I was talking to a friend
Who said he saw a trailer full of crosses
Piled high and painted white
It was hooked up to a tractor
Like maybe they were moving some old graveyard
It was a wide wide day
I thought of all the hope and love and dreams
And grief and promises and heartache
That you can pile on a trailer
And leave it in the wind to dry
Beneath the sun that cuts the sky hard
Through a wide wide day
So I was thinking about this girl I met
One time whose eyes were gray and lifeless questions
Like she'd forgotten things
She used to know
She said I grew up down in Tennessee
My daddy had his hair cut just like Elvis
He was a preacher at the corner church
And every Sunday morning took his sermons
From the bottom of a bottle
He had an eye for the ladies
Desert moons and motel rooms
Magazines and movie queens and hey
Ain't this a wide wide day
And do you remember
When we drove down to the rivers edge
I swore to you that we would never die
And we let our headlights shine across toward Mexico
And talked about Jesus
And all the while the river flowed
Across the valley thunder rolled
The truth we tell the lies we feel
The love we give the love we steal
I'm still waiting
Hey hey the river winds
And still I find I'm thinking about those crosses
Piled high and painted white
The ground is hard the holes been dug
Over and over and over and over and over
It makes me want to take my boy
And hold him hard and tell him that I know
This world is gonna learn to love
There's a place the river winds and silver turquoise shines
Through a wide wide day
And do you remember
When we drove down to the rivers edge
I swore to you that we would never die
And we let our headlights shine across toward Mexico
And talked about Jesus