They say his daddy was a man without a name The kind who's known for skipping town on the very last train He'll be running till he's dead and gone That's the kind of ugly habit that you pass along His mama swore that he was born under a bad sign No matter where they went, the trouble's never far behind Something's brewing, and it won't be long You can hear it on the wind, it's the hangman's song Keep running from your dead-end past Always sleeping with one eye open Only wickedness is built to last Yeah, the law moves fast, so you'll have to move faster So now he's carrying the curse of Cain Forced to cheat and steal and wander till his very last day Moving by the night, he's outrunning the dawn And the men who draw the blurry lines of right and wrong There's a callousness he carries to survive The money on his head that's coming for him, dead or alive Something's brewing, and it won't be long And now he's whistling the tune o' the hangman's song Keep running from your dead-end past Always sleeping with one eye open Only wickedness is built to last Yeah, the law moves fast, so you'll have to move faster Oh, to be a knife in a fistfight Oh, to know the plummet from the farthest of heights Oh, hear the echo of the churchbells ring The kind [?] declaring that he'll finally swing Something's brewing, and it won't be long Yeah, it's pouring from your mouth, it's the hangman's song Keep running from your dead-end past Always sleeping with one eye open Only wickedness is built to last Yeah, the law moves fast, so you'll have to move faster Keep running from your dead-end past Always sleeping with one eye open Only wickedness is built to last Yeah, the law moves fast, so you'll have to move faster Yeah, you'll have to move faster