Rock Salt and Nails - A Utah Phillips Brooding & Forlorn Love Ballad, Drop D Guitar Tuning & Vocal

Rock Salt and Nails is a song written by one of the greatest songwriters that most of the world has sadly never heard of, Utah Phillips. Right after he wrote it He realized he didn`t want to record or sing it in concert for personal reasons that are unclear. Possibly has something to do with the last two lines in the song I`m guessing. However his close friend, Rosalie Sorrells did record it and she did a great job. Tyler Childers also did an excellent job with this song. I sing and play it here on the guitar in Drop D Tuning.

Rock Salt & Nails
Written by Bruce `Utah` Phillips
Performed and arranged by Dan D. Dirges

On the banks of the river
Where the willows hang down
And the wild birds all warble
With a low moaning sound
Down in the hollow
Where the water runs cold
It was there i first listened
To the lies that you told

Now i lie on my bed
And i see your sweet face
The past i remember
Time cannot erase
The letter you wrote me
It was written in shame
And i know that your conscience
Still echo's my name

Now the nights are so long
Lord sorrow runs deep
And nothing is worse
Than a night without sleep
I'll walk out alone
And look at the sky
To empty to sing to lonesome to cry

If the ladies were blackbirds
And the ladies were thrushes
I'd lie there for hours
In the chilly cold marshes
If the ladies were squirrel's
With high bushy tails
I'd fill up my shotgun
With rock salt and nails

Source: Musixmatch
Songwriters: Bruce Utah Phillips