Mississippi Sand

I was born down in the bottoms of the flat black Delta land

I grew up picking cotton in the Mississippi sand

My mama said son take that girl and go make her your wife

Or you'll be stuck here in this mud all of your life

Will the water roll it all way this secret that I hold

Will the water roll it all away will it cleanse my aching soul

But a man's got to make it sometime a man's got to take a stand

Or he'll get left in the Mississippi sand

A stranger came to town with two torn shoes upon his feet

Singing songs of sadness picking girls off of the street

He made a little bit of music was a leader of a band

And they call him the muddy Mississippi band

My girl was Ruby Colter and she was on her teens

I took her out to churches to socials schools and things

She was a rose just right for picking and he nipped her in the bud

And he left her here in the Mississippi mud

Then me and old Carl we caught him right down by the store

We choked him just a little bit and held him to the floor

We relived him of his pocketbook his blood and other things

Now the Mississippi man's no longer mean