[Voice: Male bari-tenor. Haunted Appalachian storyteller; intimate and restrained in traditional verses, conversational and rhythmically precise in rap sections.] [Intro: Sparse, almost whispered] Little girl, little girl, where did you stay last night? Not even your mamma knows. I stayed in the pines where the sun never shines, And I shivered when the cold wind blows. [Chorus: Haunting, widening slightly] In the pines, in the pines, Where the sun never shines, And you shiver when the cold wind blows. In the pines, in the pines, Where the sun never shines, And you shiver when the cold wind blows. [Verse 2] Little girl, little girl, what have I done That you treat me so different and cold? You've made me weep, you've made me mourn, You forget that I kept you warm. [Rap 1: Tight, conversational] Everybody wants to know where the girl went, Nobody asks what the leaving meant. Somebody whispers, somebody swears, Somebody knows but nobody cares. A family keeps secrets, a town keeps score, A locked wooden door keeps what happened before. You can follow the tracks till they disappear, You can call out her name but she won't reappear. Maybe she ran, maybe she was driven, Maybe the truth was never forgiven. The trees don't testify, the mountains don't lie, They just watch another lost soul pass by. [Chorus] In the pines, in the pines, Where the sun never shines, And you shiver when the cold wind blows. [Verse 3] You've made me weep, you've made me mourn, You forget that I kept you warm. You broke my heart, you stole my love, And you left me like a lonesome dove. [Rap 2: Darker, building] Then came the railroad, black smoke in the sky, Iron wheels singing as the hours rolled by. A man went to work and he never came back, Left a name on a doorstep and a coat on a rack. They found what they could where the driving wheel passed, But the rest disappeared with the smoke and the ash. Was it murder? Was it mercy? Was it nothing but fate? Was somebody too early, was somebody too late? The whistle keeps calling through the cold mountain air, Like it's asking the question and nobody's there. [Verse 4] My daddy was a railroad man, Worked on the Mason line. The engine passed about half past six, And the caboose passed at nine. [Verse 5] The longest train I ever saw Was on that Mason line. The engine passed about half past six, And the caboose passed at nine. [Chorus: Fullest vocal] In the pines, in the pines, Where the sun never shines, And you shiver when the cold wind blows. In the pines, in the pines, Where the sun never shines, And you shiver when the cold wind blows. [Rap 3: Pull back, intimate] So where do you sleep when the whole world's gone cold? Where do you hide when there's nowhere to go? Some truths grow roots, some lies intertwine, And some things stay buried deep in the pines. If you hear that whistle when the midnight wind blows, Don't ask where she went. The old forest knows. [Final Chorus: Very sparse] In the pines, in the pines, Where the sun never shines, And you shiver when the cold wind blows. [Outro: Whispered] Little girl, little girl, where did you stay last night? Not even your mamma knows. I stayed in the pines where the sun never shines, And I shivered when the cold wind blows.
