"Red Dirt Girl"

Me and my best Friend, Lillian

And her Blue Tick Hound dog, Gideon

Sittin' on the front porch, coolin' in the shade

Singin' every Song the radio played

Waitin' for the Alabama Sun to go down

Two Red Dirt Girls, in a Red Dirt Town
Me and Lillian

Just across the Line, and a little Southeast, of Meridian.

She Loved her brother,  I remember back when

He was fixin' up a 49' Indian

He told her, little Sister, gonna ride the Wind

Up around the Moon and back, again

He never got farther than Vietnam

I was standin' there with her, when the telegram come

For Lillian

Now, he's lyin' somewhere, about a Million miles, from Meridian.

She said, there's not much here, for a Red Dirt Girl  

Somewhere out there is a great Big World

That's where I'm Bound
 And the Stars might Fall in Alabama

But one of these Days, I'm gonna Swing

My Hammer Down

Away from this Red Dirt Town

I'm gonna make a Joyful Sound.

She grew up Tall, and she grew up Thin

Buried that olde Dog, Gideon

By a Crepe Myrtle Bush, at the back of the Yard

Her Daddy turned mean, and her Mama Leaned hard

Got in trouble, with a boy in Town
Figured that she might as well, settle down

So, she dug right in

Across a Red Dirt Line, just a little Southeast, from Meridian.

She tried hard to Love him, but it never did take

It was just another Way for her Heart to Break

So she Learned  to Bend

But one Thing they don't tell you, about the Blues

When you got em

You keep on Fallin', cause there ain't no Bottom

There ain't no End

Least not, for Lillian. 

Nobody Knows when she started her Skid

She was only 27, and she had five Kids

Could'a been the whiskey

Could'a been the pills

Could'a been the Dreams, she was tryin' to kill

But there won't be a mention in the News, of the World

About the Life and Death, of a Red Dirt Girl

Named, Lillian

Who never got any further, across the Line, than Meridian.

Now, the Stars still Fall on Alabama

Tonight, she finally Laid

That Hammer Down

Without a Sound

In the Red Dirt Ground.

Emmylou Harris

U.S.A.

~Beannaichte'
30 June,2015

beannaichte@twitter.com