Tom Waits
Lyric guide

Murder In The Red Barn

Read Murder In The Red Barn lyrics by Tom Waits on LyroVerse, with linked artist context and related song paths.

Tom Waits visibility2 visits Video on page
person Curated by Ethan Walker LyroVerse team
Reference snapshot

The page facts to cite before the commentary

Use this page for the lyric text, linked artist context, and any LyroVerse editor's note attached to the song. Listener comments remain user-generated and should not be treated as the primary source.

Page type: lyric reference Artist: Tom Waits Canonical path: /tom-waits/murder-in-the-red-barn Related lyric paths: 6 Video embedded: yes
Lyrics

Murder In The Red Barn

The lyric stays readable and compact here; the note and related paths sit nearby so you do not lose the song while looking for context.

There was a murder in the red barn

Murder in the red barn

The trees are bending over

The cows are lying down

The atumn's taking over

You can hear the buckshot hounds

The watchman said to Reba the loon

Was it pale at Manzanita

Or Blind Bob the raccoon?

Pin it on a drifter

They sleep beneath the bridge

One plays the violin

And sleeps inside a fridge

There was a murder in the red barn

A murder in the red barn

Someone's crying in the woods

Someone's burying all his clothes

Now Slam the Crank from Wheezer

Slept outside last night and froze

Road kill has its seasons

Just like anything

It's possums in the autumn

And it's farm cats in the spring

There was a murder in the red barn

A murder in the red barn

Now thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house

Or covet thy neighbor's wife

But for some

Murder is the only door through which they enter life

Now they surrounded the house

They smoke him out

They took him off in chains

The sky turned black and bruised

And we had months of heavy rains

Now the raven's nest in the rotted roof

Of Chenoweth's old place

And no one's asking Cal

About that scar upon his face

'Cause there's nothin' strange

About an axe with bloodstains in the barn

There's always some killin'

You got to do around the farm

A murder in the red barn

Murder in the red barn

Now the woods will never tell

What sleeps beneath the trees

Or what's buried 'neath a rock

Or hiding in the leaves

'Cause road kill has it's seasons

Just like anything

It's possums in the atumn

And it's farm cats in the spring

A murder in the red barn

A murder in the red barn

Now a lady can't do ntohin'

Without folks' tongues waggin'

Is this blood on the tree

Or is it autumn's red blaze

When the ground's soft for diggin'

ANd the rain will bring all this gloom

There's nothing wrong with a lady

Drinking alone in her room

But there was a murder in the red barn

A murder in the red barn

Quick answers

What this page can answer fast

Who performs "Murder In The Red Barn"?

Tom Waits performs "Murder In The Red Barn", and this lyric page sits inside the Tom Waits catalog on LyroVerse.

Are there related songs to explore after "Murder In The Red Barn"?

Yes. The related section below points to Drunk On The Moon and Starving In The Belly Of A Whale with a short reason for opening each page next.

Where can I find more songs by Tom Waits?

Use the artist link near the top of the page or the related paths section below to keep moving through Tom Waits's lyric pages.

Song Room

Interpretations, questions, and corrections for this song

Interpretations, questions, memories, and correction notes live together here. The room stays noindex while the best insights are reviewed.

Open Song Room
0 followers Selected insights only surface after moderation
Listener comments

What people are saying

0 comments
Add a short interpretation or memory

A strong comment here is specific: the phrase you keep hearing, the mood you come back for, or the reason this song stays in rotation.

Sign in to post the first listener note. Reporting stays open to everyone.

No listener comments on Murder In The Red Barn yet.