Ballad Of Barbara

[Verse 1] In a southern town where I was born That's where I got my education I worked in the fields and I walked in the woods And I wondered at creation [Verse 2] I recall the sun in a sky of blue And the smell of green things growing And the seasons changed and I lived each day Just the way the wind was blowing [Verse 3] Then I heard of a cultured city life Breath taking lofty steeples And the day I called myself a man I left my land and my people [Verse 4] And I rambled north, and I rambled east And I tested and I tasted And a girl or two, took me round and round But they always left me wasted [Verse 5] In a world that's all concrete and steel With nothing green ever growing Where the buildings hide the rising sun And they blocked the free winds from blowing [Verse 6] Where you sleep all day and you wake all night To a world of drink and laughter I met that girl that I was sure would be The one that I was after [Verse 7] In a soft blue gown and formal tux Beneath that lofty steeple He said, Do you Barbara, take this man Will you be one of his people [Verse 8] And she said, "I will" and she said, "I do" And the world looked mighty pretty And we lived in a fancy downtown flat Because she loved the noisy city [Verse 9] But the days grew cold beneath a yellow sky And I longed for green things growing And the thoughts of home and the people there But she'd not agreed to going [Verse 10] Then her hazel eyes turned away from me With a look that wasn't pretty And she turned into concrete and steel And she said, I'll take the city [Verse 11] Now the cars go by on the interstate And my pack is on my shoulder But I'm going home, where I belong Much wiser now and older