VERSE 1 I've been standing on this platform Since before the sun came up Got a guitar and a dollar And a half-empty cup The Mississippi's running quiet Like it knows something I don't And I'm waiting on a trainThat everybody says won't come PRE-CHORUS But the dawn don't ask permission And the blues don't ask your name And something in the stillness Feels like nothing's gonna stay the same CHORUS First light in Clarksdale Falling gold on broken ground First light in Clarksdale Where the music first was found Where the sorrow became singing And the singing became free First light in Clarksdale Is the first light inside me VERSE 2 There's a woman on the bench there Got a fiddle on her knee Playing something soft and ancient Like she's playing it for me There's a man with a horn case Standing quiet by the wall And nobody's saying nothing But we're hearing every call PRE-CHORUS The station board stays empty No departures, no arrivals Just nine people and a morning And the oldest kind of revival CHORUS First light in Clarksdale Falling gold on broken ground First light in Clarksdale Where the music first was found Where the sorrow became singing And the singing became free First light in Clarksdale Is the first light inside me BRIDGE (Hammond organ swells, fiddle enters beneath) This is where it started Long before our names Long before the stages Long before the fame In the dirt and in the delta In the ache of something true Every note that matters Was born right here in you FINAL CHORUS First light in Clarksdale Nine strangers, one refrain First light in Clarksdale We won't need that train Where the sorrow became singing And the singing set us free First light in Clarksdale Is how this story begins OUTRO (spoken, barely above a whisper) Clarksdale, Mississippi. First light. Nine strangers. This is where the train stopped coming. This is where the music started.
