Eleanor young
Eleanor child
Standing on a lonely hilltop
In the Appalachian Wild

Eleanor sing
Eleanor scream
Shout loud to your own green world
Doors don't open for the country girl

Oh they lied to you
They sung to you songs you weren't meant to hear
They showed you a life your eyes were never meant to see
You should have seen right through it
But you believed

Eleanor grow
Eleanor cold
Midnight in a dim lit diner
In the driving Detroit snow

Eleanor yearn
Oh Eleanor learn
One child with no last name
Your boy's on the run
Who do you blame

Oh they lied to you
He did to you things that you were taught were sin
He took from you the best that was within you
He showed you things your eyes were never meant to see

But the saddest thing of all
Is baby you believed
Yeah yeah
The saddest thing of all you believed
Yeah mama you believed

Eleanor age
Eleanor cage
See California on New Years Day
Sun shines warm on the rose parade
Eleanor ache
Eleanor break

Come out west
With your last born child
Grew up scared and weird and wild

Oh you lied to me
You hid from me knowledge I should have known
You kept from me the life that was my own
You shielded me from pains I should have seen

For a very short while
Mama I believed
Yeah mama I believed