Peace of Mind

He drinks orange juice and vodka

In the basement while she's talking

To someone long distance for hours and hours on end

And as he's slowly sippin', he thinks about his children

And the heart attacks that youngest daughter's always giving him

He ain't smoked no marijuana since he got on with the railroad

And he's been on with the railroad for a long and lonesome while

But the day that he retires, he'll smoke himself to China

He'll leave behind his worries as he races through the sky

The days are dark down in the holler

Waiting for the sun to shine

On the back you have been breaking

Trying to earn peace of mind

She sells Avon to her buddies and saves a little money

On the makeup she's been using to hide away the years

And she sits and watches TV, usually every evening

If there ain't some kind of ballgame that her daughter has to cheer

She sneaks menthols in the morning while her family's still snoring

And as she burns the Eggos, she looks back at her life

That heart she broke in high school, he's singing on the Opry

She wonders what the hell that she was thinking at the time

Days are dark down in the holler

Waiting for the sun to shine

On the back you have been breaking

Trying to earn peace of mind

Their youngest daughter Stella, she's running with this fella

That he cannot stand the thought of, that he surely does despise

He's told her he best never see the two of them together

But it's hard to keep an eye on her

When you're working all the time

There are things he needs to tend to

And the bills the bank keeps sendin'

Lord, the zeros on the end keep pushing further to the right

Like a freight train hauling sorrow and moving ever onward

Through the tunnel of forever to the never ending light