Let Her Go

My brothers, my sisters, my father and my mother
We were all held together with prayers and fishing line
My brothers caught the fever, my mother nursed them dearly
She held on 'til I was 4, in 1919 mamma died

Let her go, let her go
As the tears and sorrow flow
Restore this soul within me
Free my heart and let her go

We grew up hard and hungry beside the fields of plenty
Our father made his wages laying brick and stone and steel
We ate what we could carry, we cast our nets out early
We cursed the northern truckers as they stole our life away

Let her go, let her go
As the tears and sorrow flow
Restore this soul within me
Free my heart and let her go

I left my home and family when I was barely twenty
To take a northern city and return a richer man
I crossed the Blue Ridge Mountains and then the Mason-Dixon
I drove until I came unto the Great Lake Erie strand

Let her go, let her go
As the tears and sorrow flow
Restore this soul within me
Free my heart and let her go
Let her go, don't let the past come between
The life I'm living now and the one that's in my dreams

I went to work in Cleveland among the steel and concrete
I watched the iron sunset as I pulled into the lot
I headed for the diner where the truckers leave their orders
I flirted with the waitress and I dreamed of going home

Let her go, let her go
As the tears and sorrow flow
Restore this soul within me
Free my heart and let her go
Let her go, don't let the past come between
The life I'm living now and the one that's in my dreams

I married in the city. I worked and raised a family
I saw my mother's image in my wife and daughter's eyes
I felt the rage within me well up and burn right through me
My love for them was true but I could only criticize

Let her go, let her go
As the tears and sorrow flow
Restore this soul within me
Free my heart and let her go

I handed down my sadness like a tattered worn out suitcase
I hated to admit it, but I never could move on
My daughters held my anger. Their mother took it with her
In 1998 she fell and finally made it home

Let her go, let her go
As the tears and sorrow flow
Restore this soul within me
Free my heart and let her go
Let her go, let her go
As the tears and sorrow flow
Restore this soul within me
Free my heart and let her go