What She Had To

(John Edwards/Garrett Parris)

I was three years old, sittin' in the seat
Of a Greyhound bus, my brother and me
Mama's tears fallin' like the Carolina rain
'Cause she pulled out a gun the night before
Said, "He ain't gonna drink and hit me no more."
She pulled the trigger on my father in a moment's rage
Thank God that gun wasn't loaded.

Didn't know where to go or how she'd survive
Didn't care, anywhere but there that night
As she held her babies tight
And we rolled through the cold of the midnight blue
She was scared, she was broke, but all she knew was
She was gonna do what she had to.

She got her a job and a trailer out West
It wasn't much, but she was doing her best
Putting food on the table for our family
But then one day I came home from school
My mama was crying alone in her room
She said, "I lost my job and we're gonna lose the trailer too"
She got that Volkswagen loaded.

Didn't know where to go or how she'd survive
Didn't care, anywhere but there that night
As she held her babies tight
And we rolled through the cold of the midnight blue
She was scared, she was broke, but all she knew was
She was gonna do what she had to.

Whenever things go wrong in my life, I just think of her
And what it took that night
To get on that bus in the Carolina rain.

Didn't know where to go or how she'd survive
Didn't care, anywhere but there that night
As she held her babies tight
And we rolled through the cold of the midnight blue
She was scared, she was broke, but all she knew was
She was gonna do what she had to.

Yeah, what she had to, yeah
(What she had to, what she had to...)