Lilly Pearl standin' by the woodstove   Cookin' up a pot of fatback and beans   Aprons made outta Martha White flour sack   Them was the days when Lilly was queen      There's gonna be a family reunion   Down around Little River Park   Lilly got a brand new baby they say   Jesse Brown had to up and run away   It might as well rain 'cause nobody came   Jesse left so fast the baby got no name      Lilly Pearl, what'cha gonna name your baby?   Lilly Pearl, what'cha gonna name your child?   Lilly Pearl, they say he run away and left you crazy   But ooh ooh your man had a pretty smile      Lilly Pearl told most folks   She could raise her baby fine without a man   But she cried at the table to her kin folk   Her people cried with her, but did they understand?      Lilly Pearl still standin' by the woodstove   Talkin' to a pot of fatback and beans   Twenty years later, still cookin' a spread   But there's no reunion 'cause the family's mostly dead   They took her baby at the age of 13   Left her livin' in the days when Lilly was queen      Lilly Pearl, did you ever name your baby?   Lilly Pearl, do you ever miss your child?   Lilly Pearl, his daddy run away and left you crazy   But ooh ooh your man had a pretty smile      Lilly Pearl, you never gonna know your baby?   Lilly Pearl, they never let you see your child?   Lilly Pearl, they say he run away and left you crazy   But ooh ooh your man had a pretty smile