Mistress Lyrics & Chords By Caroline Herring

Who was my mother
Who was my father
All I’ve known is a whip upon my back
My skin is yellowed by much more than weakness
And wise beyond the years of the blue and the black
My arms were never strong enough to stir molasses
My eyes watch riverboats as they go by
Some call me mistress, but I wish that I was cargo
Floating down the Brazos in that chariot to the sky

Oh Rachel, won’t you lie next to me
Tonight and every night to come
And won’t you calm all that’s raging inside me
Cause outside’s just a battlefield that Santa Ana won

My people, they worked from can’t see to can’t see
Traded in and out from the grassy shores
They say there’s something about me
Flying like a bird
Never known freedom before
I wear dresses of silks and threaded satins
Some gowns were only meant to bear a woman’s breast
I’ll stand down every white man in this county
But Columbus, you are dying
And I’m no different from the rest

Oh Rachel, won’t you lie next to me
Tonight and every night to come
And won’t you calm all that’s raging inside me
Cause outside’s just a battlefield that Santa Ana won

I was born in the hills of Kentucky
But never native to the auction block arrest
Headed Southbound as a captive in this country
Just like the cowboys drove their cattle through the West
You can read all our names in the records
You can deny all the days as they go down
There’s a brick-laid pathway calling you to find us
Underneath a golf course in an east Texas town

Oh Rachel, won’t you lie next to me
Tonight and every night to come
And won’t you calm all that’s raging inside me
Cause outside’s just a battlefield that Santa Ana won
Santa Ana won
Santa Ana won