Gasoline (The Ghost of Briscoe) is a haunting folk ballad that tells the story of a forgotten Texas town swallowed by time and silence. Through vivid imagery, dusty melodies, and a deeply nostalgic tone, the song paints a portrait of Gasoline — once a small but thriving community in Briscoe County, now nothing more than creaking wood and desert wind.
With ghostly echoes of lost lives and lingering memories, the song captures the spirit of rural decay and the eerie beauty of places left behind. It’s not just a song about a town — it’s a requiem for all the forgotten corners of America.
Out where the land don’t speak too loud
Where the dust hangs thick like a funeral shroud
There’s a road that bends then disappears
To a town that ain’t had a soul in years
They called it Gasoline, Briscoe pride
Built on grit and oil and Friday night rides
Population 42 and a bar that never closed
Till the rigs ran dry and the bank foreclosed
Ghosts don’t need no gasoline
They just ride the wind through broken screens
Whisper names in the midnight breeze
Like mama’s voice in dying dreams
Down in Gasoline… where the past still leans
Sheriff Tom drank coffee black
Used to say “Ain’t nothin’ here but time and tracks”
But the time ran out, and the trains moved on
Now his badge just rusts in the courthouse lawn
You can still hear boots on the chapel floor
And the laugh of kids through the hardware store
Ghosts don’t need no gasoline
They just dance through dust in sepia scenes
Echo prayers through busted beams
Like a jukebox stuck on faded dreams
Down in Gasoline… where silence screams
One light left on in the general store
Flickers like it’s waitin’ for something more
But there ain’t no mail and there ain’t no train
Just an old stray dog and a blood-red rain
Ghosts don’t need no gasoline
They just haunt what’s lost and might’ve been
Playin’ cards with yesterday’s sin
In a place the map won’t draw again
Down in Gasoline… where it all caved in
Out in Briscoe, you’ll find the bones
Of a town that burned and died alone
No graves, no signs, no in-between
Just a whisper left… of Gasoline
written & produced by Jason Spiess
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