Peace of Mind

He drinks orange juice and vodka

In the basement while she's talkin'

To someone long distance

For hours and hours on end

And as he's slowly sippin'

He thinks about his children

And the heart attacks that youngest daughter's

Always given him

He ain't smoke no marijuana

Since he got on with the railroad

And he's been on with the railroad for

A long and loathsome while

But the day that he retires

He'll smoke himself to China

He'll leave behind his worries

As he races through the skies

The days are dark

Down in the holler

Waitin' for the sun to shine

On the back

You have been breakin'

Tryin' to earn

A peace of mind

She sells Avon to her buddies

And saves a little money

On the makeup she's been using

To hide away the years

And she sits and watches TV

Usually every evening

That there ain't some kind of ballgame

That her daughter has to cheer

She sneaks menthols in the mornin'

While her family's still a snorin'

And as she burns the Eggos

She looks back at her life

That heart she broke in high school

He is singin' on the Opry

She wonders what the hell that she was thinkin at the time

The days are dark

Down in the holler

Waitin' for the sun to shine

On the back

You have been breakin'

Tryin' to earn

A peace of mind

Their youngest daughter Stella

She's runnin' with this fella

That he can not stand the thought of

That he surely does despise

He's told her he best never

See the two of them together

But it's hard to keep an eye on her

When you're workin' all the time

There are things he needs to tend to

And the bills the bank keeps sendin'

Lord the zeroes on the end

Keep pushing further to the right

Like a freight train haulin' sorrow

And movin' ever onward

Through the tunnel of forever

To the never endin' light