Crickets are chirping
The water is high
There’s a soft cotton dress on the line
Hang dry
The window’s wide open
African trees
Bent over backwards
In a hurricane breeze

Not a word of goodbye
Not even a note
She’s gone with the man in the
Long black coat

Somebody seen him
Hangin’ around
At the old dance hall
On the outskirts of town
He looked into her eyes
When she stopped him to ask
If he wanted to dance
He had a face like a mask
Somebody said
From the bible he quote
There was dust on the man in the
Long black coat
Preacher was talking
There’s a sermon he gave
Said every man’s conscience
Is vile and deprave
You can not depend on it
To be your guide
When it’s you
Who must keep it satisfied

It ain’t easy to swallow
It sticks in the throat
She gave her heart to the man in the
Long black coat

One, two
There are no mistakes in life
Some people say
It’s true sometimes
You can see it that way
People don’t live or die
People just float
She gave her heart to the man in the
Long black coat

There’s smoke on the water
It’s been there since June
Tree trunks uprooted
In the high crescent moon
Hear the pulse
And vibration
And the rumblin’ force
Somebody’s out there
Beating on a dead horse

She never said nothin’
There was nothin’ she wrote
She’s gone with the man in the
Long black coat
She’s gone with the man in the
Long black coat
She’s gone
She’s gone
Gone with the man in the
Long black coat
Gone with the man in the
Long black coat