Henryville Josh Ritter

As strange as it seems, nobody from Greene had ever once seen Henryville
As close as it was, you'd've thought they'd've would, but they hadn't and that's how it was still
And since general consensus was Greene was like heaven and heaven was almost like Greene
Why people went missing was less of a mystery than why they'd ever decided to leave

The stage thusly set, our hero enters lеft, Bill Nettle's kid lonely and mеan
A long way from town, drunk way out of tune, upsetted, bull-headed, obscene
He was seen from the summit of Big Picnic Hill and all Henryville church bells went wild
And the whole pretty town went to throw roses down at the feet of Bill Nettle's child

He was kicking a rock and singing a song of his own composition when he
Saw a blizzard of petals and looked up unsettled at what he proceeded to see
Maybe five hundred people, their joy unconcealed, their arms full of roses in bloom
And all of them smiling in welcome at him with faces as pale as moon

Bill Nettle had never thought much of his son, and none of the people from Greene
Had thought it that proper to do more than the father so the boy grew up lonely and mean
But as sixteen white horses drew a carriage of golden and a whole pretty brass band behind
The boy who folks thought would never add up to nothing like Apollo the Sun King did ride

Oh, Henryville, Henryville, how to describe what to others must feel like a dream
Such pretty white houses and pretty white buildings and pretty white marble-lined streets
And wrapped all around it, in knots and in tangles, the prettiest roses entwined
And all of them open and screaming in crimson at Bill Nettle's son as he rode by

When they got to the top of Big Picnic Hill, the whole parade came to a halt
And the girl that the women had chosen to be the Queen of the Harvest was called
The mayor gave a speech that went on way too long and then all pretty Henryville watched
As the Queen of the Harvest set to beating the brains out of Bill Nettle's boy with a rock