41 [Lizzie Borden]

Intro
August heat was hanging over Fall River
A quiet house beneath the summer sun
Two lives were waiting in the silence
Before the morning came undone

Verse 1
Andrew Borden came home that morning
And laid his head down on the couch
Abby was upstairs in the guest room
When someone struck and struck again
Lizzie said she heard her stepmother
She said her father had been resting
But somewhere underneath those answers
Something in that house was missing

Pre-Chorus
And by the time the town came running
Her name was already in the air

Chorus
FORTY-ONE
That's the number they remember
FORTY-ONE
But numbers never tell the whole story
Was it Lizzie in that house?
Was there someone else around?
Forty-one became the legend
While the truth was never found

Verse 2
The bodies lay where they had fallen
Andrew downstairs, Abby above
A house with no sign of a robbery
A family split by blood and love
They found the hatchet, found the questions
Found a story nobody could prove
And every whisper turned to judgment
Long before the jury knew

Pre-Chorus
They searched the house for something certain
But certainty was never there

Chorus
FORTY-ONE
That's the number they remember
FORTY-ONE
But numbers never tell the whole story
Was it Lizzie in that house?
Was there someone else around?
Forty-one became the legend
While the truth was never found

Bridge
She stood before them in the courtroom
And listened while they called her name
The jury heard the case against her
Then sent her home without the blame
Not guilty closed the courtroom
But it never closed the door
Because a verdict can say nothing
About what happened there before

Final Chorus
FORTY-ONE
That's the number they remember
FORTY-ONE
A little rhyme became a story
Was it Lizzie in that house?
Was there someone else around?
Forty-one became forever
But the truth was never found

FORTY-ONE
Say the number, say her name
FORTY-ONE
But don't mistake the rhyme for proof
Lizzie walked away from Fall River
With the question following her
Forty-one is all they gave us
And we'll never know the truth

Outro
The house is quiet now in Fall River
But forty-one still echoes through the years