Family Hands Lyrics - Carpenter Mary-chapin

Last Sunday we got in the car and we drove 

To the town you were raised in, your boyhood home 

The trees were just turning, up on the ridge 

And this was your valley when you were a kid 

You showed me the railroad that your daddy worked on 

As we neared the old house where your granny lives on 

She's nearing ninety years now, with her daughters by her side 

Who tend the places in the heart where loneliness can hide 

Raised by the women who are stronger than you know 

A patchwork quilt of memory only women could have sewn 

The threads were stitched by family hands, protected from the moth 

By your mother...and her mother, the weavers of your cloth 

Your grandmother owned a gun in 1932 

When times were bad just everywhere, you said she used it too 

And the life and times of everyone are traced inside their palms 

Her skin may be so weathered, but her grip is still so strong 

And I see your eyes belong to her and too your mama too 

A slice of Virginia sky, the clearest shade of blue 

Raised by the women who are stronger than you know 

A patchwork quilt of memory only women could have sewn 

The threads were stitched by family hands, protected from the moth 

By your mother...and her mother, the weavers of your cloth 

And a rich man you might never be, they'd love you just the same 

They've handed down so much to you besides your Christian name 

And the spoken word won't heal you like the laying on of hands 

Belonging to the ones who raised you to a man 

Raised by the women who are stronger than you know 

A patchwork quilt of memory only women could have sewn 

The threads were stitched by family hands, protected from the moth 

By your mother...and her mother, the weavers of your cloth