Northern Boy

better days

NORTHERN BOY

He grew up in the shadow of an old red barn
He wasn’t good at much but knowing what rang true
He always paid folks back when they did him a turn
Do unto others as they do unto you

He lived within a stone’s throw of the Minnesota line
A big thing was driving south, gettin’ drunk in old Duluth
He went to live in Hibbing, workin’ at the Hull-Rust mine
That black dust the closest thing he ever knew to truth

He tried to live without a star to follow
Had a cheap guitar but never learned to chord
He tried to find the fullness on the other side of hollow
He found a church but never found the Lord

He grew up without family except his Uncle John
Didn’t finish high school and he never had a prayer
He liked the midnight hour a lot more than the dawn
Until his uncle kicked him out of there

He stole a car and headed southward into Minnesota
Found work on the Mesabi Iron Range
He worked fast and went from wage to quota
Learned to make a dollar but never learned to change

He tried to live without a star to follow
Had a cheap guitar but never learned to chord
He tried to find a fullness on the other side of hollow
He found a church but never found the Lord

They gave him a Bible but he couldn’t read the print
Gave him a prayer book that he didn’t understand
He still had a shadow with him everywhere he went
But Jesus never came to take his hand

It was in the cold of winter when the news came in
Ten-word telegram saying Uncle John had died
He packed a change of clothes, headed north again
Things felt a little different when he cried

He couldn’t live without a star to follow
He needed help to make a major chord
He drove north to find a fullness on the other side of hollow
You don’t need a church to know the Lord

DL