(chorus)
these old bones will tell your story
these old bones will never lie
these old bones will tell you surely
what you can't see with your eye
these old bones i shake and rattle
these old bones i toss and roll
and it's all in where they scatter
tells you what the future holds
(end chorus)
Oh, she lived upon the mountain
'leven miles or so from town
with a one-eyed cat named wink
a billy goat and a blue-tick hound
her greying hair was braided
and wrapped around her head
and her dress was long and faded
and her home a rusty shed
in a little patch of burlap
tied with a piece of twine
there were bones all shapes and sizes
gathered through the course of time
she'd throw them out before you
she swore that she could see
the present, past, and future
she could read your destiny
everybody knew about her
came to get their fortune read
concerning health and wealth and power
who to love and when to wed
"well, i just like helpin' people
i's just glad that i could help
why, i know ev'rybody's secrets
but i keep it to m'self."
(repeat chorus)
Some called her "witchy woman"
some said she was insane
some said she was a prophet
still everybody came
"just because a body's dif'ernt
well, that don't make 'em mad
they've crucified a-many
for the special gifts they've had."
i had often heard about her
dreamed about her now and then
for i too was clairvoyant
came about when i was ten
i was fascinated with her
and the things i'd heard about
and i knew someday i'd meet her
and one day, it came about
"well, i knowed that you's a-comin'
i could feel it in my bones
these old bones have also told me
that i won't be here for long.
did you know that you's adopted?
did you know you oncet was mine?
but the county took you from me
said i wadn't right in mind
but i just knowed i had to see ye
'fore these bones was laid to rest
so i conjured up a message
it musta worked, i guess
this gift runs in the fam'ly
i know you also know
and i passed this gift on to you
these old bones, they're just for show."
(repeat chorus)
I held her hand while she was dying
and with the funeral through
i headed on back up the mountain
for billy, wink, and blue
and that little pouch of burlap
with those bones so worn and old
she gave me something special
now every time i throw
(repeat chorus)
Spoken:
now, i can't tell you what you wanna hear
i just tell you what i see
it's these old bones a-talkin'
blame it on them, don't pack it on me
it's just like that time that there boy died up at the sawmill
well, i knowed who done it, but i never said
i knowed when somebody's a-cheatin'
or when somebody's baby's gon' be born dead
'less somebody just plain out ast me
well, i just figger there ain't no point in
goin' 'round actin' like you know ever'thing
just 'cause you might
y'know girl, you i want you to take these bones
'cause i don't want no young'un o'mine goin' 'round unprepared
you just remember that the magic is inside you
there ain't no crystal ball