Swing, swing, gallows swing
From anger back to sorrow
Morning gets what midnight brings
And I'll be dead tomorrow
Just another ghost
My wife left me last wintertime
To join another man
I lost her love forever and I lost my mind right then
And when I tried, but couldn't picture her sweet face inside my head
Could only see her lover's grin
It's true, I killed him dead
I've always been an honest man
As crystal as the sea
I've always said when I've done wrong
And I've said when wrong's done me
So listen to my warning though I know it might sound strange
To those who cast condoning eyes upon me when I hang
And let me tell you what I've learned,
What my guilty mind has seen
Of life and then of death and then how ghosts get stuck between
There's no slamming doors, no rattling chains, no long black veils at night
But you'd wish there was 'cause then you might could die and put things right
And ghosts have got no bodies left
And ghosts have got no will
They're etchings on your conscience by the hands that heaven killed
The world, it all looks yellow now
And every breath turns foul
The water tastes like rancid oil
And mockingbirds just howl
If you've never touched someone you love
It'll burn then if you try
The face inside the mirror stares back with cold fishbowls for eyes
The only dream you ever have is of lying there awake
I never rains upon your head
It spits into your face
A ghost just haunted me
And warned me then
That I got what I deserved
A thousand times again
Oh, listen please
To my final words
Before you bring yourself to watch that final bangle of cord
'Cause ghosts don't die when hands take hands
And ghosts are not the least
It's dust to dust and ash to ash
And from beast and back to beast
I hope your heart is large an that there's room enough in you
For the ghost you chose to make of me
And the ghost that haunts me too
So swing, swing, gallows swing
From anger back to sorrow
You hide your eyes and wash your wings
'Cause I'll be dead tomorrow
Just another ghost
Just another ghost
Just another ghost
Just another ghost