"Appalachian Nightmare (Demo)" lyrics

I was born in Cincinnati
My daddy worked on the river
The work dried up around that time
He took us down to West Virginia

He took a job in the city
Where they loaded the coal on the boats
Found a little place not too far away
And my mama made it a home

Now, the trouble started early
I was stealing and getting in fights
Smoking and drinking by age thirteen
Skipping class and getting high

And I quit school at fifteen
My daddy put me out
My mama cried as I walked away
Never heard such a lonesome sound

So, I went to staying with my best friend's brother
Made his living cooking speed
Says a man can always get by
Who can cook it up nice and clean

So I stuck around for a couple years
'Til he was busted in '89
I was eighteen years old and out on my own
Out to get what I saw as mine

By '92 I was twenty-one
I was back out on the street
I've done two whole years of county time
I was charged with manufacturing

Now I was aware there'd come a new thing
It took like wildfire to the hills
Speed was no longer king
Now everybody was wanting pills

Now you might say that I'm just the type
To seek this honey at the source
So me and this cat that I met back in county
We started robbing drugstores

We went all over West Virginia
We never worked at home
Sometimes Southern Pennsylvania, East Kentucky, Ohio
We had a good thing going
Had some money saved up
I wasn't worried for nothing, I had me a brand new pick up truck

Lord, we was reckless
We was high as a Tennessee pine
You gotta know a junkie's gonna let you down
It's only a matter of time

When our time come, it was midnight
Two weeks ago in Morgantown
We was knocking off a little local
Just when the clock run out

We were all packed up
Turned out to be a score
Had the car waiting in the alley
Was walking out the door

Well my partner takes two steps outside
When he stops and he hollers, "Police!"
And a voice that I didn't recognize
Said, "Son, don't you so much as breathe."

And then I come out over my partner's shoulder
And I squeezed off a couple shots
First time I ever pointed a gun at a man
And I done killed a cop

Now it's a fact, you can't get a bullet back
Once you done pulled the trigger
And there's no chance in hell
They was ever gonna stop looking for a cop-killer

[?]

Now, looking back, I knew it all along
We never had a chance
I know it makes no difference now
That I never meant to kill that man

But now I'm held up in a hotel in Canton
Surrounded by police
I know there's no way I'm getting out alive
There's no way I'm going free

So I'm twenty-four years old
I've been in trouble most of my days
But I must say that I never thought
It was gonna end this way

[?]

And of all of my regrets
There's two that trouble me most
I wish I could've been better to my mama
Wish I'd never took a shot of dope

So, Lord, if you're listening
Ain't never asked much of you
I already know I ain't going to heaven
But if what they say is true

Then you'll forgive me
For what I'm 'bout to do