Smoke's rising high past the trees in the pasture
We're burning the fields down for spring
Preparing the dead leaves and wood for the harvest
Turning the rust back to green
There's a ranch that I tend out on Old Allen Road
More work than we ever have men
From the looks of us seems like we're modern-day cowboys
There's good and there's bad and they mix 'em all in
'Til you can't tell a fiend from a friend
There's a Texaco star past the first hazard light
Where the workers all gather at dawn
With rolled cigarettes and fresh cups of coffee,
The headlights roll in and they're gone –
They load 'em all in and they're gone.
The sun's low if you'd like to go
There's work left to do out on Old Allen Road
But I've seen the darkest of things
Way on down Old Allen Road
If that radio squawks about building a wall
Those boys'll crack wise in the cab as we roll
Down that long, gravel road and I'll try to keep calm
'Cause I don't plan on working here long, boys
I don't plan on working here long.
There's a girl named Maria and she lives in my head
When we're done with this pasture she'll be in my bed
So I keep to myself and I mind to my crew
And try hard to ignore the work that I do
I just do what they tell me to do
The sun's low if you'd like to go
There's work left to do out on Old Allen Road
But I've seen the darkest of things
Way on down Old Allen Road
Those boys were lying flat on their backs in the flatbed
Speaking Spanish, spitting seeds on the ground
And when the sun finally set and that fire done quit
We dropped 'em off somewhere in town boys
Off on the dark end of town
But now Jimmy won't say and Tommy won't talk
And I swear there were four when I left in my truck
But the highway patrol said there's two that remain
And there's blood out on Old Allen Road
Out here in the pasture it's calm and it's quiet
Ain't much that's changed in the last 20 years
A few telephone poles and new roadside reflectors
Since the last folks moved in around here
But if you let your mind wander the fence-line horizon
There's live oaks and cedar and a wildflower mound
You start to forget all your trials and your troubles
The evil you find and the shape you're in now
Just seem like a movie somehow
The sun's low when I have to go
Another day's work out on Old Allen Road
But I've seen the darkest of things
Way on down Old Allen Road