Goodbye Dixie

Passed an old plantation home off Hwy. 41
Been around since 1850, way before the Union come
Built up on a hill, its got a 500-acre view
But there ain't been no cotton there since Sherman's boys marched through
They've come and burned us down
Guess we had it comin'

Jumped out of my pickup truck, there was something in the wind
Filled my soul with empty and sent a chill across my skin
Heard the ghost of a black man hollerin' "Blue" across the field
He said "they sold my only daughter to keep that mansion on a hill"
And I wanted to burn it down
Aww, but it wouldn't do no good

I cried Goodbye Dixie, go rest in peace
We've got enough trouble here without you haunting me
We buried that cross now we're looking ahead
So go on Dixie don't bother me, I'm tryin' to forget

Drove up to the courthouse that holds the county seat
I walked underneath the poplar trees, casting shadows on Main Street
I read the old bronze marker I'd seen many times before
And after all these years I learned what those branches were for
They used to hang 'em here, back in the days of ole Jim Crowe

A black man I knew from high school came walkin' out in chains
He used to make me laugh, but now his eyes were filled with pain
He got busted sellin' rock down there on MLK
So the county came and locked him up and took his kids away
Oh, he used to seem alright to me
Man, I wonder what went wrong

I cried Goodbye Dixie, go rest in peace
We've got enough trouble here without you haunting me
We buried that cross now I'm looking ahead
So go on Dixie don't bother me, I'm tryin' to forget

Way down yonder in the land of cotton, oh how times have changed
But I wonder if the truth is marching on
Its hard to be a Southern man and learn your history
Cause it all comes back and hits you close to home

I cried Goodbye Dixie, go rest in peace
We've got enough trouble here without you haunting me
We buried that cross now I'm trying to make a dime
So go on Dixie don't bother me,
So go on Dixie don't bother me,
So go on Dixie don't bother me,
Because I ain't got the time