Man In The Long Black Coat

Crickets are chirpin', the water is high, There's a soft cotton dress on the line hangin' dry, Window wide open, African trees Bent over backwards from a hurricane breeze. Not a word of goodbye, not even a note, She gone with the man In the long black coat. Somebody seem him hanging around At the old dance hall on the outskirts of town. He looked into her eyes when she stopped him 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 a dead horse. She never said nothing, there was nothing she wrote, She gone with the man In the long black coat.