Lyrics Geoff Berner - Mongrels - 09. One Shoe

He came to the door with a folder of prints
Familiar clichés, traditional motifs
He said I’ve got to do the feathers and the wolves for the money
People eat them up
But I’ve got some here that come from my own life
A rusted car, a school fight
Got my girlfriend deposed for three days
It’s called patience after the Guns and Roses song
This one is called one shoe

Neil Stonechild was frozen on the edge of Saskatoon
Twelve years ago, and now the body and the case have been exhumed
It’s come to light
That in the dead of winter nights cold and remote
The Saskatoon police have taken men on one way rides
Police chief quote
It’s happened more than once
We fully admit that
On behalf of the department I want to apologize
We must take ownership of the things that have transpired

Neil was seventeen
In a group home for B&E
Was in AA but had been drinking on the night
That he and Jason knocked on doors
Rang some bells
Looking for a friend
The cops where called
The boys split up
Fifteen minutes later Jason saw Neil
Handcuffed and bleeding
In the back of the cruiser
Screaming looking scared
“Help me! They’re gonna kill me!”
One Shoe

Neil’s body was discovered
Five days later on the outskirts
Jason gave two statements to police
But they weren’t taken
The death deemed accidental
The official version being
That Neil Stonechild was on his way to turning himself in
To an adult penitentiary at minus twenty-eight degrees
With one shoe

An inquiry was launched twelve years latter
After Rodney Naistus froze to death
And Lawrence Wegner froze to death
And Lloyd Dustyhorn froze to death
And Darrell Night almost did
But lived to prove abduction and abandonment were common practice
Still the original case files concerning Neil
Were lost in renovations
RCMP investigations
Failed to find evidence for prosecution
So in a cloud of suspicion
The hearings start October
Neil’s mother just wants closure
One shoe

Neil Stonechild was a painter and a wrestler
And I think he would’a liked this one
Must of lost it running
Should’a tied the laces
Symbolizes something
Mistakes, empty spaces, getting chased
One shoe

One shoe
One shoe
One shoe
One shoe
One
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