Blackjack Oak

Blackjack Oak - Carolyn Hester/Bob Dylan

Love came by from the riversmoke

When the leaves were fresh on the tree

But I cut my heart on the blackjack oak

Before they fell on me

The leaves are green in the early spring

They are brown as linsey now

I did not ask for a wedding-ring

From the wind in the bending bough

Fall lightly lightly leaves of the wild

Fall lightly on my care

I am not the first to go with child

Because of the blowing air

The good girls sleep in their modesty

The bad girls sleep in their shame

But I must sleep in the blackjack oak

Till my child can have a name

Cold and cold and cold again

Cold in the blackjack limb

The winds of the sky for his sponsor-men

And a bird to christen him

He's going to act like a hound let loose

When he comes from that blackjack tree

And he's going to walk in proud shoes

All over tennessee

All over tennessee