My father had skin like leather
hands like steel
from a lifetime spent in the cottonfields
though hed come home tired and dirty
almost everynight
he found the strength to smile at me and hold my mama tight
while that old transister radio would play the opry out in the hall
id sit and watch their shadows glide across the wall

and theyd dance to a dixie lullaby
picture of love beneath the southern sky
oh my what a beautiful life
just like a dixie lullaby

i left home at 18
in a hand me down chevrolet
packed my mamas goodness and my old mans stubborn ways
it was college, work, and love
then the babies came
the youngest ones got his grandaddy's name
and in the early morning hours when my children could not sleep.
i'd rock them in my arms to a simple beat

and id sing them a dixie lullaby
hush baby dont you start to cry
oh my what a beautiful life
just like a dixie lullaby

my father was a mountain of a man
that was the description that i gave
the morning that we laid him in his grave
there with my mama by his side, we said our last goodbye
to a man we thought would never die
as i stood there in the fields of amazing grace
oh how the tears ran down my face.

and i sang him a dixie lullaby
well meet again, by and by
oh my what a beautiful life
just like a dixie lullaby

oh my what a beautiful life
just like a dixie lullaby