Lyrics The Ballad of Sally Rose - Emmylou Harris

The Ballad of Sally Rose

Her mama picked him up in south Minnesota
He promised her the world but they never got that far
For he was last seen in that '59 DeSoto
When Sally was born in the Black Hills of Dakota
She was washed in the blood of the dying Sioux nation
Raised with a proud but a wandering heart
And she knew that her roots were in the old reservation
But she had stars in her eyes and greater expectations
No rings on her fingers, no bells on her toes
With bugs on her headlights and runs in her hose
Through the valley of the shadow of Roosevelt’s nose
Adios South Dakota, adios Sally Rose
They’ve got a national monument carved out of stone
On the side of a mountain where her forefathers roamed
Playing cowboys and Indians right under the nose
Of Theodore Roosevelt and the sweet Sally Rose
So she left Rapid City in the blue moonlight hour
With her eye on the highway and her foot on the floor
And turning the dial, she was pulled by the power
Of the word coming out of the broadcasting tower
No rings on her fingers, no bells on her toes
With bugs on her headlights and runs in her hose
Through the valley of the shadow of Roosevelt’s nose
Adios South Dakota, adios Sally Rose