My father had skin like leather,
Hands like steel
From a lifetime spent in the cotton fields.

Though he'd come home tired and dirty
Almost every night
He found the strength to smile at me

And hold my mama tight.
While that old transistor radio
Would play the Opry out in the hall

I'd sit and watch their shadows glide across the wall

And they'd dance to a dixie lullaby

A picture of love beneath the southern sky
Oh my, what a beautiful life
Just like a dixie lullaby


I left home at 18
In a hand me down Chevrolet

Packed my mama's goodness
And my old man's stubborn ways
It was college, work and love

Then the babies came,
The youngest one's got his granddaddy's name,
And in the early morning hours

When my children could not sleep
I'd rock them in my arms to a simple beat


And I'd sing them a dixie lullaby
Hush baby dont you start to cry
Oh my what a beautiful life

Just like a dixie lullaby

My father was a mountain of a man

That was the description that I gave,
The morning that we laid him in his grave
There with my mama by his side

We said our last goodbye
To a man we thought would never die
And as I stood there in the fields of amazing grace

Oh how the tears ran down my face

And I sang him a dixie lullaby

We'll meet again, by and by
Oh my what a beautiful life
Just like a dixie lullaby

Oh my what a beautiful life,
Just like a dixie lullaby