Blackberry Rose

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