Story Behind The Song

The story behind the song tells of the long chain of outlaw mountain men who escape to the high ground, where they have to battle the forces of nature as well as the law.

Song Description

The song is a slow Americana or Red Dirt Country look at wanted men and the marshals who track them down in the high country, where the winters will kill you, even if the bullets don't.

Lyrics

SAME AS A BULLET (OLD BLOOD OATH)
Mark Patterson © 2025

In the killing heights that most never see
They still talk of the wanted men and the fate that befell them
Where backwoods justice is guaranteed
And the stories outlive the men who tell them

And there ain't a lot of lawmen left alive
That can track a mountain man when he starts running
Takes all a fugitive's got to survive
And the best he can hope for is to not see it coming

The rivers cut deep like wounds that won't close
The peaks stand ready to lay you low
The wind sends a chill up your spine when it blows
And the winters lay claim to a man same as a bullet - from an old blood oath

When the trail goes cold above the tree line
The Hound of Hell picks up the faint smell of smoke
If he's got a lick of sense the absconder's making a bee line
Through the pass to the border now that his bail's revoked

And there ain't a lot of lawmen left alive
That can track a mountain man when he starts running
Takes all a fugitive's got to survive
And the best he can hope for is to not see it coming

The rivers cut deep like wounds that won't close
The peaks stand ready to lay you low
The wind sends a chill up your spine when it blows
And the winters lay claim to a man same as a bullet - from an old blood oath

The wind sends a chill up your spine when it blows
And the winters lay claim to a man same as a bullet - from an old blood oath