@ALBUM: Prodigal daughter @SONG: Prodigal daughter Michelle Shocked (Poly Gram Songs, Inc) What's to be done with a prodigal son? Welcome him home with open arms Throw a big party, invite your friends Our boy's come back home When a girl goes home with the oats he's sown It's draw your shades and your shutters She's bringing such shame to the family name The return of the prodigal daughter Singing, Oh Cotton-eyed Joe Went to see the doctor and I almost died When he told my mama, Lordy how she cried Me and my daddy were never too close But he was there when I needed him most Look here comes a prodigal son Fetch him a tall drink of water But there's none in the cup because he drank it all up Left for the prodigal daughter Singing, Oh Cotton-eyed Joe Had not've been for the Cotton-eyed Joe I'd have been married a long time ago Out in the cornfield I stubbed my toe I called out for the doctor Cotton-eyed Joe @SONG: Shaking hands Michelle Shocked (Poly Gram Songs, Inc) Shaking hands and fingers that do tremble Soldier's joy has been a bitter pill Though in battle a brave man I resemble Alone I am a coward without will Here's McGee from the great state of Missouri To the Show-Me State Militia I belong And to judge from the pride on the Confederate side I'd say five hundred thousand rebels can't be wrong A rebel stand is no place for a traitor A loveless union cannot bend us to her will Cannot command the soldiers who now hate her Nor demand a bounty of her generals I took a rifle ball in my shoulder But my entire body filled with pain I waited with them all at the field hospital Oh God, another shot of morphine Soldier's joy, oh what's the point in pleasure When it's only meant to kill the pain Lay down my arms and take the coffin's measure Or take up arms and send me out to fight again Shaking hands -- Was I a coward, was I brave? Shaking hands -- I took the bitter pill Tell the story on my grave, my soul they could not save What the bullet could not kill, the needle will @SONG: Blackberry blossom Michelle Shocked (Poly Gram Songs, Inc) Can you tell me what happened to the blossom Blackberry blossom when the summertime came? The blackberry blossom, oh the last time I saw one Was down in the bramble where I rambled in the spring The bramble was wild I was torn by the briars My love he wooed me as I lie there With a flower in my hair and my cheeks all flashy Was the blackberry blossom from the blackberry bush When I picked the berry I didn't miss the blossom The blackberry blossom was white as the snow But the berry that it brings is sweeter than molasses And black as the wings of the Arkansas crow The Arkansas crow is a devil and a demon Known for his cackling and his screaming Driving away the swallow and the thrush From the blackberry blossom and the blackberry bush I was picking berries when that crow flew above me Carrying my lover so far away Now each spring I lay a blackberry blossom By a cold gravestone on the Arkansas clay The Arkansas clay is rocky and hard With weeds growing over in the old graveyard And the day settles down to an evening hush Over the blackberry blossom and the blackberry bush @SONG: Patch-Eye and Meg Michelle Shocked (Poly Gram Songs, Inc) Remembering back when I was a kid, I'd slip down to the docks To watch the old men carving wood, watch the sailors tying knots But the thing I remember best was grey-haired old Patch-Eye And the stories that he'd tell me 'bout his younger days as we watched those ships go by \hfill He'd talk about his missing eye, he'd talk all about his wooden leg But he never talked about the old tattoo on his right arm that said ``Meg'' He said he was captain of a pirate ship sailing seas both blue and green Then he said that all pirate's got to have have a patch so as they can look real mean He'd made the bad guys walk the plank, the pretty ladies he would save And then he'd take the treasure from the ship and then he'd sink it to a watery grave He'd talk about his missing eye, he'd talk about his wooden leg But he'd never talk about the old tattoo of brown-haired, blue-eyed Meg He told me a story 'bout his wooden leg as he sat there spinning yarns Once he lost it to a mamba snake, down in the Amazon Another time it was way out west in a gunfight, or so he said Oh but that's all right boy, man's got to legs, you know he could have lost his head He told me all about his missing eye, he told me all about his wooden leg But he took the story to the grave about the tattoo that said ``Meg'' He told me how he lost his eye and how he lost leg But he never told me how he lost the love of brown-haired, blue-eyed Meg @SONG: Who cares? (Ghost town) Michelle Shocked (Poly Gram Songs, Inc} I was walking down an old dirt road I was feeling out and down I was taking it out on an old tin can When I came upon an old ghost town Doors hanging on one end, you know the scene The background was playing the ``High Noon'' theme There's dust-devils swirling in the heat And sidewinders winding down the street (spooky!) I see a sign that says ``Hotel'' I walk in and I ring the bell Look up at cobweb and my eyes open wider When I see the grin of a Cheshire spider I walk on out, I see a sign that says ``County Jail'' I walk in and I ring a bell I see what used to be a man He's reaching out a bony hand From behind the bars to take the key That's hanging not more than a foot away (spooky!) Walk on out, I see a buzzard up in the sky I squint my eye he's circling low And he's lighting down On what remains of this old ghost town I see a sign that says ``Saloon'' Like I said it's hot high noon So I walk in and I ring the bell. No one answers, so I ring the bell again Although the shells hold only dust I know where to quench this thirst You see my daddy used to tender bar So I know what the secrets are Keep your money in your purse And stash a bottle under the first \dots Keep some secrets never tell And those secrets will keep you very well Speaking of keeping, if you're feeling down And you come upon an old ghost town Direct your feet past all the decay The place where things just mellow with age (Am throughout) @SONG: Fogtown Michelle Shocked (Poly Gram Songs, Inc) There was a red sun rising early in this ghetto Full moon was rising late last night But you would not know, no you were fast asleep You only see the city in the broad daylight In the broad daylight Fogtown, fogtown, down and out on your streets I would run if I only had a place to run to In old Fogtown Her name was Ruby Red, she was a two-bit hooker She had a man named Juan who tried to keep her clean But late last night when the heroin took her There was one less siren when the sirens reached the scene Reached the scene Fogtown, fogtown, down and out on your streets I would run if I only had a place to run to Old Fogtown Well the city's got the charms of a painted lady And survival bites like a black-headed bitch You can find yourself on the closest corner You wanna stay, you wanna go you've got the Fogtown itch You've got the Fogtown itch Fogtown, fogtown, on down and out on your streets I would run if I only had a place to run To old Fogtown You're gonna be the death of me Death of me There was a red sun rising early in this ghetto Full moon was rising late last night But you would not know, no you were fast asleep You only see the city in the broad daylight In the broad daylight Am G F E7 @SONG: Black widow Michelle Shocked (Poly Gram Songs, Inc) Time is red Time is deadly Time under glass Time will tell Time will tell The tale of the widow Who walks her web Mourning the night Mourning her dead Mourning her dead Did you lose him to a broom Trapped in a corner of the room Or was it under the foot Of the marching black boot Marching black boot Is it the lonelines of the night That makes you reach out and bite The unawakened flesh You lady in distress You poor suffering Murderess Em D C B7 The L & N don't stop here anymore Jean Ritchie (Geordie Music Pub. Co) Em D Em When I was a curly-headed baby D Em My daddy set me down on his knee D Em Saying ``Son you go to school, you learn your letters C D Em Don't you be no dusty miner, boy like me'' D Em I was born and raised at the mouth of the Hazard Holler D Em Where the coal cars rolled and rumbled past my door D Em But now they stand in a rusty row of all empties C D Em Because the L & N don't stop here anymore I used to think my father was a black man With scrip enough to buy the company store But now he goes to town with empty pockets And his face is as white as the February snow I was born and raised at the mouth of the Hazard Holler Where the coal cars rolled and rumbled past my door But now they stand in a rusty road of all empties Because the L & N don't stop here anymore Never thought I'd live to lean to love the coaldust Never thought I'd pray to hear those temples roar But God I wish the grass would turn to money And then them greenbacks would fill my pockets once more I was born and raised at the mouth of the Hazard Holler Where the coal cars rolled and rumbled past my door But now they stand in a rusty road of all empties Because the L & N don't stop here anymore Last night I dreamed I went down to the office To get my payday like I done before But them old kudzu vines was covering the doorway And there was leaves and grass growing up through the floor I was born and raised at the mouth of the Hazard Holler Where the coal cars rolled and rumbled past my door But now they stand in a rusty road of all empties Because the L & N don't stop here anymore @SONG: Memories of East Texas Michelle Shocked (Poly Gram Songs, Inc) Memories of East Texas and those pine-green rolling hills Covered in the springtime with golden daffodils Rowing on Sandy lake come April, harvesting hay in June Sitting by the road watching wellfires burn by an old October moon I learn to drive on those East Texas red clay backroads And I mean to tell you my friend they weren't no easy roads You had to watch out for all the curves down by Kelsey Creek And detour through the Lindsay's pasture when the waters ran too deep Memories of East Texas and of Gilmer, county seat of Upshur Looking back and asking myself ``What the hell did you let them break your spirit for?'' Their lives ran in circles so small, they thought they'd seen it all And they couldn't make a place for a girl who'd seen the ocean I learn to drive on those East Texas red clay backroads And I mean to tell you my friend they weren't no easy roads You had to watch out for all the curves down by Kelsey Creek And detour through the Lindsay's pasture when the waters ran too deep But those memories of East Texas and those pine-green rolling hills Covered in the springtime with wild daffodils Sitting in those Piney woods, playing my guitar Thinking back on the roads I'd come, thinking I had not come that far I learn to drive on those East Texas red clay backroads And I mean to tell you my friend they weren't no easy roads You had to watch out for all the curves down by Kelsey Creek And detour through the Lindsay's pasture when the waters ran too deep