Ballad of Barbara

[Verse 1]
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

[Verse 2]
I recall the sun in a sky of blue
And the smell of green things growing
And the seasons changed and I lived each day
Just the way the wind was blowing

[Verse 3]
Then I heard of a cultured city life
Breath taking lofty steeples
And the day I called myself a man
I left my land and my people

[Verse 4]
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

[Verse 5]
In a world that's all concrete and steel
With nothing green ever growing
Where the buildings hide the rising sun
And they blocked the free winds from blowing

[Verse 6]
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

[Verse 7]
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

[Verse 8]
And she said, "I will" and she said, "I do"
And the world looked mighty pretty
And we lived in a fancy downtown flat
Because she loved the noisy city

[Verse 9]
But the days grew cold beneath a yellow sky
And I longed for green things growing
And the thoughts of home and the people there
But she'd not agreed to going

[Verse 10]
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

[Verse 11]
Now the cars go by on the interstate
And my pack is on my shoulder
But I'm going home, where I belong
Much wiser now and older