Cranes of Potter

Claire was the mayor's daughter

Knees went weak when I saw her

We'd tussled for a summer when I walked in on her and Clyde

And so she'd often wander

With every boy in Potter

Many suitors died with honor in the War Between the States

And Clyde was a cavalryman

When he got home to him she ran

But he had eyes for western lands and left her behind

So Claire settled down

Her husband moved her out of town

They tried to lay her past to rest hung up those evening gowns

Now Jeremiah was a logger

We all knew he's off his rocker

Thought Claire to be his lover much to her surprise

Her children loved their mother

Towards their father she grew fonder

Her hair just turned blonder beauty stood the test of time

Then word got a round

That Clyde was back in town

By way of Manifest Destiny he'd gained himself renown

In the year '75

Ten years after Lincoln died

Claire kissed the kids goodnight

Snuck off to meet her old friend Clyde

Now Jeremiah saw that chance

His own twisted sick romance

Denying his advances, Claire was never seen alive

He hung for what he'd done

We caught him bloodied with his gun

He never told us where she lay

But I know that Claire would run

We never found that girl from Potter

Who'd so often wander

Till more than a century later a builder found her in the ground

Beneath the cranes of Potter

Where Jeremiah shot her

There lies the Mayor's daughter

Two feet down

Beneath the cranes of Potter

Hair no longer blonder

Beneath the cranes of Potter

In her finest evening gown