V E R S E 1

Life was sweet on Ridgeway, two kids laughing in the yard

I’d pull nine, sometimes ten, to keep the insurance jobs on the card

come home bone-tired, supper hot, the garage light already on

Kathryn masking off fenders with a baby on her hip, and Dean in his pajamas

She’d hand me a cold drink and a kiss that tasted like tomorrow

Said, “We’ll sleep when we’re done, baby; let’s get these cars ready.”

V E R S E 2

Then the bleeding started after little Dean came screaming through

Doctors’ whispered, “Cancer,” took her womanhood to save her life too

She woke up smiling anyway, said, “Least now I’ll be okay.”

I laughed through the tears - Lord, that woman made hell feel like a blessing in reverse

P R E - C H O R U S

One Sunday morning; I ran back for my Thermos, front door was unlocked

Walked through the dark shop, quiet ‘til the back roll-up talked

There he was on a rented Iron, swing Drums like they were toys

Dumping poison on the neighbor’s ground - five, six, seven barrels of poison

C H O R U S

55-gallon drums full of lies and waste

Rolling down that Backhoe Bucket like tomorrow could be erased

I stood there in the shadows thinking, “All the money in the world,”

“and you’d trade it for a prison cell and threat against my little girl?”

Some men get rich and lose their soul

Some men just dig a deeper hole

I wasn’t going down for his sins;

Not me, not Kathryn, not our kids.

V E R S E 3

Called the company first; they played dumb like I was insane

So I picked up the phone again and dialed straight to the E.P.A.’s flame;

F.B.I. showed up Tuesday, wearing plain clothes and honest eyes

Said, “Tell us everything, son - we’ll make sure the right man fries,”

word got back to him quick; he screamed I’d never work in this town

then crossed the only line a man don’t cross;

he threatened to put my family in the ground.

P R E - C H O R U S 2

I walked in that office like the Wrath of God in paint-splattered boots

He locked the door, crawled under his desk - big man in a thousand-dollar suit

I kicked that hollow-core to splinters; looked down and said real slow,

“Touch my wife, touch my kids, and they’ll never find you, that I promise you so.”

C H O R U S

55-gallon drums full of lies and waste

Rolling down that Backhoe Bucket like tomorrow could be erased

I stood there in the shadows thinking, “All the money in the world,”

“and you’d trade it for a prison cell and threat against my little girl?”

Some men get rich and lose their soul

Some men just dig a deeper hole

he dug his grave with every threat he sent

I just stood guard over the Heaven God had lent

B R I D G E

Funny how the Devil always overplays his hand

thought he’d scare a working man who’d already buried fear in the sand

Kathryn welcomed the presence of the agents watching over our home

I thank the Lord for the strength of my wife

F I N A L C H O R U S

55-gallon Drums not rusting out back ‘til this day

but the threats turned into handcuffs and the coward got hauled away

We lost the job, kept our souls, kept the kids, kept the light

kept the woman who turned every wrong into right

some men get rich and lose their soul

I got richer when I walked out that door

‘Cause I carried home the only treasure that matters

On Ridgeway Avenue … we didn’t need nothing more

Lord, thank you for the fight

Thank you for the woman who made me a brave man that night

and those drums aren’t leaking poison in the ground

I sleep just fine knowing justice came around

I thank the Lord for the strength of my wife