Lyrics
FAMILY TREE
from the album Paler Shade – Storyville Records 1993
Words & Music: Pam Mark Hall and Al Perkins
Bessie was a girl
Raised down in Arkansas
Half-blooded Cherokee
Barely seventeen
When he won her heart
Roy was an older boy
When they danced the Virgina Reel
He said “Girl won’t you marry me,
I’m heading for Missiouri
To work in a lumber mill”
She up and followed him
Winter fell so hard
They shivered in the dark
Living in a tent on the edge of the settlement
Oh, but they had it all
In the spring of ’28
They went and hopped a train
Rolling west to Califonia
Heading for warmer days
And a baby was on the way
Chorus:
Just as long as she had him
As long as he had her
As long as they had each other
Home was where they were
From the pages that they left me
I read their history
And I feel the love they passed along
Down the family tree.
Roy, he painted cars
And sometimes stopped at bars
Well, he kept Bessie waiting
With kids and dinner
But she seldom would complain
She leaned on Cora Lee
The oldest child of three
Said, “Though daddy’s out drinking,
He’s a faithful man
And he’s been real good to me
You better treat him respectfully”
Chorus
When the working years were done
They sold the house to travel some
Well, they bought a camper
And they headed North
We’d go fishing when they would come
Lovers in their hearts and
Gypsies in their souls
When the seasons changes and
A new adventure
Would call for them to go
Oh, they never could say no…
Just as long as she had him
As long as he had her
As long as they had each other
Home was where they were
Roy, he lived to be
A ripe old eighty-three
Unntil the end, he was her best friend
She still loves his memory
And passed it down the family tree.
© Copyright 1987 Pam Mark Hall Music (ASCAP)/ Little Mesa Publishing (BMI)
pammarkhall@mac.com