Emmylou Harris

Red Dirt Girl - Emmylou Harris

 Me and my best friend Lillian 
And her blue tick hound dog Gideon, 
Sittin on the front porch cooling 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 hope for a red dirt girl 
Somewhere out there is a great big world 
That’s where I’m bound 
And the stars might fall on 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 old 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 from town 
Figured that she might as well settle down 
So she dug right in 
Across a red dirt line just a little southeast of Meridian 

She tried hard to love him but it never did take 
It was just another way for the 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 falling cause there ain’t no bottom 
There ain’t no end 
At least not for Lillian 

Nobody knows when she started her skid, 
She was only twenty seven and she had five kids 
Could’a been the whiskey, could’a been the pills 
Could’a been the dream she was trying to kill 
But there won’t be a mention in the news of the world 
About the life and the 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

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