Emmylou Harris - Red Dirt Girl

red dirt girl written by emmylou harris

F#
F#
me and my best friend lillian
F#
and her blue tick hound dog gideon
B
sittin’ in the front porch’ coolin’ in the shade
F#
singin’ every song the radio played
C#
waitin’ for the alabama sun to go down
B
two red dirt girls in a red dirt town
F#
me and lillian
F# C# B
just across the line and a little southeast of meridian

F#
she loved her brother i remember back when
F#
he was fixin’ up A ’49 indian
B
he told her “little sister , gonna ride the wind
F#
up around the moon and back again”
C#
he never got farther than vietnam
B
i was standin’ there with her when the telegram come
F#
for lillian
F# C# B
now he’s lyin’ somewhere about a million miles from meridian

C#
she said “there’s not much hope for a red dirt girl
B
somewhere out there is a great big world ,
F#
that’s where i’m bound
C# B
and the stars might fall on alabama , but one of these days
F#
i’m gonna swing my hammer down
C#
away from this red dirt town
F#
i’m gonna make a joyful sound”
F#
she grew up tall and she grew up thin
F#
buried that old dog gideon
B
by a crepe myrtle bush at the back of the yard
F#
her Daddy turned mean and her mama leaned hard
C#
got in trouble with a boy from town
B
figured that she might as well settle down
F#
so she dug right in
F# C# B
across a red dirt line just a little southeast of meridian

C#
she tried hard to love him but it never did take
B
it was just another way for a heart to break
F#
so she learned to bend
C#
but one thing they don’t tell you ’bout the blues when you got iem
B
you keep on fallin’ ’cause there ain’t no bottom
F# C#
there ain’t no end , at least not for lillian

F#
nobody knows when she started her skid
F#
she was only 27 and she had 5 kids
B
coulda’ been the whiskey , coulda been the pills
F#
coulda been the dream she was tryin’ to kill
C#
but there won’t be a mention in the news of the world
B F#
about the life and the death of a red dirt girl named lillian
F# C# B
who never got any farther across the line than meridian

C#
now the stars still fall on alabama
B F#
tonight she finally laid that hammer down
C# F#
without a sound , in the red dirt ground

>from the album “red dirt girl” by emmylou harris gracd 103

chords transcribed by richard kolarik

richard . kolarik@virgin . net

malcolm burn bass , electric guitar , drum box programming
emmylou harris vocal , acoustic guitar
ethan johns omnichord
daryl johnson percussion , bass pedals
buddy miller electric guitar

any mistakes , E – mail me , and i will be duly embarrassed!