Dale Ann Bradley Follow

the mountains were a prison for their family of nine
no where to go, no place to work unless you crawled down in the mines
and his momma knew the sounds of a mans lungs turning black
so when daddy found another way to make a living, it was easy to turn her back

now Rufus was the oldest, and he new bell county well
he could hunt and fish like any grown man and take care of him self
so his daddy put him to running shine when he was just 12 years old
said it may not be the right thing but it sure beats mining coal

and he'd say run Rufus run, run across the mountain darling
daddy wants to take a load of shine to man up near Harlan
and he feared for his life every time his daddy would put him on the run again
he'd said a boy's no match for the shotgun blast from the gun of a revenuer man

and one fall night when the moon was bright, enough to light his way
Rufus loaded up that old sedan said ill be back 'fore the break of day
as he turned on highway one nineteen he heard 3 shotgun blasts
and his blood ran cold and he wondered could this run his last

and his momma never closed her eyes that night when he left home
she tossed and turned and walked the floor praying nothing would go wrong
cause her thoughts were on a stranger she'd heard about from town
he had a funny talk and a brand new car and been asking around

oh run Rufus run, run across the mountain darling
daddy wants to take a load of shine to man up near Harlan
and he feared for his life every time his daddy would put him on the run again
he'd said a boy's no match for the shotgun blast from the gun of a revenuer man

oh but Rufus knew those mountain roads like the back of his hand
he could take those curves on two wheels in the beat up old sedan
so he ran em up a holler and lost em somewhere round a Williams branch
there was one back road that they didn't know, that revenuer never stood a chance

oh run Rufus run, run across the mountain darling
daddy wants to take a load of shine to man up near Harlan
and he feared for his life every time his daddy would put him on the run again
he'd said a boy's no match for the shotgun blast from the gun of a revenuer man

he'd said a boy's no match for the shotgun blast from the gun of a revenuer man