the battles he fought
Lord, he never got caught
And he sure got away good this time

He was blinded by rain on the windshield
Blinded by tears in his eyes
He was blinded by rage at a criminal's fate
He was blinded by too many dreams that had died

Now, Willie Bodine, he was a dreamer
He never would work in the coal mines
His visions were pure but they never were cured
And poverty had stuck to him like slime

Well, good fortune was never his lady love
And fame was a two dollar whore
He spent most of his money on pictures of Jesus
And what he had left he spent on his car

Well, they say he held up a grocery store
The one he held up ten times before
But this time he cursed
And he broke out all the windows
And he threw up all over the well
When he took out of there like a ninja from hell
And he rode out the mountain like wind
If he went in there faster he thought he could master
The pain of the man he'd been

He was blinded by rain on the windshield
Blinded by tears in his eyes
He was blinded by rage at a criminal's fate
He was blinded by too many dreams that had died

Somebody died on the highway
In the beer and gasoline bind
There's a black cloud of smoke over Eastern Kentucky
And who there among you will cry
At the fiery death of Willie Bodine