Sanguine Jones - Death Came for the Hangman Lyrics

Death came for the hangman
On the night I was to hang
I'm looking down on the Rio Grando
With the Riders on the rain
To the charges held against me
The judge asked for my plea
Are you guilty or not guilty
I answered you ought to know that better than me
Death came for the hangman
On the night I was to hang
He rode on sixteen hoof beats
Like the Riders on the rain
A dog barked in the prison yard
He was only skin and bones
He looked into my window
Like he was searching for Saint Joan
As the sun sets over Memphis
The priest comes to my side
Asks me for my last request
I say can you get me some cyanide
The priest he started laughing
Then he just looked at me and sighed
Sorry but I can't do that
But here's the cross upon which our saviour died
You can hold it in your fist
When the rope is at your throat
While you're reading the letter that your Daddy wrote
Death came for the hangman
On the night I was to hang
Now I'm over the Rio Grando
Riding high above the rain
Death he just kept on riding
The hangman kept riding too
I crossed the Rio Grando
Just to have one last word with you
Don't eat the fruit that's falling
From the huckleberry sky
Don't go near the water
When the ships of fools goes by
Don't go to the station
When you hear the whistling train
Its just four strong winds escaping
From the fires on the plain
Now I tell you just as sure as sin
In a voice as true as pain
When I walked away from the gallows pole
I was riding on the rain
Now I see three ships a sailing
On a hard and ragged sea
Death came for the hangman on the night he came for me