Harlan County Highway

(album: Cactus And A Rose - 1980)

I was born one stormy night
Then a hard rain started falling
Daddy died inside a mine
Mama cried but she kept going
I left school for a job
Mama begged me not to take
Of running Kentucky shine
Down the Harlan County Highway

And then I married Lorraine
She gave our baby my name
Lord, that woman tried
More with each passing day
What started out as heaven
Got lost along the way
So I turned off
Down the Harlan County Highway

Way down in Louisville
Where the ponies run
Where a man can turn a dollar
Into a hundred on a hunch
He can buy his dreams
Or heaven for a smile
Temptation calls from every corner
Seven corners in a mile

Shackled to a highway call
My bones ache to keep roving
I'm standing in the cold
With all my cards a showing
What's the use of runnin'?
And nothing but running left to do
Look for me 'cause I'll be a coming
Or a going, one of the two