Thread #58798   Message #932921
Posted By: open mike
14-Apr-03 - 05:10 AM
Thread Name: songs about fallen women in the city
Subject: Lyr Add: TECUMSEH VALLEY (Townes Van Zandt)

TECUMSEH VALLEY
(Townes Van Zandt)
As recorded by Townes Van Zandt on "Our Mother the Mountain" (1969)

The name she gave was Caroline,
The daughter of a miner,
And her ways were free, and it seemed to me
That sunshine walked beside her.

She come from Spencer, 'cross the hill.
She said her pa had sent her
'Cause the coal was low, and soon the snow
Would turn the skies to winter.

She said she'd come to look for work.
She was not seekin' favors,
And for a dime a day and a place to stay,
She'd turn those hands to labor.

But times were hard, Lord, and jobs were few,
All through Tecumseh Valley,
But she asked around and a job she found,
Tending bar for Gypsy Sally.

She saved enough to get back home,
When spring replaced the winter,
But her dreams were denied; her pa had died.
The word come down from Spencer.

So she turned to whorin' out on the streets,
With all the lust inside her,
And it was many a man returned again
To lay himself beside her.

They found her down beneath the stairs
That led to Gypsy Sally's,
And in her hand when she died was a note that cried,
"Fare thee well, Tecumseh Valley."

The name she gave was Caroline,
The daughter of a miner,
And her ways were free, and it seemed to me,
That sunshine walked beside her.