GULF COAST HIGHWAY

(James Hooker/Nanci Griffith/Danny Flowers)

Gulf Coast Highway, he worked the rails.
He worked the rice fields with their cool dark wells.
He worked the oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico.
The only thing we've ever owned is this old house here by the road.

And when he dies, he says, he'll catch some blackbird's wing,
Then he will fly away to Heaven, come some sweet blue bonnet spring.

She walked through springtime when I was home.
The days were sweet, the nights were warm.
The seasons change, the jobs would come, the flowers fade.
This old house felt so alone when the work took me away.

And when she dies, she says, she'll catch some blackbird's wing.
Then she will fly away to Heaven, come some sweet blue bonnet spring.
 
Highway 90, the jobs are gone.
We tend our garden, we set the sun.
This is the only place on earth blue bonnets grow.
Once a year they come and go at this old house here by the road.
 
And when we die we say, we'll catch some blackbird's wing,
Then we will fly away to Heaven, come some sweet blue bonnet spring.

And when we die we say, we'll catch some blackbird's wing,
Then we will fly away together, come some sweet blue bonnet spring.