Backslider Blues

No doubt the prayers of my mother

Have taken me a ways down the line,

And I'd swear the life of my sister,

Well she's brighter than the sun when she shines.

And I have been baptized in water,

I have been baptized in fire

And I've knelt with both hands on the altar

And I've even sang in the choir.

There've been forks in the road when I've had to choose...

I pray He'll forgive me for singing the backslider blues.

Chorus

- Yeah the backslider blues ain't a hard song to sing.

You know right from wrong, you just don't do a thing.

Stand there alone, feeling battered and bruised,

Singing the backslider blues. -

From the stained glass light of the chapel,

To the neon haze of the bars

From the wine of Holy Communion,

To the liqour that's left me the scars.

From the Bible that sets on my dresser,

To her clothes strung all across the floor.

From the prayers from my friends when they need me,

To the times that I've ran out the door.

I've been taken by surprise by some women in rouge

I pray He'll forgive me for singing the backslider blues.

I hope that we can all make it

To the place where true freedom rings

And I pray that they have us some guitars

So we can walk through the red buds and sing.

Never know when you're out on life's highway,

Gabriel might pull up to you.

Say child climb in and ride shotgun

And we'll see what this big rig can do

There'll be nothing more to say and nothing left to lose.

He'll have forgotten when we sang the backslider blues.

Chorus

Singing the backslider blues

I'm just singing the backslider blues.