The Baby

My brothers said that I
Was rotten to the core
I was the youngest child
So I got by with more
I guess she was tired by
The time I came along
She'd laugh until she cried
I could do no wrong
She would always save me
Because I was her baby

I worked a factory in Ohio
A shrimp boat in the Bayou
I drove a truck in Birmingham
Turned twenty-one in Cincinnati
I called home to mom and daddy
I said "Your boy is now a man"
She said, "I don't care if you're 80,
You'll always be my baby"

She loved that photograph
Of our whole family
She'd always point us out
For all her friends to see
That's greg, he's doing great
He really loves his job
And Ronnie with his two kids
How 'bout that wife he's got?
And that one's kinda crazy
But that one is my baby

I got a call in Alabama
Said "come on home to Louisiana
And come as fast as you can fly
'Cause your momma really needs you
And says she's got to see you
She might not make it through the night"
The whole way I drove 80
So she could see her baby

She looked like she was sleepin'
And my family had been weepin'
By the time that I got to her side
And I knew that she'd been taken
And my heart it was breakin'
I never got to say goodbye
I softly kissed that lady
And cried just like a baby