Lyrics Ballad Of Barbara - Johnny Cash

In a southern town where I was born
That′s where I got my education
I worked in the fields and I walked in the woods
And I wondered at creation

I recall the sun in a sky of blue
And the smell of green things growing
And the seasons changed and I lived each day
By the way the wind was blowing

Then I heard of a cultured city life
Breath taking lofty steeples
And the day I called myself a man
I left my land and my people

And I rambled north, and I rambled east
And I tested and I tasted
And a girl or two, took me round and round
But they always left me wasted

In a world that's all concrete and steel
With nothing green ever growing
Where the buildings hide the rising sun
And they blocked the free winds from blowing

Where you sleep all day and you wake all night
To a world of drink and laughter
I met that girl that I was sure would be
The one that I was after

In a soft blue gown and formal tux
Beneath that lofty steeple
He said, Do you Barbara, take this man
Will you be one of his people

And she said, "I will" and she said, "I do"
And the world looked mighty pretty
And we lived in a fancy downtown flat
Because she loved the noisy city

But the days grew cold beneath a yellow sky
And I longed for green things growing
And the thoughts of home and the people there
But she′d not agreed to going

Then her hazel eyes turned away from me
With a look that wasn't pretty
And she turned into concrete and steel
And she said, I'll take the city

Now the cars go by on the interstate
And my pack is on my shoulder
But I′m going home, where I belong
Much wiser now and older