Lyrics The Handsome Family

The Handsome Family

Up Falling Rock Hill

Up Falling Rock Hill where the leaves swoop like bats

I shot my brother William five times in the back

"Have mercy, have mercy, dear brother," he cried

But the wind has no mercy and neither did I

I watched as his blood ran through the damp grass

I watched as the black ants crawled through his hands

Up Falling Rock Hill, the wind softly moaned

And down, down came I with blood on my clothes

Cicadas were hissing and the whippoorwill called

But the earth didn't open and the sky didn't fall

'Round Falling Rock Hill the wind softly moans

And black ants, they crawl 'cross my dear brother's bones

Wild red roses tangle the grass

Where William, sweet William, his blood once ran

Through the dead leaves I walk marked with blood

And wherever I step, the night creatures run

Cicadas are hissing and the whippoorwill calls

But the earth doesn't open and the sky doesn't fall

The earth doesn't open and the sky doesn't fall