Thanks Richie:I just listened to the online archives of the 2/15/03 show, and these are the lyrics I heard:
TAKE 'EM AWAY
Mance Lipscomb as sung by the Old Crow Medicine ShowChorus:
Take 'em away. Take 'em away, Lord.
Take away these chains from me.
My heart is broken 'cause my spirit's not free.
Lord, take away these chains from me.Some birds' feathers are too bright to be caged.
I know I'm not that colorful, but a bird just the same.
So open up your gate now, and let me put down my load,
So I can feel at ease and go back to my home.Chorus:
Sun beams down, my legs can't seem to stand.
There's a boss man in the turn row with a rifle in his hand.
I got nine children and nothin' in the pan.
My wife, she died hungry while I was plowin' land.Chorus:
Can't see when I go to work; can't wee when I get off.
How do you expect a man not to get lost?
Every year I just get deeper in dept.
If there is a happy day, Lord, I haven't seen one yet.Chorus:
The land that I love is the land that I'm working,
But its hard to love it all the time when your back is a-hurtin'.
I'm getting too old now to push this here plow,
So please let me lay down and look at the clouds.Chorus:
The land that I know is where two rivers collide:
The Brazos, and the Navasote, and the big blue sky,
Flood rains, freight trains, and watermelon vines.
Of any place on God's green earth, this is where I choose to die.Chorus:
JAB
It's a powerful song.
A few obvious typos corrected, and subject line corrected. --JoeClone, 3-Mar-03.