Corb Lund - Lament for Lester Cousins Lyrics
Cuz his father’d left his mother years agoAnd Lester’s mother took in lovers to feed and clothe his younger brothersSo at thirteen years our Lester chose to goMen introduced him to hard labour, moving earth and stacking hayWere all the options that were open to the boyAnd the same men showed our Lester Lady Luck’s appeal and blessed herWith a trusting young disciple to enjoyWith the gamblin’ came the drinkin’ and the cocaine and the sinkin’That accompanies a man who’s falling downAnd pretty soon the fightin’ and the whoring every nightAnd pills and losing left his spirit on the groundWell there comes a time when even hardened men need to believe inSomething more and look within and be afraidWhen a particularly rough night took his friend in one more knife fightFor the first time in his hard life Lester prayedLester now, Lester now, keep it together, we all want to see you succeedLester now, Lester now, hold it together, cuz your goodness is what the world needsLester now, Lester now, keep it together and don’t lose that spirit of yoursAnd for the sake of us all, Lester, try not to fall with the weight of the world at your doorAnd for the sake of us all, Lester, try not to fall with the fate of the world on the floorAnd for the sake of us all, Lester, try not to fall with the hate of the world as your whoreWell God led Lester to a lady who was finally worth the waitHe bought a ring and changed his ways and settled downAnd he farmed his forty acres, raised a daughter, loved his MakerLoved his wife and earned respect all through the townHard at work and clean and sober fifteen years come this OctoberAll the vices of his past had disappearedVery little did he know then that the young, out of control menThat his mother’d learned to dread would reappearWell his life and home were shattered and his wife and daughter batteredWhen the kind he knew so well came back aroundAn incontainable aggression induced Lester to regress andColdly murder those who’d raped the love he’d foundIt didn’t take them long to find him or convict him or confine himTo a cell block full of wounded prisoner doomBecause despite his mother’s will, her Lester Cousins was a killer nowWho’d never live to leave the jailer’s tomb
