The Baby

My brothers said that I was rotten to the core
I was the youngest child, so I got by with more
I guess she was tired by the time I came along, she’d laugh until she cried
I could do no wrong. She would always save me, because I was her baby

I worked a factory in Ohio, a shrimp boat in the bayou
I drove a truck in Birmingham
Turned 21 in Cincinnati, I called home to mom and daddy
I said your boy is now a man
She said I don’t care if your 80, you’ll always be my baby

She loved that photograph of our whole family
She’d always point us out for all her friends to see
That’s Greg he’s doing great, he really loves his job
And Ronny with his to kids, how ‘bout that wife he’s got
And that one’s kind of crazy, but that one’s my baby

I got a call in Alabama said come on home to Louisiana
And come as fast as you can fly
‘Cause your mama really needs you, and says shes gotta see you
She might not make it through the night
The whole way I drove 80 so she could see her baby

She looked like she’d been sleepin’
And my family had been weeping by the time that I got to her side
And I knew that she’d been take and my heart it was breakin’
I never got to say goodbye
I softly kissed that lady and cried just like a baby