Long Black Veil
Joan Baez Lyrics

Ten years ago on a cold dark night,
Ten winters gone on a frigid evening

Someone was killed 'neath the Town Hall light
Murdered beneath the town hall light

The people who saw they all agreed
Onlookers conspired and perceived

That the slayer who ran looked a lot like me.
The chaser who fled closely resembled me

The judge said, "son, what is your alibi?
The magistrate inquired, 'Boy, where were you at?'

If you were somewheres else,
If you were elsewhere

Then you won't have to die".
Your life would be pardoned

I spoke not a word, though it meant my life,
At the cost of my life, I stayed silent

For I'd been in the arms of my best friend's wife.
For embracing my friend's wife at night

She walks these hills in a long black veil,
She wanders the hills with a long, dark robe,

Visits my grave when the night winds wail,
Visits my burial site when the winds are pale,

Nobody knows, nobody sees,
No one knows and no one perceives,

Nobody knows, but me.
Only I can bear witness of her deeds.

The scaffold is high, eternity near,
The scaffold is tall, the afterlife is near

She stands in the crowd, she sheds not a tear,
She stands in the crowd but remains austere

But sometimes at night, when the cold winds moan,
At times during the night, when the wind doth groan,

In a long black veil she cries o'er my bones.
She drops tears on my bones with her dark shroud on.

She walks these hills in a long black veil,
She roams the hills in her dark mantle,

Visits my grave when the night winds wail,
Goes to my grave with the air in full travail,

Nobody knows, nobody sees,
None knows except her, and none perceives,

Nobody knows, but me.
Only I can witness her pains and her grieves.