Bus to Baton Rouge

I referenced this song this past Sunday. It is a beautiful picture of the fond and the painful memories of home. Lucinda is a brilliant songwriter. Her album Car Wheels on a Gravel Road won a Grammy Award in 1998.

Bus to Baton Rouge

Words and Music by Lucinda Williams, 2001

I had to go back to that house one more time
To see if the camellias were in bloom
For so many reasons its been on my mind
The house on Belmont Avenue
Built up on cinderblocks off the ground
What with the rain and the soft swampy land
By the sweet honeysuckle that grew all around
Were switches when we were bad

I took a bus to Baton Rouge
I took a bus to Baton Rouge
All the front rooms were kept closed off
I never liked to go in there much
Sometimes the doors they'd be locked 'cause
There were precious things that I couldn't touch
The company couch covered in plastic
Little books about being saved
The dining room table nobody ate at
The piano nobody played

I took a bus to Baton Rouge
I took a bus to Baton Rouge
There was this beautiful lamp I always loved
A seashore was painted on the shade
It would turn around when you switched on the bulb
And gently rock the waves
The driveway was covered with tiny white seashells
A fig tree stood in the backyard
There are other things I remember as well
But to tell them would just be too hard
Ghosts in the wind that blow through my life
Follow me wherever I go
I'll never be free from these chains inside
Hidden deep down in my soul

I took a bus to Baton Rouge
I took a bus to Baton Rouge