Lyrics

Perpetual Afternoon
By Jeffrey C. Capps

So this is Mississippi
Good day, ma’am, how do you do
If I say it with a drawl and add a well-placed y’all
Could I win your heart

Everyone’s got a place
Front porch men and even boys like me
If I stay here a few days and things work out OK
Could I make a new start

And we run around town in perpetual afternoon
And the creatures I’ve never seen seem to always sing in-tune
When the sun gets low and makes way for the moon
There’s a calmness in the air like I never knew
But I ain’t scared

No, sir, I didn’t mean no harm
Or to make nobody mad
I just opened up the door, walked into your store
And tried to be myself

Now we’re a long ways from Chicago
And getting further, I feel sure
You may think I’m rude and wild
But I’m still my mama’s child
Not that you can tell

And we ride around town in perpetual afternoon
And the front seat voices of front porch men all laugh in-tune
When the sun gets low and makes way for the moon
There’s a calmness in the air like I never knew
And I feel scared

So this is Mississippi
And how my story ends
With a bullet in my head, a metal fan around my neck
In a riverbed

And all this crying can’t be just for me
I was a kid who broke the rules, made up by fools
Pray for them instead

Still they ride around town in perpetual afternoon
Their secrets are safe, their alibis recited in perfect tune
Just a little black kid who it seems nobody knew
But woe to the souls who got to live with the truth
But I ain’t scared, ‘cuz I’m going home
I ain’t scared, ‘cuz I’m coming home
I ain’t scared