[Verse 1]
Seen a man standing over a dead dog
By a highway in a ditch
He's looking down kinda puzzled
Poking that dog with a stick
Got his car door flung open
He's standing out on Highway 31
Like if he stood there long enough
That dog'd get up and run

[Chorus 1]
Struck me kinda funny
Seemed kinda funny, sir, to me
Still at the end of every hard day
People find some reason to believe

[Verse 2]
Now, Mary Lou loved Johnny
With a love mean and true
She said, "Baby, I'll work for you every day
And bring my money home to you"
One day, he up and left her
And ever since that
She waits down at the end of that dirt road
For young Johnny to come back
[Chorus 2]
Struck me kinda funny
Funny, yeah, indeed
How at the end of every hard-earned day
People find some reason to believe

[Verse 3]
Take a baby to the river
Kyle William, they called him
Wash the baby in the water
Take away little Kyle's sin
In a whitewashed shotgun shack
An old man passes away
Take the body to the graveyard
Over him, they pray

[Chorus 3]
Lord, won't you tell us
Tell us, what does it mean?
At the end of every hard-earned day
People find some reason to believe

[Verse 4]
Congregation gathers
Down by the riverside
Preacher stands with a Bible
Groom stands waiting for his bride
Congregation gone
The sun sets behind a weeping willow tree
Groom stands alone and watches the river rush on
So effortlessly
[Chorus 4]
Wondering
Where can his baby be
Still, at the end of every hard-earned day
People find some reason to believe