Black Canyon

(album: Phoenix - 2019)

Just after midnight, Black Canyon freeway
A man when he could no longer deal
Stepped in front of 18 wheels

My uncle Ray was a paramedic
One of the first boots on the ground
He saw the man beneath the truck in several pieces
Obviously gone
Time to call for cleanup

More flashing lights came
The cops blocked off the road
Ray's pal from another engine
Came over with a gallows joke

Come on Ray, we can save him
Come on Ray, we can save him
Come on Ray

Ray's pal went closer to see the broken body
Pretty quickly he came back acting queasy
Saying "Ray, you won't believe what that man said to me:"

"Get this truck off my back
Don't know what I expected, but that hurt really bad
Where were my people at?
Coiled up like a rattlesnake
Waiting to attack"

Next up the female fire engine driver strolled
To see the body solo when Ray declined to go
Against her better judgment, her training and her plan
She recognized in those pieces a brokenhearted man

Compartments came apart then
Compartments came apart then

She gathered herself and crept back to the truck
Remembering all of the times she'd nearly given up
She had to be twice as human, and just as tough
She knew it was never enough, never enough

To get this truck off my back
Don't know what I expected, but that hurt really bad
Where were my people at?
Coiled up like a rattlesnake
Waiting to attack

Tell them your stories
If you carry them by yourself
The gorier the details the more you walk alone in Hell