Blackberry Rose

Lyrics

First time she defied him in the Carolina highlands Her daddy gave her a cracked rib and a shiner So she hitched in a model T Ford And left that mean daddy behind her Black folks on Pea Island In the Carolina tidelands Found her hiding in the tall jack tar pines Beaten, belittled she still found the will To leave that mean daddy behind her With rumors a-swirl, we sheltered that white girl From the torment, she surely would find With rumors a-swirl, we sheltered that white girl From the torment, she surely would find They had a son, name of Jobe He spoke sweet and low his lips flowed like blackberry wine His kiss was her awakening, eager was her shaking Slow and easy was the breaking of her hymen And the love they engendered Was the finest and the tenderest as ever you can find in humankind And through the summer nights she held to him tight With the fierceness a lioness knows Although the rooster crow warning was shrill And the gossiping winds blew the whiff of a kill Try and try though he will He could not get his fill of his rambling hillbilly rose Try and try though be will He could not get his fill of his rambling hillbilly rose He went scrambling through the brambles 'Til his ass was in shambles From the coon dogs who meted our tooth law While the men who were liable, read their bibles of violence With a whole lotta red, white and blue hoopla Never batted an eyelid and held his head high O sure t'was a brave man they chose When on the high noon tide, they noose-crucified him For the love of his hillbilly rose When on the high noon tide, they noose-crucified him For planting a blackberry rose Her daddy snatched her from the tidelands To the Carolina highlands Where his hob-nailed boots worked just fine He kicked her in the belly 'til the baby and the jelly Flowed the onerous blackberry tide There was nary a prayer said, and nary a tear shed And no hymns, 'cause no one would sing 'em On a willy-nilly hillside in a played out coal mine Their silent defiance is ringing The price her family paid for their silly lilly whiteness Was cheap for the pride it would bring 'em A piece of rope, a ho bitch A cracker barrel casket, and a shroud of flower sack gingham A piece of rope, a ho bitch A cracker barrel casket, and a shroud of flower sack gingham In the tall jack tar pines there is a shrine Where the rose and blackberry entangle The old ones, they know where, in secret they go there And grieve for a family mangled In the dawning's first glow, when the moaning winds blow Pure and low as the Virgins forlorning In the exact spot, where the brambles are crossed A family jewel starts forming Refracted, refined, each facet spit shined With the grinders of terror and scorning It dangles from his eyelid, all shiny and new And it flows into the dewdrops of mourning Yes, it flows into the dewdrops of mourning For a child who will never see morning Black - ber - ry rose