Mississippi snow Caroline Herring 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 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 / Hear a Voice Calling in Heaven on High little baby born to take my place pastor, are new peoples born to replace our race oh mama you know I had to go before they up and covered me in that Mississippi snow Ringside Rodeo Caroline Herring 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 don't go looking for one to fall you know she fell a long time ago watch her riding, rising high at the ringside rodeo daisy-chain chandelier, like a rosary 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 don't go looking for one to fall you know she fell a long time ago watch her riding, rising high at the ringside rodeo exit arch-framed doors into a big oP world ain't she a woman is she a little girl pillows frame the beams of a big brass bed 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 don't go looking for one to fall you know she fell a long time ago watch her riding, rising high at the ringside rodeo Devil made a mess Caroline Herring 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 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 the 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 and 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 Wise woman Caroline Herring I went up to the mountain and 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 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 chorus danced to the fiddle on a Saturday night chopped the cotton before daylight sun don't go down on a poor man's woes 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 chorus (break) won't you meet me on the mansion on the hill won't you meet me on the mansion on the hill Noble man steps through the doorway bends to kiss his daughter's face he reaches out and pulls her to him clasping her in warm embrace '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 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 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 she goes noble man walks through the doorway bends to touch his lover's face she reaches out and pulls him to her clasping him in warm embrace '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 she goes Whippoorwill Caroline Herring Hey there mama come and sit on my windowsill I'll be your Saint Francis I'll be your whippoorwill we'll sing together through the rolling glass as your lover builds a nest that's built to last these our 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 an archtop guitar him and Uncle Glint on the porch of a grocery store well I don't know, but I've been told he sang "You get a line and I'll get a pole sugarbabe" Hey there cousin won't you play dress up today brother, let's 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 please turn out 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 Caroline Herring 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 the graveyard streets and gives a smile to all she meets daddy taught her to never look twice say thank-you ma'am and always look ni be the best like a football team scoring against the rivalry keep the insides hammered down best performer of the stage in town a speck surrounded by soybean fields in a 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 but 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 Caroline Herring If I were to die tomorrow at least we'd have tonight spend the hours knowing we're alive laughing under stars 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 have loved 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 Caroline Herring In the land of the crazies gentlemen and ladies I was born I was born 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 of the land slaves pull the sack across the weight of the 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 Caroline Herring 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 lived 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 a thousand Chinese eyes Highway Caroline Herring 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 through the desert in hopes of Tunis or Algiers may the Moors next enchant me dark, tall 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