The Mountain Goats
Water Tower
[Verse 1]
Moving lights on an overhead map
Have to be headed somewhere
There's probably gonna be a building burning in town
When you smell smoke in the air
Small hopes are seen to still be small ones
When the hour grows late
And a body floating in a water tower
Is bound to take on weight
[Verse 2]
Somebody comes bearing the standard
Just when you need to see it held high
You never miss your water
Until you're parched riding home from the slaughter
Oracles are seen emerging
From the northern mists
And a body floating in a water tower
Is bound at the ankles and wrists
[Bridge]
Bound at the ankles and wrists, marks in the skin
From where the ropes have been digging right in
[Verse 3]
Men of legend built the cities of the prairie
To rise from the horizon at night
Feel something bigger than me
When I see them trapped in the headlight
Head east, head north by northeast
Get my bearings, and know
That a body floating in a water tower
Only has one way to go
[Outro]
Float downstream
Let me float downstream
Floating downstream