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Dixie

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Old times there are not forgotten

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Cotton

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Daddy hoe cotton like I do

Daddy picked the cotton by hand

He used to come home hot and dirty

Told me how he hated black land

Told me how he hated black land

One day he just walked away

Walked down the road

Kicking up dust

Right in the middle of the day

Walked down the road kicking up dust

Left me and momma that way

Somebody help me sing hallelujah

Somebody help me sing hey hoe hard

Somebody help me sing that’s enough cotton

Somebody help me sing praise the lord

Momma cleaned house for the white folk

Man our house was a mess

But we had food

We had shoes

Had it better than most I guess

She had sister back in ’40

When she married a man named Teal

The high blood took her back in ‘53

She’s buried on the side of the hill

With the coloreds on the side of the hill

You see back then that was the deal

Somebody help me sing hallelujah

Somebody help me sing hey hoe hard

Somebody help me sing that’s enough cotton

Somebody help me sing praise the lord

I’ve got rows of cotton in the morning

I’ve got rows of cotton till night

I walk these rows with a hoe in my hand

Hoe for the rest of my life

Hoe for the rest of my life

Hoe for the rest of my life

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Moon

The moon got lost tonight I think

A nod, a nod

A wink, a wink

The horse is blind and needs a drink

The moon got lost tonight I think

And you and I look, look away

And in the not, not looking may

See what is hidden by the day

When you and I look, look away

Look, look away

Look, look away

Look, look away

Late, late nights

The red lights blink

Blink, blink

The sky is ink

The last of the bourbon

And the ice clink

The moon got lost tonight I think

Look, look away

Look, look away

Look, look away

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Mennonite

He was a Mennonite

Came from Mexico

Went to work for his uncle

Out In Weslaco

Building trailers hell he could build anything

Anything out of metal fix any machine

Praise be to Jesus

For room and accord

But when you are twenty-one years old

You get kind of bored

Staying home every night

Worshiping the lord

He bought a pearl snap shirt

Stitched with horses and stars

A handsome pair of boots

Started driving past bars

Where women wore short skirts

Made out in cars

Drank beer by the quart out of mason jars

They drank beer

At the county line bars

Marco Polo Marco Polo

Off to explore

Christopher Columbus

Off to find a new shore

A young Mennonite walks through a bar room door

It said I heart to dance

On a tight t-shirt

Tucked in the waist of a short short skirt

She was standing at the bar

Holding court

A push up bra for extra support

The boys fell like pigeons

Fell like leaves

Strong pale legs

Red boots to her knees

Who’s to say what love is?

Is it hearts and stars?

Is it boots and beer the back seat of cars

On the floor board

There’s a short short skirt

Wrapped in the arms of a pearl snap shirt

It’s been five years

Never was hard

He never much thought

More about the lord

She just quit

Going to bars

They got married had kids

Never was hard

Got married had kids

Never was hard.

Who’s to say what love is

Is it hearts and stars

Boots and beer the back seat of cars

On the floor board

There’s a short, short skirt

Wrapped in the arms of a pearl snap shirt

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Signs

One cardboard sign says I’ve got no home

One sign says I need booze

One sign says disabled vet

I was not born to lose

One sign says I m no quitter

One sign says you got a smoke?

One sign says need gas for the Lear

One sign got a joke

Hey, hey

They are on the corner every day

Saying hey, hey

One sign says I am pregnant

One sign is upside down

One sign says lost my husband

One sign says lost my crown

One sign says I love Jesus

One says the end is near

One sign just says please

One says will work for beer

Hey, hey

They are on the corner every day

Saying hey, hey

She sang meet me in st louis

Meet me at the fair

But don’t tell me the lights

They shine

Don’t act like you care

One cardboard sign says time to pray

One sign says I need booze

One says I can’t walk no more

One sign says I need shoes

Ones says if I had a dollar

If I had not lost my crown

If I had a horse

I would ride

For higher ground

Hey, hey

They are on the corner every day

Saying hey, hey

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Palestine Part Two

Her people came from Nineveh

His people came from Rural Shade

They met in the tent

Of the traveling Nazarene

She took his big hand in hers

Led him from the tent to the piney woods

Just sixteen

A few months later they got married

A few more months RoseofSharon got born

While he was out cutting pulp

A logging chain whipped

He never walked again

It was an accidental thing

So he drank when they had money

She worked as a serving girl

In the rich folks houses in town

RoseofSharon grew up

Cutting pictures out of magazines

Of houses big and clean

RoseofSharon run away

With the boy selling bibles

Crossed the line in Shreveport

Turned sixteen

Calls her mother from the payphone

A laundromat in Natchez

It’s not exactly what I dreamed

Palestine, Palestine

Oh Palestine

We’ve got Satan on the run

Shouts the Nazarene

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Say the Right Words

Piano Interlude 

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Angel Hair

There was angel hair

Christmas lights

Been so long was it Christmas lights

Or maybe it was Christmas Eve

So cold outside what would make a person leave

On a cold highway

Ice that is black

Make a person leave

Not come back

Not a day goes by

I don’t think about you

It was a place so sweet

A place so right

You were standing in the window

In the blinking light

Were there tears on your face?

Was it ice on the pane?

And the radio said

You ought to use chains

On a cold highway

Ice that is black

Make a person leave

Not come back

Not a day goes by

I don’t think about you

Been so long I don’t know

Not a day goes by ten years or so

Not a day goes by

I don’t think about you

It is a short time coming

A long time gone

I try not use words like wrong

I carry a torch

It burns my hand

I’d like to lay it down

In the promise land

But there is nothing in site

No way back

It’s a cold highway

Ice that is black

Not a day goes by

I don’t think about you

I don’t think about you

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Who’s Going To Be Your Man

Who’s going to shoe your pretty little feet?

Who’s going to glove your hand?

Who’s going to kiss your red ruby lips?

Who’s going to be your man?

Who’s going to be your man?

I am going to shoe your pretty little feet

I am going to glove your hand

I am going to kiss your red ruby lips

I am going to be your man

I am going to be your man

Daddy’s going to shoe my pretty little feet

Momma’s going to glove my hand

Sister’s going to kiss my red ruby lips

I don’t need no man

I don’t need no man

Who’s going to be your man?

Who’s going to be your man?

Who’s going to be your man?

Good lord

Who’s going to be your man?

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Palestine Part One

Who’s ready to be saved?

Shouts the traveling Nazarene

Who’s ready to be saved?

Tonight in Palestine

It is the last night of revival

Who is ready for salvation?

Who wants a soul washed clean?

Tonight in Palestine

Palestine, Palestine

Oh Palestine

We’ve got Satan on the run

Shouts the Nazarene

She sways to the music

The shouting Nazarene

Ready to be saved

Right here in Palestine

Dark legs

A summer dress

He burns to save her soul

He burns to wash her clean

Behind the tent in Palestine

Palestine, Palestine

Oh Palestine

We’ve got Satan on the run

Shouts the Nazarene 

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Not Another Mary

Driving home at sunrise

Just in time for work

She says she is not another Mary

This is not another virgin birth

Not another Mary

She wears an all right wrinkled skirt

Not another Mary

Just in time for work

Last night he told her that he loved her

Something she already knew

It was something that she wanted

But she could not say I love you too

I love you too

She thinks man this sky is blue

So he finally says I love you

She could not say I love you too

Who knows what to say?

Or what to do?

The sun so red

The sky so blue

Sun so red

Sky so blue

She could not say

I love you too

Driving home at sunrise

Just in time for work

She says she is not another Mary

This is not another virgin birth

Not another Mary

Just in time for work

Not another Mary

Not another virgin birth

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Bridal Chest

There is a workshop

Full of noises

Things are cut

Things are bound

Things are built

Built in secret

The bridal chest

The wedding gown

Bring the maiden

From the cloister

Bring her free

Bring her bound

She will stand

With her ancestors

The bridal chest

The wedding gown

Pay the dowry

In dolls and dishes

That’s the dough

This day of crowns

That’s the dough

It is el dinero

The bridal chest

The wedding gown

Bring the captain

From the lee shore

Leave his ship

To run aground

Leave his crew

To hungry fishes

The bridal chest

The wedding gown

Pay the dowry

In dolls and dishes

That’s the dough

This day of crowns

That’s the dough

It is el dinero

The bridal chest

The wedding gown

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Snow

First light city streets are white and pristine

Waiting on the tracks of the early machines

This city is so pretty when the snow falls just at dawn

Hey paper boy how about them Celts

This snow keeps falling think it’s never gonna melt

This city is so pretty

Got a cup of coffee

A Sunday Globe

A table by the window

Watch the plows in the road

This city is so pretty

From ships in the night good sailors from the sea

Walk the streets at dawn

Down on Beacon Street

This city is so pretty

They are so far from home

Snow is deep

The road is long

Snow is deep

The road is long

So far from home

There is a stranger on the street

He is way out of sorts

He says hey mister I’ve come up short

You got any change

The lord loves a giver I believe

Small change to a stranger

Change on the street

Change to a man

Thought he’d never get beat

There are a thousand ways

A person in the snow gets lost

They are so far from home

Snow is deep

The road is long

Snow is deep

The road is long

So far from home

There is snow upon the ocean

Snow upon the land

Talk about forgiveness

Help me understand

Why I hold on tight

Do not let go

I walk these streets frozen in snow

First light city streets are white pristine

Waiting on the tracks of the dirty machines

First light city streets are white pristine

They are waiting

copyright 2009

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