Ginseng Sullivan - David Rawlings, Gillian Welch

Not too far from the battleyard

On a reverse curve on down

Not two miles of the town depot

Sullivan’s shack was found

Back on the higher ground

You could see him every day

Walking on down the line

Old brown sack across his back

Long hair down behind

Speaking his worried mind

It’s long way from the Delta

From the North Georgia Hills

And a tote sack full of ginseng

Don’t pay no traveling bills

I’m too old to ride the rails

Or thumb the road alone

So I guess I’ll never make it back to home

My muddy water Mississippi Delta home

Now the winters here, they get too cold

The damp, it makes me ill

Can’t dig no roots on a mountainside

With the ground froze hard and still

Gotta stay at the foot of the hill

But next summer, when things turn right

The companies will pay high

I’ll make enough money to pay my bills

And bid this mountain goodbye

Then he said with a smile

It’s long way from the Delta

From the North Georgia Hills

And a tote sack full of ginseng

Don’t pay no traveling bills

I’m too old to ride the rails

Or thumb the road alone

So I guess I’ll never make it back to home

My muddy water Mississippi Delta home