No doubt the prayers of my mother
Have taken me a ways down the line,
And I'd swear the life of my sister,
Well she's brighter than the sun when she shines
And I have been baptized in water,
I have been baptized in fire
And I've knelt with both hands on the altar
And I've even sang in the choir
There've been forks in the road when I've had to choose
I pray He'll forgive me for singing the backslider blues

Chorus
- Yeah the backslider blues ain't a hard song to sing
You know right from wrong, you just don't do a thing
Stand there alone, feeling battered and bruised,
Singing the backslider blues -

From the stained glass light of the chapel,
To the neon haze of the bars
From the wine of Holy Communion,
To the liqour that's left me the scars
From the Bible that sets on my dresser,
To her clothes strung all across the floor
From the prayers from my friends when they need me,
To the times that I've ran out the door
I've been taken by surprise by some women in rouge
I pray He'll forgive me for singing the backslider blues

I hope that we can all make it
To the place where true freedom rings
And I pray that they have us some guitars
So we can walk through the red buds and sing
Never know when you're out on life's highway,
Gabriel might pull up to you
Say child climb in and ride shotgun
And we'll see what this big rig can do
There'll be nothing more to say and nothing left to lose
He'll have forgotten when we sang the backslider blues

Chorus
Singing the backslider blues
I'm just singing the backslider blues