"Blood Ain't the Only Water"

[Intro] Y'all hush now. Jus' a minute. I come up outta Terrebonne Parish. House was way up on stilts... Even still the water took it... Left with eighteen dollars and a borrowed guitar. Looked around along time — Eventually found my real family. On the five-string — Roy "Catfish" Landry! Down from Boone County — Miss Marceline Aucoin! Holdin' the parish up — Beau Prejean! Blew a hole in a Shreveport bus station — Little Amos Pitre! He'll make it cry like a widow — Otis Guidry! Outta a church in Thibodaux — Sister Pearline Doucet! Y'all know that sound when it gets in your chest — Hollis Fontenot! Grandmama scrubbed with that washboard — Cleophus Batiste! Sung with me in a truck 'fore any of this — Jesse Ray Comeaux! And me — Well now... my name's Dell Thibodeaux! These fools ain't my blood, but they my family jus' the same and all together...— We're the Drownin' Choir. One — two — one two three four — [Verse 1] Mama boiled the coffee twice Daddy run the trotline low We prayed for shrimp, we prayed for rice We prayed for anywhere to go The water come and took the porch The water come and took his name I learned to holler like a torch And I ain't sung a note the same [Chorus] Blood ain't the only water Some kin you got to choose I was some poor woman's daughter In a dress made outta blues I come up outta the low ground Where the cypress drink the night But the family that I found Is standin' in this light [Verse 2] She sung in bars with chicken wire She sung for gas and gettin' by She sung with fever, sung through fire Sung to rooms of nobody Then a banjo found her hollerin' And a fiddle found her key And eight strange hands come followin' Somethin' broke wide open in me [Chorus] Blood ain't the only water Some kin you got to choose I was some poor woman's daughter In a dress made outta blues I come up outta the low ground Where the cypress drink the night But the family that I found Is standin' in this light [Bridge] Ain't got a house — got a highway Ain't got a name — got a song Ain't got a mama waitin' my way Got eight fools to ride along Ain't got a church — got a stage Ain't got a Bible — got a beat And I'm too damn tired to be enraged When the low ground's under my feet [Chorus] Blood ain't the only water! Some kin you got to choose! I was some poor woman's daughter In a dress made outta blues! I come up outta the low ground Where the cypress drink the night — But the family that I found Is standin' in this light [Outro] Roy, Marceline, Beau, Otis, Amos, Pearline, Hollis, Cleo, Jesse Ray — And every last one of y'all out there. Ain't a one of us blood. Don't matter none.