Late last night sang a whip-poor-will
out beyond the valley west of Hendersonville.
The ground was barren there was nary a yield

but a love was growing from the dandelion fields.
Where the drought is high and the wind don't blow.
Won't you lay down your burdens before the worry takes its toll?

When a bright-eyed boy meets a doe-eyed girl
it's a long way to Heaven from the Carolina soil.
Kiss me, kiss me, lickety-split.

Yonder comes daddy with a hickory stick.
Cry your name in-between the licks.
If you pick me out a flower then I'll pick me out a switch.

Where the drought is high and the land don't grow.
Won't you lay down your burdens before the worry takes its toll?
When a bright-eyed boy meets a doe-eyed girl

it's a long way to Heaven from the Carolina soil.
The bales are lifted and the seeds are sown.
My tongue is tied-up, twisted, and my heart is set in stone.

When a bright-eyed boy loves a Carolina girl
well nothing could be finer than to be all yours?
sneak out the door?

leave until tomorrow for the Hatteras shore.
One last chore, better than all?
answer to your every single beck and call.

I left a good home down in Etowah.
I'm never gonna see my maw or my paw.
Where the drought is high and this bird has flown.

Won't you lay down your burdens before the worry takes its toll?
When a bright-eyed boy meets a doe-eyed girl
it's a long way to Heaven from the Carolina soil.