Crown

[Intro]
(slow bent-note riff, cymbal wash, feedback swell)

[Verse 1]
The sky hung low like a heavy stone
The river carried every name we'd known
I walked the levee till my knees gave in
Chasing a ghost through the southern wind

[Pre-Chorus]
And the weight — oh, the weight —
Pulls me down, down, down
And the weight — oh, the weight —
Won't let me drown

[Chorus]
Stone the crown, let it fall from my head
Stone the crown, I got nothing left to dread
Let the mud take the gold, let the river run red
Stone the crown — I'm alive, I'm alive instead

[Verse 2]
Salt on my tongue and dirt beneath my nails
Twenty long years of the devil's trails
They crowned me a king in a cardboard town
So I buried that throne six feet in the ground

[Pre-Chorus]
And the weight — oh, the weight —
Pulls me down, down, down
And the weight — oh, the weight —
Won't let me drown

[Chorus]
Stone the crown, let it fall from my head
Stone the crown, I got nothing left to dread
Let the mud take the gold, let the river run red
Stone the crown — I'm alive, I'm alive instead

[Bridge]
(spoken, low, over single held chord)
I never asked to be holy...
I never asked to be saved...
(whisper)
Stone... the... crown...
(full band crush returns, tempo builds)

[Guitar Solo]
(slow soulful blues bends, wah-drenched lead, feedback, long sustain)

[Chorus — final, doubled vocals + ad-libs]
Stone the crown, let it fall from my head
Stone the crown, I got nothing left to dread
Let the mud take the gold, let the river run red
Stone the crown — I'm alive, I'm alive instead

[Outro]
(single guitar, fading feedback)
...stone the crown... (whispered)