Out along the road to no return
Silence rules the day and knows no friend
The troubled past and all her tribe adjourn
To watch your dreams unravel in the wind
But each new morning sunrise
Is just as good as gold
And all the hope inside you
Will keep you from the cold
Bare your soul let your spirit burn
Out along the road to no return
The sweet smell of nighttime rides on the breeze
The river is winding through the hickory trees
The red bones are howling down by Wilson's Bridge
The lawmen stand waiting upon Deadman's Ridge
Ooh, Carolina, so dark I can't see
Ooh, Carolina, won't you let me go free?
I came here with Lily, a year just last fall
We left her old daddy back in Oonegal
We made us a home place of Black Mountain stone
But one cold winter morning I woke up alone
Ooh, Carolina, so dark I can't see
Ooh, Carolina, won't you let me go free?
Days full of silence are so incomplete
Nights without Lily, I took to the streets
And in the streets of Asheville, I channeled my pain
'Til one raging black night, I slept in the rain
I dreamed of a refuge, a red velvet world
And I swore my sweet Lily, was one of the girls
I loved her so madly, I loved her so long
I woke with my dream girl but her life was all gone
Ooh, Carolina, so dark I can't see
Ooh, Carolina, won't you let me go free?
Love has no boundary, sorrow no end
And the lawmen of Asheville, have no mercy in them
Ooh, Carolina, so dark I can't see
Ooh, Carolina, won't you let me go free?
Let me reach Tennessee