Well it's iron that he hangs
He loves his work
He drives hours each day
He's never been hurt
Got a back of steel
Got burns on the sleeves of his shirt
He drinks too much when stuff gets heavy
He can't think straight his mind gets hazy
He stops at a sports bar and everybody knows he's a flirt
So he's driving to work
With his head split open
From last nights drinking and last nights smoking
And he never got home
And now there will be hell to pay
'Cause she'll be yelling and he'll be screaming
And the kids will be crying
Like a house full of demons
Says to himself, "Why do people live this way?'
She says to Lou Ann, "He's the father of my babies
I know you think I'm wrong, I know you think I'm crazy
Sticking around while he's drunk all over town
But you don't see he can be so sweet
He only gets mean when he gets in his drink
He's good to the kids
It's just sometimes he gets down"
Iron drops bad
You know it just seems to fit
He gets busted on his wells
He wants to just quit
He wants to curl up tight on a cold white ground and cry
But he works full shift
Picks up a six
It's almost Christmas
The roads are getting slick
She's gonna be at the door
Gonna be hell of a fight
So he's an hour out of Lincoln
No shoulder on the road
Its dark and its snowing
He oughtta go slow
But he pushes it forward
Planes and slides like a sled
The tires hit the edge
He spins at the top
The truck slides low in the ditch till it stops
It hurts where he banged his head
So he sits in the cab
He can't read the gauges
The wipers whip like wind over pagers
It's loud
There's static on the radio
It gets too light to see
He just stares
It gets too light to see
And then he gets scared
Then the light was gone
Just wipers, wind turned snow
Well she says to Lou Ann, "He's the father of my babies
I know you think I'm wrong, I know you think I'm crazy
Sticking around when he's drunk all over town
But you don't see, he can be so sweet
He only gets mean when he gets in his drink
He's good to the kids
Its just sometimes he gets down"
So he pulls back on
He drives real slow
Throws the last of the six out the window in the snow
Something's changed
Saw light, he should have seen dark
That's the last time he drank
Still a hell of a fight
She knew he wasn't lying when he told her about the light
She knew he wasn't lying about the light
(Girl)
"It's iron that he hangs
He loves his work
Drives hours each day
He's never been hurt
Got a back of steel
Got burns on the sleeves of his shirt"