Stabby Joe

Joseph McMichael was born in Idaho

Up on the panhandle Bonners Ferry Road

Spent his summers swimming in Lake Pend Oreille

Learned to play the fiddle on his own

His mom wasn’t there much his dad he’d never known

On the first day of his life he was put on methadone

People said Joseph never had a chance

It was the only life he’d ever know

He was barely 13 when he got that fateful name

They sent him to reform school down in Coeur d’Alene

He’d always hated bullies then he saw his mom get beat

Joseph thought what he did was right

He never finished high school but got his GED

Headed to the oil fields two states to the east

Didn’t mind the money but he never liked the Plains

He played that old-time fiddle every night

It was the northern Rockies he always loved the most

He went home for the funeral when his mom overdosed

Decided to stay with a girl he used to know

Their days on Upper Priest Lake he was home

In July they went to dinner to celebrate her first year clean

An ex of hers showed up high on methamphetamine

Joseph tried to save her but that coward pulled a knife

Joseph followed his mom into the night

Joseph McMichael was born in Idaho

Up on the Panhandle Bonners Ferry Road

Spent his summers swimming in Lake Pend Oreille

Learned to play the fiddle on his own