Released: October 24, 1995

Songwriter: Tom Waits

Producer: Bob Seger

[Verse 1]
Plugged sixteen shells from a thirty-aught-six
And the black crow flew through a hole in the sky
And I spent all my buttons on an old pack mule
And I made me a ladder from a pawn shop marimba
And I leaned it up against a dandelion tree
I leaned it up against a dandelion tree
Leaned it up against a dandelion tree

[Verse 2]
Well I cooked them feathers on a tire iron spit
And I filled me a satchel full of old pig corn
And I beat me a Billy from an old French horn
And I kicked that mule to the top of the tree
I kicked that mule to the top of the tree
Blew me a hole 'bout the size of a kick drum
And I cut me a switch from a long branch elbow

[Chorus]
I'm gonna whittle you into kindlin'
Black crow sixteen shells from a thirty-aught-six
Whittle you into kindlin'
Black crow sixteen shells from a thirty-aught-six

[Verse 3]
Well I slept in the holler of a dry creek bed
And I tore out the buckets from a red Corvette
Tore out the buckets from a red Corvette
Lionel, Dave and the butcher made three
Oh you got to meet me by the knuckles of the skinny bone tree
With the strings of a Washburn stretched like a clothesline
You know me and that mule scrambled right through the hole
Me and that mule scrambled right through the hole

[Chorus]
I'm gonna whittle you into kindlin'
Black crow sixteen shells from a thirty-aught-six
Whittle you into kindlin'
Black crow sixteen shells from a thirty-aught-six

[Verse 4]
Now I hold him prisoner in a Washburn jail
And I strapped it on the back of my old kick mule
Strapped it on the back of my old kick mule
Bang on the strings just to drive him crazy
Oh, and I strum it loud just to rattle his cage
Strum it loud just to rattle his cage
Strum it loud just to rattle his cage
Strum it loud just to rattle his cage

[Chorus]
I'm gonna whittle you into kindlin'
Black crow sixteen shells from a thirty-aught-six
Whittle you into kindlin'
Black crow sixteen shells from a thirty-aught-six

[Outro]
Thirty-aught-six
Ah, six

Bob Seger

Robert Clark “Bob” Seger (born May 6, 1945) is an American singer-songwriter, guitarist and pianist. As a locally successful Detroit-area artist, he performed and recorded as Bob Seger and the Last Heard and Bob Seger System throughout the 1960s. By the early 1970s, he had dropped the “System” from his recordings and continued to strive for broader success with various other bands. In 1973, he put together the Silver Bullet Band, with a group of Detroit-area musicians, with whom he became most successful on the national level with the album Live Bullet, recorded live with the Silver Bullet Band in 1975 at Cobo Hall in Detroit, Michigan. On his studio albums, he also worked extensively with the Alabama-based Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section, which appeared on several of Seger’s best-selling singles and albums.

In 1976, he achieved a national breakout with the studio album Night Moves. The Night Moves title track became his first Billboard Top 5 single and the album started a string six consecutive albums landing in the Billbaord Top 10. The 1980 album, Against the Wind, topped the charts.