From the recording Lightened By Love - Download
9. She Always Smelled Like Lilacs (3:35) (Steve Spurgin; Bum's Rush Music)
Everyone has someone in their memory like Miss Minnie in this song - a grandmother, an aunt, a favorite neighbor. Ed Stabler played this wonderful Steve Spurgin cover as a solo for many years, and then shared it with me to make it one of our favorite duets. We always said we would get around to recording it someday…glad we finally made it!
Lyrics
She was twenty-two when Orville flew at Kitty Hawk
She lived to see folks touch the moon and take a walk
She did a lot of livin’ in the years
And the twinkle in her eye was from the things she’d seen.
Well, I never knew John Campbell ‘cause he died in ‘45
That old Scotsman was a legend and a little wild
But Miss Minnie loved him dearly and sometimes she’d sigh
And she’d say I see John Adam in your eye.
And she always smelled like lilacs in the summer rain
She loved to bake a pound cake when the neighbors came
I can’t imagine what I’d give to just sit at her knee again
She always smelled like lilacs in the rain.
I can see her chasin’ chickens from her garden spot
Pickin’ okra in her bonnet when the sun was hot
She’d read me Uncle Remus ‘til I’d fall asleep
And pray the Lord my little soul to keep.
And she always smelled like lilacs in the summer rain
She loved to bake a pound cake when the neighbors came
I can’t imagine what I’d give to just sit at her knee again
She always smelled like lilacs in the rain.
There’s just a little place now where her house once stood
Three steps than lead into thin air where I spent my childhood
No more lemon drops or doilies - no more fireplace when it’s cold
Just a crooked sign that says, “This lot is sold.”
And she always smelled like lilacs in the summer rain
She loved to bake a pound cake when the neighbors came
I can’t imagine what I’d give to just sit at her knee again
She always smelled like lilacs in the rain.
I can’t imagine what I’d give to just sit at her knee again
She always smelled like lilacs in the rain.