Reuben James in my song you’ll live again
And the phrases that I rhyme are just the footsteps out of time
From the time when I knew you Reuben James
Reuben James, all the folks around Madison County cussed your name
You’re just a no-account, sharecropping colored man
Who’d steal anything he can
And everybody laid the blame on Reuben James
Reuben James, you still walk the furrowed fields of my mind
The faded shirt, the weathered brow
The calloused hands upon the plow
I loved you then and I love you now, Reuben James
Flora Grey, the gossip of Madison County died with child
And although your skin was black
You were the one that didn’t turn your back
On the hungry white child with no name Reuben James
Reuben James, with your mind on my soul
And a Bible in your right hand you said, “Turn the other cheek
For there’s a better world awaiting for the meek”
In my mind these words remain from Reuben James
Reuben James, you still walk the furrowed fields of my mind
The faded shirt, the weathered brow
The calloused hands upon the plow
I loved you then and I love you now, Reuben James
Reuben James one dark cloudy day they brought you from the field
Until your lonely pine box came
Just a preacher and me in the rain
Just to sing one last refrain for Reuben James
Reuben James, you still walk the furrowed fields of my mind
The faded shirt, the weathered brow
The calloused hands upon the plow
I loved you then and I love you now, Reuben James
Reuben James, you still walk the furrowed fields of my mind
The faded shirt, the weathered brow
The calloused hands upon the plow
I loved you then and I love you now, Reuben James