"Clovis Green" lyrics - TONY JOE WHITE

Clovis Green was a wealthy man
He made his living raising sugar cane
He had spent his life working the land
Just outside the town of New Orleans

His daughter Angelie was an only child
She was a lovely girl of seventeen
You would never find her out running wild
She was a debutante in New Orleans

Sent her off to the finest school
So very young never paid no dues
Her momma said "honey you can't lose
We've got your life planned out for you"

But they received a letter in the spring
And she wrote "I know y'all think I'm crazy
But I'm coming home I've broken all your dreams
'Cause you see, I'm going to have a baby"

And his wife looked at him and said
"Clovis, can you tell me true
What in the world are we gonna do
We've given her everything we can
Lord sometimes I just don't understand"

A child was born in the fall
But nobody ever mentioned the father
But when all the neighbors came to call
They would say he looked just like his mother