Josh Ritter - Henryville lyrics

As strange as it seems
Nobody from Greene had ever
Once seen Henryville as close as it was
You'd've thought they'd've would
But they hadn't and that's how it was still
And since general consensus was
Greene was like
Heaven and heaven was almost like Greene
Why people went missing was less of a mystery
Than why they'd ever decided to leave

The stage thusly set, our hero enters lеft
Bill Nettle's kid lonely and mеan
A long way from town, drunk way
Out of tune, upsetted, bull headed, obscene
He was seen from the summit of Big Picnic
Hill and all Henryville church
Bells went wild
And the whole pretty town went to throw roses
Down at the feet of Bill Nettle's child

He was kicking a rock and singing a
Song of his own composition when he
Saw a blizzard of petals and looked up
Unsettled at what he proceeded to see
Maybe five hundred people
Their joy unconcealed
Their arms full of roses in bloom
And all of them smiling in welcome at
Him with faces as pale as moon
Bill Nettle had never thought
Much of his son
And none of the people from Greene
Had thought it that proper to
Do more than the
Father so the boy grew up lonely and mean
But as sixteen white horses
Drew a carriage of
Golden and a whole pretty brass band behind
The boy who folks thought would
Never add up to
Nothing like Apollo the Sun King did ride

Oh, Henryville, Henryville
How to describe what to others
Must feel like a dream
Such pretty white houses and pretty white
Buildings and pretty white
Marble-lined streets
And wrapped all around it, in
Knots and in tangles
The prettiest roses entwined
And all of them open and screaming in crimson
At Bill Nettle's son as he rode by

When they got to the top of Big Picnic Hill
The whole parade came to a halt
And the girl that the women had chosen to
Be the Queen of the Harvest was called
The mayor gave a speech that went on way
Too long and then all
Pretty Henryville watched
As the Queen of the Harvest
Set to beating the
Brains out of Bill Nettle's boy with a rock

A lot of stuff happened in the hours
That followed that don't need repeating
So just
Imagine whatever you'd like to imagine when
You like to imagine that stuff
But with all of the singing
And praying and dancing, well
Nobody noticed the Queen
Of the Harvest in all
Her ferocious attire with
A rock in her hand turn towards Greene
Of the Harvest in all
Her ferocious attire with
A rock in her hand turn towards Greene