Red Clay and Borrowed Time — Song No. 03

This old field don't owe me nothin'. Still I work it every year. Grandaddy's sweat is in the topsoil. His prayers still linger here. A song about what it means to stand on ground that was broken before you — and to be grateful for the borrowing. 🎶 Lead instrument: Banjo + Fiddle 🌾 Tempo: Mid / 85 BPM 📍 Setting: Appalachian farmfield, dusk ───────────────────────────── LYRICS ───────────────────────────── Verse 1 This old field don't owe me nothin', Still I work it every year. Grandaddy's sweat is in the topsoil, His prayers still linger here. Mama hummed while she was ironin', Daddy fixed what time had broke, Now I'm learnin' what they left me, In the silence and the smoke. Chorus Red clay and borrowed time, That's the deed to where I stand. Where the gospel grows like kudzu, And grace falls soft as sand. I don't own much, don't need much, Just to live the way I should — Rooted deep and still believin', In red clay and borrowed time. Verse 2 The screen door creaks at sundown, Crickets tune their nightly hymn, There's a lantern in the window, And the light is burning dim. My hands are stained and weathered, From the things I've tried to grow, Some seeds took and some were carried Where the wind decides to blow. [Chorus] Bridge Let the fiddle speak for sorrow, Let the banjo chase the dawn, Let the mandolin remind me That the ones I loved ain't gone. And when my row is fully finished, And I lay this body down — Lord, let me rest where I was planted, In that red clay, hallowed ground. Final Chorus Red clay and borrowed time, That's the deed to where I stand. Where the gospel grows like kudzu, And grace falls soft as sand. I don't own much, don't need much, Just to live the way I should — Rooted deep and gone to glory, In red clay and borrowed time. ───────────────────────────── Part of the series: Songs from the Hollow ───────────────────────────── #bluegrass #appalachian #originalmusic #americana #folk #acousticmusic #songsfromthehollow #redclayandborrowedtime #banjo #fiddle #oldtimebluegrass #southernfolk #appalachianroots