Ballad Of Barbara

In a southern town where I was born

That's where I got my education

I worked in the fields and I walked in the woods

And I wondered at creation.

I recall the sun in a sky of blue

And the smell of green things growin'

And the seasons chang'd and I lived each day

Just the way the wind was blowin'.

Then I heard of a cultured city life

Breath takin' lofty steeples

And the day I called myself a man

I left my land and my people.

And I rambled north and I rambled east

And I tested and I tasted

And a girl or two, took me round and round

But they always left me wasted.

In a world that's all concrete and steel

With nothin' green ever growin'

Where the buildings hide the risin' sun

And they blocked the free winds from blowin.

Where you sleep all day and you wake all night

To a world of drink and laughter

I met that girl that I was sure would be

The one that I was after.

In a soft blue gown and formal tux

Beneath that lofty steeple

He said, "Do you Barbara, take this man,

Will you be one of his people?"

And she said, "I will." and she said, "I do."

And the world looked mighty pretty

And we lived in a fancy downtown flat

'Cause she loved the noisy city.

But the days grew cold beneath a yellow sky

And I longed for green things growin'

And the thoughts of home and the people there

But she'd not agreed to goin'.

Then her hazel eyes turned away from me

With a look that wasn't pretty

And she turned into concrete and steel

And she said, "I'll take the city."

Now the cars go by on the interstate

And my pack is on my shoulder

But I'm goin' home, where I belong

Much wiser now and older.