I remember waking up, running down a dirt road
Morning dew a shining, watermelon by the wagon load
Little baby brother and my sisters in the shade
Listening to the crickets and the music that they made
Riding on a tractor with my grandpa in the summertime
Cold bologna sandwich, green tomatoes on the garden vine
Billy Joe McMillan was the first boy that I ever knew
He moved to California and it broke my heart in
North Carolina, your pine trees so tall
Your hills and valleys, your cool waterfalls
Your Blue Ridge Mountains, your fields and your streams
Are lost on the back roads that run through my dreams
Of North Carolina, home in my heart
Skinny legs and barefoot on the top of an abandoned car
Pouring out my heart just like a country music singing star
Pine cone for a microphone, full moon for a spotlight
Shining down from heaven like it's smiling on me
North Carolina, your pine trees so tall
Your hills and valleys, your cool waterfalls
Your Blue Ridge Mountains, your fields and your streams
Are lost on the back roads that run through my dreams
Of North Carolina, home in my heart
Although it seems like yesterday, I'm still a million miles away
Going to the ocean in my uncle's new sedan
Daddy's in the Army, there's a war in Vietnam
Mama kept us going with her sewing and a prayer
It's hard to be a family when your daddy's missing
North Carolina, your pine trees so tall
Your hills and valleys, your cool waterfalls
Your Blue Ridge Mountains, your fields and your streams
Are lost on the back roads that run through my dreams
Of North Carolina, home in my heart