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Greenbriar Road
Out Of The Woodwork IV
© 1968 by Gary E. Andrews
All Right Reserved for the Globe
Chords:
C/G bass 332O1O
D XXO232
G 32OOO3
Greenbriar Road.
Greenbriar Road.
Well the sun won't shine in the middle of the day,
The clouds blow up and they won't go away.
Greenbriar Road
Greenbriar Road
I's workin' in the fields up in Indiana,
Just a' moppin' my brow with a red bandana,
When up come a man with a letter in his hand,
Said my Mom 'd passed away and left me the land, On
Greenbriar Road
Greenbriar Road
Nothin' left to do but get the wife and go,
So we packed a bag and we hit the road.
I buried my Momma when I got home,
Alongside Daddy, Not gone long.
Now I own all of Greenbriar Road.
Ain't nothin' you c'n do's a' gonna' make me go.
(H)it was there'n.
They gave it to me.
Now nothin' you c'n do's a'gonna' make me leave
Greenbriar Road
Greenbriar Road
I's a' sittin' up thinkin' an' a smokin' my pipe.
Come a knock at the door and I looks at the wife.
The caller was a stranger who shook my hand,
And started makin' offers to buy my land,
Greenbriar Road
Greenbriar Road
Don't tell me that you don't know my name.
I know you, yeah, you ain't changed.
You're the man from down in town,
Come to take my land and run me out.
Ya bothered my Momma and ya' killed my Dad,
And took everything we ever had.
Just one thing I want you to know.
You'll never set foot on Greenbriar Road.
Now I own all of Greenbriar Road.
Ain't nothin' you c'n do's a' gonna' make me go.
(H)it was there'n.
They gave it to me.
Now nothin' you c'n do's a'gonna' make me leave
Greenbriar Road
Greenbriar Road
(Extra verses)
Well I fell down twice goin' home last night,
An' I went in the door but I didn't kiss the wife.
Greenbriar Road
Greenbriar Road
In a vicious cricle.
It's everyday life.
I knew it today,
But I didn't know why.
That's the place that I've been livin.
Land just takes.
It ain't been givin'.
Greenbriar Road
Greenbriar Road
As he left he said I'd be sorry.
His face was red.
HIs eyes were starry.
Two days later my barn burned down.
Next day surely he came around.
He stood before me and I shot him down,
But he had a gun and he shot another round.
More Info...
Greenbriar Road Copyright 1968 by Gary E. Andrews
All Rights Reserved For The Globe
"Greenbriar Road" came to me one night in 1968 as I was traveling north on Ohio State Route 139 in southern Ohio and passed the road, read the sign, and looked up where a full moon lit scattered clouds above, and the Song came down.
The "Well I fell down..." extra verse was part of that night's creations, as was the first verse., "Well the sun don't shine..." The story, Indiana, Mom and Dad, the man, was contrived later.
The extra verse about "In a vicious circle..." makes me see him in a saloon where he drinks and talks too much about how hard life is just then, "...Land just takes..." perhaps being pumped for information by some associate of "...the man from down in town..." who then comes around trying to buy the land. I don't want to give "the man" the third extra verse, about "...he shot another round."
I also see him reading letters he got from his Mom, and never opened, because he and his Dad had a fight that drove him away to Indiana, or that she wrote but never got mailed, telling about the man's conflict with his Dad, and harassment of his Mom. In the end he gets kicked around by the man and his goons. But when they come again, the new sewer lines are being dug down at the end of Greenbriar Road, at Rt. 139, and our sharpshooter protagonist, and maybe the Mrs. drop them in the ditch, one by one, and bury them with the backhoe, beneath the sewer pipe, where they belong. The freakin' end.