Working Girl Blues by Hazel Dickens Page A

chairs help pass the time of day
    Your kids have gone their way, it’s the price you pay
    Old and in the way is here to stay
    There ain’t gonna be no chance to turn around
    There’s more yesterdays than tomorrows left now
    And when your number’s called, the lid on your casket falls
    There’s no more crying no more dying for you—you know
    So let those old memories come on around
    Well they’re all you’ve got to hang on to now
    Hair as white as snow, your old mind just comes and goes
    But it can’t bring back a thing but memory
    Rock on the new home you have found
    Is a run down apartment in the cheapest part of town
    You’d give everything you own
    For those old-timey friends back home
    And one last look at the hills where you used to roam
    Let those old memories come on around
    They’re all you’ve got to hang on to now
    Hair as white as snow your old mind just comes and goes
    But it can’t bring back a thing but memory
    Let those old memories come on around
    â€™Till it’s time to lay your tired old body down
    He will gently bid you come
    Where no parting songs are sung
    And all your crying and your dying will be done

    Â 
Pretty Bird
    â€œPretty Bird” was about the same kind of situation that inspired “Scars from an Old Love.” I spent a lot of time trying to get up the nerve to trust someone again. I was thinking that I wanted to be a liberated woman, and do all those things that liberated women do. I dated a few guys who were “supposedly” willing to give me that kind of space, but I found that I wasn’t as ready for it as I thought I was. I was still a somewhat backwoodsy little girl still partially tied to the old ideas and constraints. But another part of me very much needed to be free of them so I could enjoy my new life and freedom. It was a crucial time in my life, a time of growth and learning, of leavings and beginnings. Coming from such an isolated area and a different culture, I felt like I was always trying to play catch-up in my life and workplace. I envied the little bird sitting on the high wire. It could fly away at any given moment and be free. So in 1972 I wrote this song.
Pretty Bird
    Fly away little pretty bird
    Fly fly away, fly away little pretty bird
    And pretty you’ll always stay
    I see in your eyes a promise
    Your own tender love you’ll bring
    But fly away little pretty bird
    Cold runneth the spring
    Love’s own tender flames warms this meeting
    And love’s tender songs you’d sing
    But fly away little pretty bird
    And pretty you’ll always stay
    I cannot make you no promise
    Love is such a delicate thing
    Fly away little pretty bird
    For he’d only clip your wings
    Fly away little pretty bird
    Fly fly away
    Fly away little pretty bird
    And pretty you’ll always stay
    Fly far beyond the dark mountain
    To where you’ll be free ever more
    Fly away little pretty bird
    Where the cold winter winds don’t blow

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Mount Zion’s Lofty Heights
    This song came to me in the late ’60s right out of the blue. I have no idea where it came from. It was a very easy song to write, probably because I grew up hearing a lot of hymn singing. I only sang it a few times, but I don’t believe I ever sang it on stage. I didn’t even get around to recording it until I made the new project with Rounder in 2004.
Mount Zion’s Lofty Heights
    Mount Zion’s lofty heights there stands
    A bright and peaceful place
    Where weary souls can rest so free
    Amid His loving grace
    The day is near, the hour is nigh
    The sheep with restless, mournful cries
    They long to journey there tonight
    Mount Zion’s lofty heights
    The narrow pathway’s steep and rough
    The wayside dangers fright
    Within the vineyard of His love’s
    Mount Zion’s lofty heights
    The spirit from this poor trembling soul
    From this earthly mortal man
    Will fly on wings of heavenly doves
    On lofty