He had two faces, so help
me God
Would I lie to you?
One face would scare a
person dead
The other face was so
well bred
Two faces sittin’ up
there
On the same man’s head
I never would stand here
And lie in your face
That’s exactly how it
happened
Once upon a Natchez Trace
––You see
Jamie Lockhart had a bad
face
Then he had a good face
The good face was like
a
preacher’s prayer
Completely honest, so
help me God
Would I lie to you?
––And the other face
It was stained with the
juices
of the wild
Blackberries out of the
woods
And that face was dark
and
full of crime
Looks like he’d steal
your
bottom
dime
And both could talk to a
man
At the same damn time
I never would stand here
And lie in your face
That’s exactly how it
happened
Once upon a Natchez Trace
––Now what about my
great, great,
great, grandmother –
Rosamond?
––They say that she could
change
the temperature of the
moon.
Oh what a girl, now this
is true
She made the moon hot,
so
help me God
Would we lie to you?
One night she’s sleepin’
in the raw
The moon looked down
and
dropped his jaw
He roasted hot as the sun
From the sight he saw
We never would stand here
And lie in your face
That’s exactly how it
happened
Once upon a Natchez Trace
– Repeat
––Well talkin’ about
looks reminds
me of the woman they call
Salome.
––Yeah, tell us about
Salome.
––Well the story goes
that one
glance from Salome and
every
bullfrog in Yazoo City’d
drop dead
o’ heart failure. Oh, Honey!
She was a scrawny, greedy
woman
Oh what a scrawny, greedy
woman
She had buzzard eyes
She had crocodile jaws
She had grabby long arms
And her fingers were
turkey foot claws
And she lusted after
ev’ry pair o’ pants
On the Natchez Trace
––Hey, hey, how about her
husband,
old Clemment Musgrove?
––He was the most
fortunate planter
in the whole Mississippi
Territory
He was a rich and lucky
planter
Oh what a rich and lucky
planter
He took one little seed
and
he stuck it in the grown
And from that little seed,
I swear,
there was cotton all
around
And all those cotton
plants were
a hundred and ten feet
high
Now, would I lie? Would
he lie?
––Hey, tell us about the
famous “Goat” of Rodney.
––Well, the goat, he
wasn’t
really a goat.
––What was he?
––He was a boy
––Yeah, but they say his
brain was
the size of a scuppernong
seed
Goat was his name, now
this is true
His head was empty from
ear to ear
You could see right
through
––Talkin’ about head
reminds
me of Little Harp.
––I know what you mean.
He was
the most gruesome robber
in the
whole history of the
Natchez Trace.
––That’s true
––Thought you was gonna
tell us
about
a head.
––Let him finish.
He was a mangy looking
skunk
When he went by, flowers
shrunk
The willows wept and how
he stunk
He carried everywhere he
went
his brother’s bloody, nasty,
mangey,
stinky cut off head in a trunk
We never would stand here
And lie in your face
That’s exactly how it
happened
Once upon a Natchez Trace
– Repeat
A gent and a robber all
in one
A girl who made the moon
burn
like the sun
A greedy witch, A man
that rich
A brain that big, A
filthy pig
A talkin' head
And like I said, a hell
of a lot
happen
‘round here
Once upon a Natchez
Trace,
Once upon a Natchez
Trace!
