He Fades Away / The River (Live) - Philip Quast

There's a man in my bed I used to love him

His kisses used to take my breath away

There's a man in my bed I hardly know him

I wipe his face and hold his hand and watch him

As he slowly fades away

And he fades away

Not like leaves that fall in Autumn

Turning gold against the grey

He fades away

Like the bloodstains on the pillowcase

I wash every day

He fades away

And he's not the only one who made

The trip so many years ago

To work the Wittenoom mine

So many young men old before their time and dying slow

They fade away

Wheezing bags of bones with lungs half clogged

And filled with clay

They fade away

There's a man in my bed they never told him

The cost of bringing home his weekly pay

And when the courts decide how much they owe him

How will he spend his money when he lies in bed

And coughs his life away

And he fades away

Not like leaves that fall in Autumn

Turning gold against the grey

He fades away

Like the bloodstains on the pillowcase

That I wash every day

He fades away

He fades away

I come from down in the valley

Where mister when you're young

They bring you up to do like your daddy done

Me and Mary we met in high school

She was just seventeen

We'd ride out of this valley down

To where the fields were green

We'd go down to the river

And into the river we'd dive

Oh down to the river we did ride

Then I got Mary pregnant

And man that was all she wrote

And for my nineteenth birthday

I got a union card and a wedding coat

We went down to the courthouse

And the judge put it all to rest

No wedding day smiles no walk down the aisle

No flowers no wedding dress

That night we went down to the river

And into the river we'd dive

Oh down to the river we did ride down to the river

Down to the river

And into the river we'd dive the river

Oh down to the river we did ride

I got a job working construction

For the Johnstown Company

But lately there ain't been much work

On account of the economy

Now all them things that seemed so important

Well mister they vanished right into the air

Now I act like I don't remember

Mary acts like she don't care

But I remember us riding in my brother's car

Her body tan and wet down at the reservoir

At night on them banks I'd lie awake

And pull her close just to feel each breath she'd take

Now those memories come back to haunt me

They haunt me like a curse

Is a dream a lie if it don't come true

Or is it something worse

That sends me down to the river

Though I know the river is dry

That sends me down to the river tonight

Down to the river

Down to the river my baby and I the river

Oh down to the river tonight

Down to the river

Though I know the river is dry

That sends me down to the river tonight

Down to the river my baby and I

Sends me down to the river at night

We'd go down to the river

And into the river we'd dive

Oh down to the river we did ride

Down to the river my baby and I

And into the river we'd dive