[Chorus]
There was a murder in the red barn
A murder in the red barn

[Verse 1]
The trees are bending over and the cows are lying down
The autumn's taking over, you can hear the buckshot hounds
The watchman said to Reba the Loon
"Was that pale at Manzanita or was it Blind Bob the coon?"
Pin it on a drifter, they sleep beneath the bridge
One plays the violin and sleeps inside a fridge

[Chorus]
It was a murder in the red barn
Murder in the red barn

[Verse 2]
Someone's crying in the woods, someone's burying all his clothes
Now Slam the Crank from Wheezer slept outside last night and froze
Roadkill has its seasons, just like anything
There's possums in the autumn and there's farm cats in the spring

[Chorus]
There was a murder in the red barn
Murder in the red barn
[Verse 3]
Now thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house or covet thy neighbor's wife
But for some, murder is the only door through which they enter life

[Verse 4]
Now they surrounded the house
They smoked him out, took him off in chains
The sky turned black and bruised and we had months of heavy rains
Now the ravens nest in the rotted roof of Chenoweth's old place
And no one's asking Cal about that scar upon his face
'Cause there's nothin' strange about an axe with bloodstains in the barn
And there's always some killin' you got to do around the farm

[Chorus]
A murder in the red barn
A murder in the red barn

[Verse 5]
The woods will never tell what sleeps beneath the trees
Or what's buried 'neath a rock, or hiding in the leaves
'Cause roadkill has its seasons, just like anything
It's possums in the autumn and it's farm cats in the spring

[Chorus]
A murder in the red barn
Murder in the red barn
[Verse 6]
Now a lady can't do nothin' without folks' tongues waggin'
Is that blood on the tree? Or is it autumn's red blaze?
When the ground is soft for diggin' and the rain will bring all this gloom
There's nothing wrong with a lady drinking alone in a room

[Chorus]
But there was a murder in the red barn
A murder in the red barn
There was a murder in the red barn
A murder in the red barn
There was a murder in the red barn
A murder in the red barn