Branded

Lyrics

as i sat on the back porch of that old ,white farmhouse about 1a.m. i suppose
nothing was out there but cattle and crickets and corn stretching out in straight rows
but, just past the last hill were the bright lights of neon that infamous city of sin
even though i had been warned of it’s hazards, i figured out right there and then
it was where i belong.

as i packed up suitcase the very next morning my daddy stopped me and he said,
“son, there ain’t nothing out there that you can’t find right here, but if you must leave, go ahead”
with years good sunday school teaching inside me, crying out “boy don’t you go!”
i had everything i owned stuffed in that old pickup and i hit the wide-open road
it was where i belong.

that emerald green valley soon turned into pavement with smokestacks that reached toward the sky
my nights were “old juke joints”, and crowded old dance halls with weirdoes and girls of the night
no god-fearing ,.straight talking folk that i know would spend one more night in this town
i decided to come clean, packed up all my things and turned that old pickup around
back to where i belong

i remember the words of an old country preacher as he talked of the ‘prodigal son’
as i looked in the eyes of the junkies and hookers, i knew right where they had come from
i thank god that he brought me back to my senses before my last nickel was gone
as i topped the last hill into that green valley, i saw what i knew all along
it was where i belong