TWILIGHT lyrics
BLUE CORN MUSIC, 2001
MISSISSIPPI SNOW
A little girl
A lust, a life
Hoping one day to be some man’s wife
Early school mornings
Cold bathroom floor
You brushed my hair
And pushed me out the door
Oh, mama, you know I had to go
Before they up and covered me in that Mississippi snow
I miss the tall trees and sister’s pine
Between the playhouse and the clothesline
And I remember driving home after your father passed
Thinking that night ride on 61 would be my last
Oh, mama, you know I had to go
Before they up and covered me in that Mississippi snow
I hear them singing In The Sweet By and By
And I Can Hear A Voice Calling from Heaven on High
Little baby born to take my place
Pastor are new peoples born to replace my race
Oh, mama, you know I had to go
Before they up and covered me in that Mississippi snow
Oh, mama, you know I had to go
Before they up and covered me in that Mississippi snow
RINGSIDE RODEO
She wears her cross like a tattoo
She needs identity just like you
Life has treated her just as hard
Playing house in her own backyard
Now don’t be looking for one to fall
You know she fell a long time ago
Watch her riding, rising high
In the ringside rodeo
Daisy-chain chandelier
Like a rosary
And wildwood wallpaper sloping down on me
Dreams of patent leather on a Saturday night
Wake up on Sunday with the birds at daylight
Who knows the voices in her head
A little bread and wine could raise her from the dead
She wears her cross like a tattoo
She needs identity just like you
Life has treated her just as hard
Playing house in her own backyard
Now don’t be looking for one to fall
You know she fell a long time ago
Watch her riding, rising high
In the ringside rodeo
Exit arch-framed doors
Into a big ol’ world
Ain’t she a woman
Is she a little girl
Pillows frame the beams of a big brass bead
Pink felt heart on a blue ribbon
Hanging over her head
Fools deny that angels take us home
But you and me we got places to roam
She wears her cross like a tattoo
She needs identity just like you
Life has treated her just as hard
Playing house in her own backyard
Now don’t be looking for one to fall
You know she fell a long time ago
Watch her riding, rising high
In the ringside rodeo
DEVIL MADE A MESS
No one will know
The words you said
No one
Leave it to me
To disappear, to move along
Nothing from the past
Will ever haunt me like you do
Oh, sweet baby
The devil made a mess out of you
Never say never
Thought I was wise when I loved you, dear
But some little boy
Needed a mama to hold him near
Wailing on the mourner’s bench
Right behind the back row pew
Oh, sweet baby
Devil made a mess out of you
What’s that spell
Makes us want to ride into hell
This much is true
He made a mess of me, too
I’ll never forget the good times we had
Though you crossed them out
Then went back to the girl
You once sent away
Then you laughed about
There’s a meanness inside you
That turns my insides black and blue
Oh, sweet baby
The devil made a mess out of you
Oh, sweet baby
The devil made a mess out of you
WISE WOMAN
I went up to the mountain
And I came back a wise woman
Went to the river
Came back wiser still
Only to see
You’re as dear to me as the air I breathe
Won’t you meet me at that mansion on the hill
Stuffed your mattress and wove your sheets
Patched your blanket piece by piece
If the Lord had granted me a choice
I’d a held up my hand
We ground the corn, molded lard and lye
Had ten children and watched four die
I’ll stand beside you when you meet the promised land
Because I went up to the mountain
And I came back a wise woman
Went to the river
Came back wiser still
Only to see
You’re as dear to me as the air I breathe
Won’t you meet me at that mansion on the hill
Danced to the fiddle on a Saturday night
And chopped the cotton before daylight
The sun don’t go down on a poor man’s woes
But my love, if you don’t meet the dawn
I promise you, I’ll carry on
Singing Precious Memories as I plant along the rows
I went up to the mountain
And I came back a wise woman
Went to the river
Came back wiser still
Only to see
You’re as dear to me as the air I breathe
Won’t you meet me at that mansion on the hill
Won’t you meet me at that mansion on the hill
Won’t you meet me at that mansion on the hill
EMMA
Nobleman steps through the doorway
Bends to kiss his daughter’s face
He reaches out and pulls her to him
Clasping her in warm embrace
“Oh Emma, I cannot stay here
The thunder calls me even now
Child, you need no one to save you”
And Emma moans as he goes
Down below
Down below
Down below
She goes
Cursed is the one who never ceases
Favor for the poor and crazed
You should see her daddy when he preaches
Voices singing among the graves
Ah, heaven reaches out and makes a whisper
For to wake the haunts alive
Emma feels and Emma knows the seasons
Of the joys and the sighs
Down below
Down below
Down below
She goes
Nobleman steps through the doorway
Bends to touch his lover’s face
She reaches out and pulls him to her
Clasping him in warm embrace
“Oh Emma, I cannot stay here
The thunder calls me even now
Woman, you need no one to save you”
And Emma moans as he goes
Down below
Down below
Down below
She goes
WHIPPOORWILL
Hey there mama
Come and sit on my windowsill
I’ll be your St. Francis
I’ll be your whippoorwill
We’ll sing together through the rolling glass
While your lover makes a nest that’s built to last
These are the mornings of our past
I will watch your babies born
Not from a branch or a white magnolia bloom
But a farmhouse second-floor corner room
With pieces old and new
Borrowed and blue
Daddy watched his father play and arch top guitar
Him and Uncle Clint on the porch of a grocery store
Well I don’t know but I’ve been told
They sang, “You get a line, I’ll get a pole, sugar babe”
Hey there cousin
Won’t you play dress up today
Or brother, slide down the stairs
Where mama threw her wedding bouquet
Mama, did you line them up and watch them fall
With a 22’ waist and deep South drawl
I bet you charmed them all
Hey there sister
Won’t you come sleep in my bed
We’ll pull up all the blankets tight round our heads
And turn off the bedside table light
When I’ve closed my eyes and I’m sleeping tight
Don’t want to stay up tonight
And we will wake up with the sun
And birds chirping from magnolia blooms
In our farmhouse second-floor corner room
With pieces old and new
Borrowed and blue
LEARNING TO DRIVE
Pretty girl from a Delta town
Made to run the gasoline down
Learned a little about many things
Our sweet potato cotton queen
Looks ahead when the whistles blow
A lady knows when it’s time to go
Learned to drive on graveyard streets
And give a smile to all she meets
Daddy taught her to never look twice
Say thank you ma’am and always look nice
Be the best like a football team
Scoring against the rivalry
And keep the insides hammered down

Best performer of the stage in town
A speck surrounded by soybean fields
In the land of red clay wheels
They say she’d tumble over the pews
Go sit with the preacher, too
Play flute from the choir loft
Sing alto and soprano parts
Gaze out at the back church wall
Stained-glass Jesus standing tall
Holding all of His little lambs
And the whole world in His hands
The boys eyed her through the rear-view mirror
Sucking two straws on Strawberry Hill
Driving back from a country bridge
Or throwing rocks from the water’s edge
Now she’s all packed up in parceled pillars
She’s driving a U-Haul across the Mississippi River
Lanterns on the levee and a fist full of cotton
Old times there will not be forgotten
CAROLINA MOON
If I were to die tomorrow
At least we’d have tonight
Spend the hours knowing we’re alive
Laughing under stars and running fields throughout the night
Amen and Amen
Pass the biscuits darling
This supper’s heaven sent
You mean more than any fame and fortune I could find
And the Carolina Moon is rising in the Texas sky
To the blue of the canyon
I will love you my whole life
Autumn all yellow, rust and red
I’d trade seasons for time with you instead
Amen and Amen
Pass the biscuits darling
This supper’s heaven sent
You mean more than any fame and fortune I could find
And the Carolina Moon is rising in the Texas sky
So let’s sing our hallelujahs
And we’ll have our sit right down
Pass that corn and okra, black-eyed peas
Can I have more of those kisses from you please
Amen and Amen
Pass the biscuits darling
This supper’s heaven sent
You mean more than any fame and fortune I could find
And the Carolina Moon is rising in the Texas sky
STANDING IN THE WATER
In the land of the crazies
Gentlemen and ladies
I was born
I was born
But long gone the fish fry
Long gone the moon pie
Long gone
Long gone
Standing in the water
My dresses soiled and seen
Goodnight cottonlandia
Get your ghosts off of me
Grant captured Vicksburg
Sherman shot the hummingbird of the land
But slaves pull the sack across
The weight of this albatross in my hands
In my hands
Standing in the water
My dresses soiled and seen
Goodnight cottonlandia
Get your ghosts off of me
DELTA HIGHWAY
I was on a Delta highway
Twilight rising from the road
Lightning shone on cotton fields
I drove through pink skies alone
Went to Lourdes and Santiago
Traveled down to New Orleans
Between pilgrims and les bons temps
Live the visions and the dreams
All this searching leads
Down such winding roads
Funny how the time goes
So far away from home
Climbed the Yellow Mountain
Held the sun in my hand
Worshipped the warriors
In tombs of ancient lands
Did not reach to the leper
Though she gave me a smile
I just played this old guitar
Amidst 1000 Chinese eyes
All this searching leads
Down such winding roads
Funny how the mind goes
So far away from home
Maybe on the midland prairies
We could chase the native tears
Or wander in the desert
In hopes of Tunis or Algiers
May the Moors next enchant me
Tall, dark friend I have known
But when on the Delta highway
I’ll think of you and you alone
All this searching leads
Down such winding roads
Funny how the mind goes
So far away from home