The cards were on the table

In a house to hard to change

Where 38's were loaded

Also noted for they’re range.,

Minutes changed to hours

And looks began to stare

An east Kentucky poker game

With suspicions in the air

Minutes changed to hours

The deal from hand to hand,

The stakes had hit the flood gate

For the Breathit county clan,

Breathit county is no stranger

To a gun shot in the night .

Where all the bets are off

When the bullet takes it’s flight

Music in the background

Whiskey in their reach

The queen of hearts floats in a shirt

On a east Kentucky creek

They dressed the dead like Sunday

And shoved him in a grave

The king of hearts washed ashore

Near an east Kentucky cave,

The cards were on the table

The looks were on their face

Everything in the holler

Seemed to be in place,

Moonshine in mason jars

Sheriff out of reach

A bullet in a body

At the bottom of the creek

Bullet’s keep on singing

Each verse a deadly blow

The morning brings the sheriff

But nobody’s gonna know

An old man in the holler

Knows how it got the name

Oh bloody Breathitt county

And your east Kentucky fame

On a screen door slamming summer day,

You can hear the jar fly sing,

But does ballad of this bloody place

Really mean a thing

Norm Taulbee (c)  2006