Before the World Fell Down (Maggie)

I was born where the red clay meets the pines

Daddy swore off whiskey the day I cried

Said, "No bottle's worth this little girl's smile"

So the Greene farm stayed dry all my life

Mama took me where the water runs tall

Amicalola shining like heaven's own fall

She held my hand in the Georgia sun

Said, "This world's still young, Maggie run."

But angels don't stay forever in this town

Sometimes the good Lord calls them out

But before the world fell down

Before the sky turned dark and brown

There were horses running through the fields

And Sunday prayers and tractor wheels

Daddy's voice and supper bells

Dusty roads and wishing wells

We were young and safe somehow

Before the world fell down

Mama left on a quiet spring day

Just a hospital room and a cross to pray

Daddy tried but the nights got long

Til Annette came and we moved along

Beth came laughing like summer rain

Shawn came stomping through the lane

I was mad at the whole damn thing

Smoke and trouble and teenage sins

Daddy said, "Girl, love's the only way"

Funny how those words still stay

Before the world fell down

Before the sky turned dark and brown

There were horses running through the fields

And Sunday prayers and tractor wheels

Beth singing soft down the hall

Fireflies dancing in the fall

We were young and safe somehow

Before the world fell down

I crushed a boy's Camaro with the tractor blade

High school love that didn't stay

Whole town talked but I didn't care

Red Georgia dust in my hair

Went to college down the road awhile

Freedom tasted wild and mild

But that first summer riding home

I knew the farm was where I belonged

Beth found secrets in my old suitcase

Threw those pills in the pond with a holy face

We fought in the mud by the willow tree