Joan Baez - Outside The Nashville City Limits Lyrics






Outside the Nashville city limits
A friend and I did drive,
On a day in early winter
I was glad to be alive.
We went to see some friends of his
Who lived upon a farm.
Strange and gentle country folk
Who would wish nobody harm.
Fresh-cut sixty acres,
Eight cows in the barn.
But the thing that I remember
On that cold day in December
Was that my eyes they did brim over
As we talked.

In the slowest drawl I had ever heard
The man said "Come with me
If y'all wanna see the prettiest place
In all of Tennesee."
He poured us each a glass of wine
And a-walking we did go,
Along fallen leaves and crackling ice
Where a tiny brook did flow.
He knew every inch of the land
And Lord he loved it so.
But the thing that I remember
On that cold day in December
Was that my eyes were brimming over
As we walked.

He set my down upon a stone
Beside a running spring.
He talked in a voice so soft and clear
Like the waters I heard sing.
He said "We searched quite a time
For a place to call our own.
There was just me and Mary John
And now I guess we're home."
I looked at the ground and wondered
How many years they each had roamed.
And Lord I do remember
On that day in late December
How my eyes kept brimming over
As we talked.
As we walked.

And standing there with outstretched arms
He said to me "You know,
I can't wait till the heavy storms
Cover the ground with snow,
And there on the pond the watercress
Is all that don't turn white.
When the sun is high you squint your eyes
And look at the hills so bright."
And nodding his head my friend said,
"And it seems like overnight
That the leaves come out so tender
At the turning of the winter..."
I thought the skies they would brim over
As we talked.





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Joan Baez Outside The Nashville City Limits Comments
  1. P.... B....

    Piotr

    Joan, yours are the finest songs I never heared

  2. h.... ....

    Très belle. Grand merci.

  3. W.... M....

    Susan, this song, this voice rebuilds that searing Shenandoah moment when first we touched on that cold November night in 1964.

  4. R.... L....

    The line "and there on the pond the watercress is all that don't turn white..." has special meaning to me. I'm reminded of my late sister who often boil watercress soup for the family to drink. I am very fond of watercress soup which is a nutritious soup that Chinese families in South-east Asia served regularly at dinner time.

  5. M.... M....

    Joan had recorded Mary John Wilkins' song "The Long Black Veil" years before.  Mary John is in the Country Songwriter's Hall of Fame - and rightly so.   

  6. D.... F....

    ououi jadore oui

    D.... F....

    danielle c'est toi? moi Patricia!

  7. R.... T....

    Yes, Penny not only is the history behind this song heart felt, Joan Baez almost had me convinced I was there with them,  Beautiful song about an apparently beautiful place and beautiful people.:~)

  8. E.... T....

    god blessed you

  9. 0.... ....

    Wow. Still.

  10. P.... ....

    This song also makes my eyes brim over with tears. The man in the song's name was Clarence Selman, he was my publisher and mentor and dear friend. Joan managed to capture so much in this song, from the "Slowest draw she had ever heard" Once songwriter singer Ed Bruce told me that it took Clarence and hour and a half to watch 60 minutes, (grin)... Clarence's wife was famous songwriter, Maryjohn Wilkins, who wrote many classics. So when I hear this song, I am transported back in time.

  11. r.... ....

    She's had a lot of great songs, but I think I like this best. Beautiful! It almost transcends music.

    r.... ....

    One of the instances that shows she has never really gotten her due as a songwriter. "Sweet Sir Galahad," is another.

    r.... ....

    Yes, this is my favorite song by her, thank you for confirming that. So few people know about it, but so unforgettable once you've heard it. A gem!

  12. M.... ....

    This is one of my favorite songs of my lifetime. A simple, beautiful song about what it means to really have a sense of place in the world, and how much a piece of land can mean to a lover of rural life, written and sung by one of the greatest artists of our time.

  13. A.... B....

    The album is called, "Blessed Are."

  14. A.... B....

    Beautiful song. It is on a cassette which includes such songs as "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down" and "Deportee (Plane Wreck at Los Gatos)". I got the cassette nearly 40 years ago--it wore out around the turn of the century.

  15. I.... S....

    SUCH a beautiful song. I first heard it about 30 years ago. Yes, it is very obscure. Nobody I know has ever heard of it. It tells the story so beautifully and I want to cry every time hear it. I heard it about the same time I read then saw "A Walk in the Spring Rain". Quite similar themes.

  16. 4.... ....

    Thanks for posting this song...it's very obscure...but I've loved it ever since I heard it in the 70's!! I loved the story the song tells, and now I know that it's real and there's an even better result of that visit...and you've clarified something for me...I thought it was Bob Dylan who took her on that day and wrote the song...now if I perform it I can give the right info!!!Thnx