Hell's Half Acre

(album: Robbie Robertson - 1987)

It's way up in the Black Hills where we come from
There's a girl and she warned me don't pick up that gun
By the law of the land
By the promise that might is right
She would hold me and cry don't you go off and fight

Somebody knocking at my door
Oh, I been called to war
Say goodbye to Tobacco Road
Wear my colors, call my brothers
And for my country I'll go

Down on Hell's Half Acre
Shaking with fever
Rumble in the jungle
Down on Hell's Half Acre

She wrote me a letter and said what have they done
Placed a crown of thorns on this native son
Oh, maybe they're right, oh but maybe they're wrong
But what can I do, you're not here you're gone

Something in the air is much too quiet
Hear my heartbeat
The storm that rages from within
Three times thunder, blood runs cold
Got this wound on my soul

Down on Hell's Half Acre
Walking on fire
We got trouble in the wasteland
Down on Hell's Half Acre

Back in the land where the buffalo roam
Oh, is this my home
She said you've changed, you're not the same
Clouds of napalm and the opium
The damage was already done

Down on Hell's Half Acre
Shaking with fever
Rumble in the jungle
Down on Hell's Half Acre

Hell's Half Acre
Walking on fire
We got trouble in the wasteland
There on Hell's Half Acre