When Love Was King

When pain didn't reign and love was king
We could wash our hand of most anything
Now I inherited my father's sin
I was born and raised in the midst of it

Before a preacher spoke those words in red
And holy men would bow their heads
Before I was the man I am
The oldest son of Abraham

The day I drowned in fire and stone
I found out what I'd always known
I still remember, I still see
A heart that shrouds to a voice that sings
When pain didn't reign and love was king

My daddy was a gambler, a drinking man
He showed his love with the back of his hand
Never saw him smile, not a flicker of grace
Think he buried 'em with mamma in the Tennessee clay

The day I drowned in fire and stone
I found out what I'd always known
I still remember, I still see
A heart that shrouds to a voice that sings
When pain didn't reign and love was king

The day I drowned in fire and stone
I found out what I'd always known
But I still remember, I still see
A heart that shrouds, and a voice that sings
When pain didn't reign and love was king

A heart that shrouds, and a voice that sings
Like when pain didn't reign and love was king