[Verse 1: Mezzo-soprano female lead, strong and close over the drums] The fire took the north face in a single afternoon Now it's black as a skillet underneath a white moon I come up with a spade and a bag on each hip Nine cents a seedling and a split in my lip Kick the ground, open it, drop in the root Close it with my heel and a stamp of my boot Three thousand a day till my knees start to cry Little green fingers pointing up at the sky [Pre-Chorus: Mezzo-soprano female lead] Sixty years to a real tall pine Sixty years, and it won't be mine [Chorus: Mezzo-soprano female lead, full voice] I'm planting somebody's shade I'll be gone when it's grown, and I'm not afraid Every hole is a promise I'll never see paid I'm planting somebody's shade [Verse 2: Mezzo-soprano female lead, the strings rising under] Somewhere there's a kid who isn't born yet With a book and a sandwich and a summer of sweat She'll lie in the needles where the air's cool and sweet And never once think of my blistered feet That's fine with me, I don't need my name On a tree, on a trail, on a plaque in a frame I just need the rain, and I need the ground And three thousand more before the sun goes down [Pre-Chorus: Mezzo-soprano female lead] Sixty years to a real tall pine Sixty years, and it won't be mine [Chorus: Mezzo-soprano female lead, full voice] I'm planting somebody's shade I'll be gone when it's grown, and I'm not afraid Every hole is a promise I'll never see paid I'm planting somebody's shade [Verse 3: Mezzo-soprano female lead, harder, the drums pounding] Foreman says "Jo, you're too old for the slope" I say "I'm too old to sit home and hope" My grandmother planted the oak by the barn And I ate every lunch in the cool of its arm She never once sat there, she never once knew That a girl would grow up in the shade that she grew So I owe her a hillside, I owe her the rain I'm paying her back on a stranger's terrain [Bridge: Mezzo-soprano female lead, spade bite, the drums leave and a spade bites the dirt on every downbeat] Last tree of the season Last hole in the black Last bag on my shoulder And I'm not coming back Ten thousand, twenty thousand A hundred thousand more A whole green mountain With a shade I'm working for [Final Chorus: Mezzo-soprano female lead, the whole band and strings back, biggest voice of the song] I'm planting somebody's shade I'll be gone when it's grown, and I'm not afraid Every hole is a promise I'll never see paid I'm planting somebody's shade [Outro: Mezzo-soprano female lead] Sit down, little stranger It's cooler where I've been Sit down, little stranger Let the mountain take you in [End]
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