Capo 1 
 
                    Bm 
There's an old dirt road just off Route 9 
               G   A                 Bm  
Fades into the lake at the low water line 
            Bm 
Sometimes I wander down that road alone 
                G   A                   Bm  
Remembering the town that I once called home  
 
I grew up in the valley, every neighbor a friend 
Until the modern world started creeping in 
One day came the lawyers with cash in hand 
They swore that our village would light up the land  


[Refrão]
          G                    Bm 
The dusky waters move cold and slow 
                D                      A7 
And ghosts of a village still wander below 
              G                           Bm 
Homesteads of families and friends forevermore 
             A        G                  D 
Haunting the valley below this sparkling shore  
 
 
Surrounding the valley was a painted red line 
Drawn by Company men, like marking a crime 
A silent reminder that all inside it must go 
Or be lost to the rising Dead River's flow  
 
Some folks took the money, started grinding gears 
While the rest of us held out for twenty-odd years 
We watched our town like a photograph fade 
As the Company came to take it all away  
 
They tore down the church, the schoolhouse burned 
They dug up the graves, the wheels of progress turned 
They got Dutchie's Store and Haven's Pool Hall 
When the dozers rolled it shattered us all  
 
Chorus 
 
Old May Savage stayed as long as she could 
Her house on the hill towered over the flood 
It rose up alone in the dark of night 
Its face on the water in the cold moon light  
 
I shake off the memories, on my lips a prayer 
Thanks for the grace and the beauty down there 
And while the porchlights glow all over the state 
There's nothing but darkness under the lake  
 
Chorus