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Van Lear Rose
by Loretta Lynn
ALBUM RANKINGS:
Ratings and rankings are based on all available critic reviews and awards.
Overall Rating:
3.6798
Avg. Critic Score:
3.6694
Van Lear Rose Lyrics
Lyrics
Disc
Track
Title
- One of my fondest memories
- Was sittin' on my daddy's knee
- Listenin' to the stories that he told
- He'd pull out that old photograph
- Like a treasured memory from the past
- And say child
- This here's the Van Lear Rose
- Oh how it would bring a smile
- When he talked about her big blue eyes
- And how her beauty ran down to her soul
- She'd walk across the coal miner's yard
- Them miner's would yell loud and hard
- and they'd dream of who would hold
- The Van Lear Rose
- [Chorus:]
- She was the belle of Johnson County
- Ohio river to Big Sandy
- A beauty to behold like a diamond in the coal
- All the miner's they would gather 'round
- Talk about the man that came to town
- Right under their nose
- Stole the heart of the Van Lear Rose
- Now the Van Lear Rose could've had her pick
- And all the fellers figured rich
- Until this poor boy caught her eye
- His buddies would all laugh and say
- Your dreamin' boy she'll never look your way
- You'll never ever hold the Van Lear Rose
- [Chorus]
- Then one night in mid July
- Underneath that ol' blue Kentucky sky
- Well, that poor boy won that beauty's heart
- Then my daddy would look at my mommy and smile
- As he brushed the hair back from my eyes and he'd say
- Your mama
- She's the Van Lear Rose
- [Chorus]
- Right under their nose
- Stole the heart of the Van Lear Rose
- I can't understand a word your sayin'
- We've got a bad connection on our minds
- Communications one thing we never seem to find
- Oh Lord I'm sorry, but theres trouble on the line
- All I get is static when we're talkin'
- You say my line is out of order all the time
- We have nothin' left in common
- Your thoughts are not like mine
- Oh Lord I'm sorry, but theres trouble on the line
- There's trouble on the line
- From your heart to mine
- Oh Lord I'm sorry but we're not gettin through
- [Chorus:]
- The storm keeps gettin worse
- Lord, we might as well quit tryin
- Oh Lord I'm Sorry, but theres trouble on the line
- Oh Lord I'm Sorry, but theres trouble on the line
- [Chorus]
- Woman, you don't know me, but you can bet that I know you
- Everybody in this whole darn town knows you too
- I brought along our little babies, ‘cause I wanted them to see
- The woman that’s burnin’ down our family tree
- No I didn’t come to fight
- If he was a better man I might
- But I wouldn’t dirty my hands on trash like you, no
- Bring out the babies’ daddy, that’s who they’ve come to see
- Not the woman that’s burnin’ down our family tree
- Their daddy once was a good man, until he ran into trash like you
- Take a look at the baby’s face and tell me who loves who
- I brought along his old dog Charlie and the bills that’s overdue
- The job you’re workin’...Lord, we need money, too
- No I didn’t come to fight
- If he was a better man I might
- But I wouldn’t dirty my hands on trash like you, no
- Bring out the babies’ daddy, that’s who they’ve come to see
- Not the woman that’s burnin’ down our family tree
- No not the woman that’s burnin’ down our family tree
- Have mercy on me baby
- I'm down upon my knees
- Have mercy on me baby
- I'll do just as you please
- Well you know that I love you
- I'll put noone else above you
- Have mercy on me baby, have mercy
- Have mercy on me baby
- Please have a little heart
- Have mercy on me baby
- You're tearing me apart
- The way that you do me
- You know you done got to me
- Have mercy on me baby, have mercy
- She's got you hypnotized
- And your brain is paralyzed
- You know she's only playing with you
- Like a puppet on a string
- Remember just one thing
- She can't love you like I do, no
- Have mercy on me baby
- Please give this heart a break
- Have mercy on me baby
- I'll do just what it takes
- You know you won't regret it
- So hey there now I said it
- Have mercy on me baby, have mercy
- Have mercy
- Have mercy on me baby
- Have mercy on me baby
- Have mercy on me
- Have mercy on me baby
- Please have mercy on me
- [Chorus:]
- High on a mountain top
- We live, we love, and we laugh a lot
- Folks up here know what they got
- High on a mountain top
- High on a mountain top
- Where the rest of the world's
- Like a little bitty spot
- I ain't comin down no never I'm not
- High on a mountain top
- High on a mountain top
- Where I come from the mountain flowers grow wild
- The blue grass sways like it's goin out of style
- God fearin' people simple and real
- 'Cause up on the ridge folks that's the deal
- Well my daddy worked down in the dark coal mine
- Shovelin' that coal one shovel at a time
- Never made a lot money din't have much
- But we're high on life and rich in love
- [Chorus]
- Well down in the holler lived my uncle Joe
- He'd pull out his fiddle and rosin his bow
- We'd all sing and dance
- And we ain't gonna stop
- When the moon shine flows behind every rock
- [Chorus]
- Well we lay on our backs and we count the stars
- 'cause up here folks heaven's not that far
- [Chorus]
- High on a mountain top
- High on a mountain top
- I was 11 months old
- I was just starting to walk
- And Daddy always kept a big stick behind the door just in case
- Somebody was to come in that was drunk on moonshine,
- You know, and Daddy had to do something about it
- Anyway, this woman, we called her old Aunt Boyd,
- She come in and she was telling
- Mommy about her, uh, husband, she thinks is going out with this woman in
- Paintsville
- So she reared back with that big stick showing
- Mommy how she was going to hit this woman in the head with it
- And when she went back with it, she hit me in the head
- And Mommy said I cried for 5 days
- And she said I, that fifth night,
- I had a great big knot that show up right in the middle of my forehead
- And, you know, the only thing I remember,
- I don't remember no pain, but I just remember Mommy
- And Daddy carrying me in this old quilt that Mommy had made out of overhalls
- The knots kept getting bigger and bigger so she took me to the doctor
- And that stuff called mesitor, something like that
- Mommy said it made both ears flat to my face and I ain't got very big ears
- And told Mommy that I would, that I was going to die
- And that happened like four times so I didn't walk till I was almost 5
- It was... It was kind of a mess...
- Oh I forgot about the shoes,
- Well shoot, I hadn't... I'd never had a pair of shoes
- And Mommy had went...
- Took me to the hospital, you know, to see what that was...
- If they couldn't do something
- But they wouldn't keep me because Mommy and Daddy didn't have no money
- They just tell 'em to take me home and let me die, you know,
- Because there wasn't nothing they could do about
- That kind of disease, I guess
- And, um, Mommy told Daddy,
- Says "Ted, you take her down the street, you carry her down the street..." and said,
- "...let me try this store here," and Mommy went in and told them the story that I was dying,
- That she had to carry me twelve miles to town
- And twelve miles back and that I had no shoes
- That place, I think it was Murphy's 5 and 10 and they're still there in Paintsville, Kentucky
- And I think that they told Mommy that they wasn't in business to give shoes away
- Mommy told Daddy, says, "Carry Loretta on down a little farther,"
- Said, "and let me stop in another store..."
- And Mommy went right back to the same store
- When the guy's back was turned she stole these little red shoes
- And I remember on the big'old bridge that went across the river
- It went way up high and was...
- I've always been scared of that bridge that took me across the big Sandy River
- Mommy pulled them out from under that yellow jacket that she was wearing
- And she was putting them red shoes on me
- And I thought them was the prettiest things I ever saw in my life
- And Daddy started crying
- And I wondered why
- And he said, "Clerie, we're not going to make it home,"
- And Mommy put the shoes on me
- And Daddy took off running and run all the way ahead t'Butcher Holler with me
- And Mommy never had a chance to carry me any farther
- And that's almost twelve miles that Daddy run with me
- But Daddy knew that the cops was going to get us
- He left Mommy standing and he took off in a dead run
- I remember him running but I didn't know what for
- And I remember asking Mommy,
- "Mommy, why is Daddy running?"
- I remember her hollering,
- "To put your little red shoes away, honey, when you get home."
- [Laughs]
- Can you believe that?
- So I wrote a song called "Put My Little Red Shoes Away,"
- You know, they're my little red shoes and I don't want
- 'em to get... to be dirty...
- Why, I've heard people say
- Why is this tree bent
- Why they don't have God enough to know
- Thats' the way that it was meant
- why is this little baby born
- all twisted and out of shape
- We're not to question what he does
- God makes no mistakes
- Why I've heard people say
- Why is my child blind
- Why is that old drunk still livin
- When a daddy like mine is dyin
- our blessed father gives us life
- has the power to take it away
- There's no reason for what he does
- God makes no mistakes
- Why I've heard people say
- God cannot be alive
- And all the things people say
- Has to be a lie
- When they're down and out
- And they need a hand
- And their very souls at stake
- If they'll call on him and just beleive
- God makes no mistakes
- I'm in a women's prison with bars all around
- I caught my darlin cheatin thats when I shot him down
- I caught him in a honky-tonk with a girl I used to know
- The door to my cell is open wide and a voice cries out oh no
- The judge says I'm guilty my sentence is to die
- I know I've been forgiven but the price of love is high
- The crowd outside is screamin' let the murderer die But above all their voices I
- can hear my mama cry
- I'm sittin' here on death row and Lord I've lost my mind
- For love I've killed my darlin and for love I'll lose my life
- I can hear the warden coming From the clinging of his keys
- But when they come to get me He'll have to drag me off my kness
- The door to my cell swings open It's time for me to go
- The priest is reading my last rights He says dying's part of livin' ya know
- And there's a crowd outside screamin' let that murderer fry
- But above all their voices You can hear my mama cry
- Now they've strapped me in the chair And covered up my eyes
- And the last voice I hear on Earth Is my mama's cry
- Oh, if this old house could talk
- What a story it would tell
- It would tell about the good times
- And the bad times as well
- It would tell about the love
- That lived and died inside these walls
- And the sound of little footsteps
- Runnin' up and down the hall
- Oh, if this old house could talk
- It would break my heart in two
- I couldn't stand to be reminded
- Of all the things we used to do
- There's no love in this old house no more
- So I got it up for sale
- Why, if this old house could talk
- What a story it would tell
- Oh, if this old house could talk
- I know what it would say
- I'm as lonesome as you are
- And I feel nonempty everyday
- Well, I even miss the babies
- Who built me up to feel this way
- Why, if this old house could talk
- Lord, I know what it would say
- If this old house could talk
- What a story it would tell
- We built this home together
- And with love we drove each nail
- Take me in your arms and hold me
- 'Cause we've been apart too long
- Why if this old house could talk
- All it would say is welcome home
- I've been in and out of every honky tonk in town
- And I'm almost drunk from the drinks
- That I've turned down
- Well, you told me you'd be happy
- Bouncin' babies on your knee
- While I sit at home alone
- And i've been bouncin three
- Yeah, and I'm tired of it too
- [Chorus:]
- I'm gonna call myself a long pick limousine
- Yeah, believe it or not it's the prettiest thing
- I think I've ever seen
- There's a big bar in the corner, and a TV on the side
- This baby's 60 feet long and 40 feet wide
- Hey driver pull this car, buddy, right inside the bar
- Take it on back to the big ol' blonde
- That thinks she's amovie star
- I'm gonna grab her by her phony ponytail
- I'm gonna sling her around and around
- When she wakes up she'll know she met up
- With Mad Mrs. Leroy Brown
- Well the smokes so dog gone thick
- You could cut it with a knife
- And the music so loud
- You can hear the same line twice
- Hey Leroy Brown, how do you like my big old pink limo
- I just drawed all your money outta the bank today
- Honey, you don't have no mo'
- [Chorus]
- I lie here all alone,
- In my bed of memories
- I'm dreamin' of your sweet kiss,
- Oh, how you loved on me.
- I can almost feel you with me,
- Here in this blue moonlight,
- Oh, I miss being Mrs., tonight
- Like so many other hearts,
- Mine wanted to be free,
- I've been put here every day,
- Since you've been away from me
- My reflection in the mirror,
- It's such a hurtful sight,
- Oh I miss being Mrs. tonight
- Oh I miss being Mrs. tonight
- And how I loved them loving arms,
- That once held me so tight,
- I took off my wedding band,
- And put it on my right hand,
- I miss being Mrs. tonight.
- Oh I miss being Mrs. tonight
- And how I loved them loving arms,
- That once held me so tight,
- I took off my wedding band,
- And put it on my right hand,
- I miss being Mrs. tonight
- Oh, I miss being Mrs. tonight
- Well here's the story of my life
- Listen and I'll tell it twice
- Well I was born in hold Kentucky
- In them hills where folks are lucky
- And it's paradise to me
- Well I got a feller right over the hill
- If he asks me to marry well I know I will
- He asked me to marry got kids of four
- And I'm telling you
- I don't want no more
- Doo got me a guitar
- I wrote me a song
- Moved to Nashville, it wasn't long
- 'Till I was on the Grand Ole Opry
- We bought us a mansion on a hill
- Livin big like we were big deals
- Scarlett O'Hara in Gone With the Wind
- I was pregnant again
- Oh gee, oh Lord, I swear
- The babies are comin' in pars
- Well some big shot form Hollywood
- Thought a movie about my life would be good
- It was a big hit made a big splash
- What I wanna know is what happened to the cash
- No me and Doo, married forty-eight years
- Six kids later a lot of laughter and tears
- I have to say that I've been blessed
- Not bad for this ol' Kentucky girl I guess
- Well, here's the story of y life
- Listen and I'll tell it twice
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