Song Lyrics

Family Land

album: Step by Step (1990), track 9 of 14
author: Chuck Pyle and John Ims
publisher: Bee 'n' Flower Music BMI

Way down in the belly of the old bayou
There's a Louisiana family packing to go
'Cause the southern sky is a big black hole
Rolling in off the Gulf onto Bay St. Lou
   The Hank Willy family's tying things down
   Heading up the river for higher ground
   When the rain stops and the hurricane blows away
   It'll be a brand new day
Row, row your boat through the bedroom door
Kick the snakes off the top of your dresser drawer
This has been your land since the Civil War
You're bayou rich and you're money poor
   It's been a hundred years of muscle and blood
   Ain't giving up for no damn-ass flood
   Buckets and mops are gonna wash all the mud away
   It'll be a brand new day
 CHORUS
   Way down in Louisiana
   Where the hurricanes blow
   In off the Gulf of Mexico
   People may go but they
   Leave their hearts behind
   That family land
   Is the tie that binds
   The feet say "Go",
   But the heart won't mind
Three foot of water and a 'gator in the yard
Old Blue barking and he's barking so hard
When the sun comes out it'll dry the land
There'll be peanuts and cotton,
They'll be ready to plant
   Put the pigs in the loft, the chickens in the trees
   Cut Bessie loose so she swims free
   I'm takin' a stand in Dixie, look away
   It'll be a brand new day
 CHORUS (X2)