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.

 [bad word] 
- 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 [bad word] 
Singing the backslider blues. -

From the stained glass light of the chapel,
To the neon haze of the bars
From the wine of [bad word]  
To the liqour that's left me the scars.
From the Bible that sets on my dresser, 
To her clothes [bad word] 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 [bad word] 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.

 [bad word] 
Singing the backslider blues 
I'm just singing the backslider blues.