Mean Mary

I can’t close my eyes in the dark

I dream in black and bleak 

I get chills when a rooster crows in the night

And I find myself at Murder Creek 

I wade through the water to that fallen tree

That’s been down since the storm in July

I sit until the dark begins to fade

And I’m staring at a bloodstained sky

That old feral cat sits on the bank

His big eyes glowing bright                                                        

He watches me like he did before 

Like he watched from the woods that night

I get this feeling he’s not the only one

Hiding out there in the trees

And I run from the cold, muddy water

Like I’m running from a swarm of bees

There are stories that should be forgotten

There are sorrows too terrible to speak

But as hard as I try, I can never forget

What happened at Murder Creek

I follow that old trail in the woods

That leads to the edge of town

Sadie’s in her backyard hanging clothes 

Barefoot in her nightgown

Alabama’s full of rivalry 

And we’ve got grudges as old as the dirt

But I never thought a man could sway us

Like a clothesline swinging a shirt

I never would have gone out that night 

If it hadn’t been the way Sadie laughed

Now she’s looking at me and standing so still

Like she’s waiting to be photographed

We all were all just a little bit in love with him

And the dark daring things that he said

But he got to Sadie most of all

Like a demon inside her head

There are monsters we didn’t mean to make

Havoc we never meant to wreak 

Be we watched it all play out like a movie

That night at Murder Creek

Sometimes you're forced to do things

Some people just wouldn't understand

I keep hearing those words, Sadie's words in my head

As I cut across Mr. Brown's land

Loreen is out in the pasture

Alone by a broken gate

There's a green-broke filly on the other side

Just whinnying and shifting its weight

I remember her in the water that night

Like a dam against the flood

Hair streamed down across her face

And mud stained her dress like blood

She never said much before

Now she doesn't talk at all

But one time I caught her crying

Inside Big Ben's empty stall

There are secrets that come with secrets

And mysteries that play hide and seek

And I can never understand or explain

What happened at Murder Creek

Travis is staring out a dark window

With a look of hate and shame

I wonder if that look is for someone

Or if he even knows who to blame

We were such a sleepy little dreamy town

Now we’re all nightmares and dread

We’ve got ghosts walking around like people

And people walking around like the dead

I nearly stumble into Becca Taylor

She looks down and scurries out of sight

She smelled of what she’d been baking

Just like she did that night

Danny is sitting on the front porch

Probably waiting for their worthless son

Who bathes in a river of whisky each night

Trying to wash away the things we’ve done  

But there are nightmares you can’t un-dream

Words you can’t un-speak

Things you saw you can never unsee

Like what happened at Murder Creek

I run like I’m being chased

Back to my old, deserted house
When I notice the back door is open

And my heart is beating out of my blouse

There’s a footprint of Murder Creek mud

Right there on the kitchen floor

And on Momma’s old table is something

That hadn’t been there before

In this land of Iron and steel 

There are three types of flesh and bone

Those that lead, those that follow

And those who want to be left alone

I’ve lived my whole life free

But I’m losing my lucky streak

And I’m thinking soon the whole world will know

What happened at Murder Creek

There are monsters in the dark now

There are futures we can never seek

And a night in the past that keeps moving forward

Like the waters of Murder Creek


music and lyrics by Mary James