John - Beauty Queen Sister - 2011
(words & music by Emily Saliers)
capo on third fret, standard tuning
John knows to prune the crepe myrtles
Before it is their season
Before the weather freezes
He blows the pipe lines clean
He worked for the fire department
Until his injury
Now he puts out the fires
For the girl from the city
His family s from these parts
Before the white men got there
Grows field corn on his lot
Keeps the road and dead trees cleared
He leaves a pile of brushwood
For me to burn, it burns so pretty
John s work is never done
Helping the girl out from the city
His mama goes to the local Baptist church
His daddy s buried there
His daddy did two tours of duty
As a gunner in the war
And was the first
To greet and treat me like a neighbor
John brings the country to me
The girl from the city
John knows that he could make a killing
Selling rights to fish the trout
To rich city men who come in
Grilling and swilling
So he d rather do without
Still he opens up the gates for me
Atlanta groceries in my SUV
Doesn t take to waste or finery
But takes the girl in from the city
His mama goes to the local Baptist churc
His daddy s buried there
His daddy did two tours of duty
As a gunner in the war
And was the first
To greet and treat me like a neighbor
John brings the country to me
The girl from the city
And he kindly tolerates
The wanderer in me
Who wishes she were from
Somewhere she would rather be
Planting tender shoots
Along a rushing stream
Welt everybody has a dream
The girl from the city
