[Intro - steady resolute boom-chicka, trebly electric, mid-tempo, plain]

[Verse 1 - the camp and the fence]
Every camp has got a fence, and a post where the fence has a gate
And every camp has got a place where they tell you the thinking stops
They will say the sound man stops here, the faithful man stays in
They will hand you the word honest
And they will tell you it means stay

[Chorus]
But the only honest place to stand
Is out past the last fence post, alone
Where the truth kept going and you had to follow it
Or call yourself a liar in your bones
Honest was never staying
Honest was always following
And the only honest place is out past every fence

[Verse 2 - the moment at the fence]
I did not set out to leave, I want that understood
I set out to follow a question, the way an honest man will do
And the question walked me to the fence and it did not even slow
And the camp behind me hollered stop
But the truth in front of me did not

[Chorus]
But the only honest place to stand
Is out past the last fence post, alone
Where the truth kept going and you had to follow it
Or call yourself a liar in your bones
Honest was never staying
Honest was always following
And the only honest place is out past every fence

[Verse 3 - the cost reframed as the price of the thing kept]
And it is cold out past the fence, I will not tell you that it is not
There is no lamp, there is no roof, there is no warm and easy room
But I never had to stop a thought before it reached its end
And I never stood beside a post
And called the stopping faith

[Bridge - the redefinition]
So they can keep the word for sound, and they can keep the word for safe
They can keep their warm and fenced-in word for faithful if they like
But honest is the word I would not let them have
And honest does not live inside a fence
It never has, it never will

[Final Verse and Outro]
So this is where I stand, and I will tell you why I stand here
It is the only ground a man can stand on and not be lying where he stands
Past the fence, in the cold, alone
The only honest place
And I would not go back inside that gate
Not for all the warm and fenced-in rooms on earth