David Stockdale Ballad of Tanya and Joe lyrics

When Tanya and Joe set out on open road
No one thought she'd ever be back
It takes a village to show
Its children how to grow
But the weak are still driven from the pack
They met in de-tox seems so many years ago
Her bane was booze, his was methadone
They realised you can't fight that shit with lies
That's when they started to roam

She'd been pierced, he tattooed waist to head
Both bore the brand of outsiders
Dodging police cars
With bridges for a bed
They rode the Western sky, dark riders
It wasn't that simple, but better than back home
Far better than the expectations and the curse

Once they were beaten but mostly they made love
In fields of the universe

One summer night under silvery moon
Policemen, looking for a man
A veteran whose daughter
Had died from the spoon
Careless bullet found Tanya as she ran
Now Joe's still vagrant and he curses all of those
Who took Tanya back to be buried with her kin
She wanted her ashes tossed on a river that flowed
Anywhere she had never been