crickets are chirpin the water is high there s a soft cotton dress on the line hangin dry windows wide open african trees all bent over backwards from a hurricane breeze not a word of goodbye note even a note she gone with the man in the long black coat somebody seen him hanging around at the old dance hall on the outskirts of town he looked into her eyes when she stopped in to ask if he wanted to dance he had a face like a mask somebody said from the bible he d quote there was dust on the man in the long black coat preacher was a talkin there s a sermon he gave he said every man s conscience is vile and depraved you cannot depend on it to be your guide when it s you who must keep it satisfied it ain t easy to swallow it sticks in the throat she gave her heart to the man in the long black coat there are no mistakes in life some people say it is true sometimes you can see it that way but people don t live or die people just float she went with the man in the long black coat there s smoke on the water it s been there since june tree trunks uprooted neath the high crescent moon feel the pulse and vibration and the rumbling force somebody is out there beating on the dead horse she never said nothing there was nothing she wrote she gone with the man in the long black coat