Songtext Long black veil Nick Cave

Long black veil

She walks these hills in a long black veil
She visits my grave when the night winds wail
Nobody knows, nobody sees
Nobody knows but me

Ten years ago, on a cold dark night
Someone was killed 'neath the Town Hall light
There were few at the scene, but they all agreed
That the slayer who ran looked a lot like me

The judge he said: Son, what is your alibi
If you were somewhere else, then you won't have to die
But I spoke not a word though it meant my life
For I'd been in the arms of my best friends wife

Now the scaffold is high and eternity is near
She stood in the crowd but shed not a tear
But sometimes at night when the cold winds moan
In a long black veil she cries on my bones