Secret

(album: What Do They Know - 2021)

There's an old train track, goes back by the old mill
Where them boys slip away every day to the whiskey still
And they sell shine by the bottle for a five every Saturday
Behind Old Red's Tavern but you didn't hear that from me

'Cause we all act like we don't know
Where daddy got his money for a fishing pole
A Zebco don't come cheap in this day and time
And we all turn the other way
'Cause we've got bills that we can't pay
It's a small town and we know how it goes
It's just another secret that everybody knows

Old man Rainey spends his days at the local store
He pays for a little but sometimes leaves with more
But he's always got a story 'bout his boy shipped overseas
And he hasn't been the same since, so we let him be

And we all act like we don't know
That he ain't got nowhere to go
'Cause he's too proud to beg for a handout
And we all turn the other way
'Cause there ain't that much left to say
It's a small town and we know how it goes
It's just another secret that everybody knows

Well, this simple life ain't as easy as it sounds
'Cause we've all got things that we don't talk about

Like Jenny had a baby last spring, now she's all alone
'Cause old man Rainey's boy, he ain't coming home
Now she drinks from a bottle she got behind Old Red's
'Cause she can't get the sight of him leaving out of her head

And we all act like we don't know
When she comes into Sunday school
With a smiling baby boy in her arms
And we all turn the other way
Say, "Bless their hearts" and we just pray
It's a small town and we know how it goes
It's just another secret that everybody knows
It's just another secret that everybody knows