Nine Days Wonder - Blood Moon
(T)he town of Holcomb Kansas
Stands on a lonesome plain
Farmin’ there’s a hard row to hoe
Hardly ever rains
The good people who live there
By the tracks of the Santa Fe
Were not prepared for what happened
Early on a winter day
I’ll tell you a story
A tragedy
A clear cut case
Of fate and destiny
Herbert William Clutter
He was only forty-eight
On November fifteenth of fifty-nine
That was the date
He was not the richest farmer
But he was one of the best
His River Valley Farm land
Stood out from the rest
Mr Herb and Ms Bonnie
Had three girls and a boy
Young Kenyon, he still lived at home
With Nancy the pride and joy
The other two were all grown up
And had moved away
So they were spared that bloody night
To live another day
You can almost see Colorado
Under an endless sky
But a blood moon was comin’
And 4 people would die
The Devil had been interviewin’
And had finally made his pick
He chose two American boys
Named Perry and Dick
Who will spin the thread of life
And who will determine the span
And who will cut the thread?
Knife in hand
Perry Smith and Dick Hickock
Met at the state pen
Each saw something in the other
And so they became friends
The residents there call it “the walls”
And there ain’t much to do
It helps pass the lonely time
If there’s someone you can talk to
Dick said “There’s a rich farmer
Out on West Kansas land
And he’s got a safe full of money
And I’ve got the perfect plan”
Now Jesus up in the wheelhouse
Could ‘ave put a stop to it
But he was disgusted with humans
That’s why he didn’t do it
I mean, two thousand years
And they still can’t get along
It’s way too complicated
To explain in a song
Meanwhile in Kansas City
The boys have been paroled
Preparin’ for a long drive
As the story begins to unfold
Drivin’ west in Kansas
In a Chevy painted black
Perry and Dick in the front seat
12-gauge gun in the back
Twisted barren branches
Break up a cloudless sky
Time’s running out
As the miles roll by
When the boys got to the farm house
It was just after midnight
Through an unlocked door they walked right in
With the shotgun and a flashlight
Reason must have been sleeping
Or out of town on a trip
Jesus was heard weeping
As Reality lost its grip
The worst part of it for me
Is that they killed Ms Bonnie last
She was tied up there in her bedroom
Listening to 3 shotgun blasts
She must have been praying
Please kill me now
I just can’t listen to any more
Of them shotgun sounds
To my way of thinking
That was the worst of the crimes
By the time they killed Ms. Bonnie
She had already died 3 times
A full moon was flyin’
The wind was high and cryin’
And it blew away the sound
Of 4 people dyin'
Two days later at th’ State Pen
A con named Floyd Wells
Was listening to his radio
There in one of the cells
The news man shouted murder
A man, his wife, and kids
Nobody seemed to know a thing
But Floyd Wells did
Floyd once worked for Mr Herb
About 10 years back in time
And he knew for sure
That Dick had done the crime
When Floyd was first locked up
With a sentence of 3 to 5
He and Dick had shared a cell
And had talked about their lives
That’s when Dick found out about
The River Valley Farm
Now Floyd, he was just talkin’
He didn’t mean the family no harm
But Floyd was afraid to tell his tale
Cause in jail if you want to live
You don’t rat on a cellmate
Unless you want to feel a shiv
The Authorities were worried
As the days and days revolved
With so few clues
The case might not get solved
The killers hit the highway
Headed down, south of the border
Always on the run
Hidin’ out from the law and order
Then one cold December day
Floyd Wells came clean
Naming: Smith, Perry Edward
And Hickok Richard Eugene
Perry and Dick on a bus
Rollin’ north out of Mexico
Ended up back in KC
Wrote a few hot checks and so
Headed down to Florida
“The Sunshine State”
But the sands of time keep fallin’
And the hour is getting late
A multi-state alarm was out
With mug shots and all
“If you know the whereabouts
Please give us a call”
Once again out of money
The killers headed west
Dick had another “perfect plan”
That he wanted to test
Rolled into Las Vegas
In a stolen Chevrolet
Cops pulled them over
Time to pay—the hard way
The killers stood trial
Spent 5 years on death row
In 7 by 10 feet cells
Where the time goes by real slow
Our story’s comin’ to the end
We’re on the final page
As the killers climb 13 steps
Up to the gallows stage
The Fates are busy once again
In this our tragic tale
The hangman needed 2 strong ropes
Ropes that would not fail
The weave must be the finest
The span must match the drop
To cleanly break a killer’s neck
In one decisive stop
If you’re drivin’ west in Kansas
Near the Colorado line
You might see a tall house
Standing proud and fine
And, you might think, what a wonderful place
To raise a family
Best not think about it
Take it from me
Written by:
Walter Seyffer, Rainer Luke Herzog, Ray Opper
Publisher:
Lyrics © Music Hub O/B/O GEMA
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