Devil's Backbone

The interpretation seems pretty straightforward here. It stuck me that this song kind of seems like the continuation of Barton Hollow where we hear about the man who committed the crime and is on the run and feeling guilty, and this is like his female companion who wants to stick with him despite what he's done, and wishes she could take the guilt from him. Not sure if it was intentional but they seem so closely related.

I love this song and see it as the sequel to Barton Hollow, except this time it's the prayer of the wife/lover of the guilty man in this story.. She knows that he committed a crime-if it is a Barton Hollow sequel, its probably referring to murder-and/or helped him with it. What I'm getting from the third verse is that he killed someone, not because he had an issue with this person, but because he was paid and he needed the money for his wife/lover and child-"He's somewhere between a hangman's knot and three mouths to feed". I think that the bridge and last verse are her praying for his soul and begging God to put the blame on her, asking how many hail Mary's it will take to keep him safe from judgment, then her finally giving up on bargaining and finally just begging for God to not take him away from her.