Eugene Parker is a fictional character, but the rural south used to be full of men like him, the kind of man who owned six farms, five that he bought at foreclosures and one that he inherited from his Daddy, who had bought that one at a foreclosure. Because they had land, they had money. Because they had money, they had power. Because they had power, people pretended to believe that they were good. A few were good. Many were not.
Eugene Parker (2012 SWE)
Eugene Parker was a big farmer.
He ran liquor and grew corn.
Beat his wife on Saturday
Headed up the Deacon Board
He had a golden daughter.
Her name was Mary Ann.
He said it would take a rich man
to have his daughter's hand.
Henry Painter was a poor boy
that lived on down the lane.
All he wanted in this life
Was to give Mary Ann his name.
Mary Ann loved Henry
with all her heart and soul
But a heart can't measure silver
A heart can't measure gold.
He's take a run to Carolina
with Mary Ann at his right hand
When he come back to Virginia
He'd be a married man.
Well he pulled on up into Eugene's yard
In a souped up Model A.
Mary Ann slipped out of her window
And they were on their way.
Eugene heard that engine rumble
And he heard his old hound bark
He looked out of his window
and saw tail lights in the dark
He ran on out to his old truck
and he fell in right behind.
He had to get his daughter back
before they crossed that line.
Henry had the car wide open
a rough road was filled with ruts
Every time he looked behind
he could still see Eugene's truck.
A tire blew out on that Model A
And it slipped on off the bridge.
Eugene watched his daughter drown
as he drove cross the ridge.
Well the mash grass is tall
and the river's wide and deep
A resting place for lover's
that have no where to sleep.
The angels looked down and wept
at the awful sight they seen.
The Devil cracked a great big smile.
He's waiting on Eugene.
(All rights reserved. No use without express written permission of me)
2 comments:
I'm with your riders.
Actually, I like this song. At first, it gave me a sort of terrible feeling, but the more you hear it, the more it grows on you. Now, I actually think this is a marvelous song. It is very well written, and it has a feeling of reality to it. Sometimes novels and poems can tell a story in which the good man wins and the villain loses and is punished for his deed. However, and please know I am not saying that the good does not prevail over evil in the end, the people we see as the "good guys" end up dying-- and sometimes, in real life, we can't figure out why. In this way, songs like these are very true. We can't always see the end of the story-- if so, we would be gods.
(Yes, I am one of Steve's little riders-- Steve, you can't say ALL your little rides think your songs are too dark...)
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