THE HOLE

[Intro]
Ten minutes. Ten minutes gone.
Look in the rearview and the line's already crooked.
They know.

[Verse 1]
Truck door slams and the tape starts rollin
The angus in the back forty already knowin
Boots ain't past the gravel, brother, they scoutin
Every gap in the wire that a shoulder can crowd in
Gate's got a chain but the chain's got a memory
A hoof-print history, a repeat felony
The old girl watched me tie it thirty seasons in a row
She got a PhD in "let's find out where you don't go"

[Pre-Chorus]
So I'm halfway to town when the phone lights up
Neighbour says brother, they in the alfalfa cut
I do the u-turn, dust like a cloud on my back
Same road, same day, same wire, same crack

[Chorus]
It's the hole, it's the hole
Every farm's got a hole
Fix a fence and they patient, brother, gonna wait for the show
Truck up the drive and I'm gone for an hour
They already gone, they already sour
It's the hole, it's the hole
It's the hole in the world

[Verse 2]
Big red heifer, she a real ringleader
Waits for the pickup like a card-shark dealer
Numbers the herd, calls the play in the pasture
Brother that cow got a masters in disaster
Junction of the willow and the rusted-out post
She the ghost that make the whole herd ghost
By the time I'm back with the hammer and the wire
Everybody in the ditch actin' innocent as a choir

[Pre-Chorus]
So I patch it up and I whisper to the barb
Please, girl, for the love, just do one honest job
And she winks back, three days, four days, five days on
By the sixth day I know she got a new one drawn

[Chorus]
It's the hole, it's the hole
Every farm's got a hole
Fix a fence and they patient, brother, gonna wait for the show
Truck up the drive and I'm gone for an hour
They already gone, they already sour
It's the hole, it's the hole
It's the hole in the world

[Bridge]
Maybe the fence ain't the point
Maybe the hole is the joint
Maybe a cow with a plan is a beautiful thing
And a rancher's just the harmony
The cow is the whole damn song

[Final C