| Reuben James, in my song you live again
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| And the phrases that I rhyme
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| Are just footsteps out of time
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| From the time when I first knew you Reuben James
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| Reuben James all the folks around Madison County
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| Cursed your name
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| Just a no-account share-croppin' colored man
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| Who would steal anything he can
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| And they always laid the blame on Reuben James
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| Reuben James, you still walk the furrowed fields of my mind
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| The faded shirt, the weathered brow
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| The calloused hand upon the plough
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| I loved you then and I love you now Reuben James
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| Flora Gray, the gossip of Madison County died with a child
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| And although your skin was black
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| It was you that didn’t turn your back
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| On a hungry white child with no name, Reuben James
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| Reuben James, with your mind on my soul
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| And the Bible in your right hand
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| You said turn the other cheek
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| A better world is a-waiting for the meek
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| In my head those words remain from Reuben James
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| Reuben James, you still walk the furrowed fields of my mind
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| The faded shirt, the weathered brow
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| The calloused hand upon the plough
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| I loved you then and I love you now Reuben James
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| Reuben James one dark cloudy day
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| They brought you from the fields
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| And to your lonely pine box came
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| Just a preacher, me and the rain
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| To sing one last refrain for Reuben James
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| Reuben James, you still walk the furrowed fields of my mind
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| The faded shirt, the weathered brow
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| The calloused hand upon the plough
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| I loved you then and I love you now Reuben James |