Ballad of the Harp Weaver
Johnny Cash Lyrics

Son said my mother when I was knee high
My mother said to me when I was just a kid,

You need of clothes to cover you and not a rag have I
I needed clothes to keep me warm, but my mother didn't have any to give me.

There's nothing in the house to make a boy's britches
We didn't have any materials to make pants for me.

Nor shears to cut a cloth with nor thread to take stitches
We didn't have any tools, like scissors or thread, to make clothes with.

There's nothing in the house but a leaf end of rye
All we had was a bit of rye, which wasn't very useful for making clothing.

And the harp with a with the woman's head nobody will by and she began to cry
The only other thing we had was a harp with a carving of a woman's head on it, but no one would buy it. This made my mother sad.

That was in the early fall and when came the late fall
This all happened in the early and later parts of the fall season.

Son she said the sight of you makes your mother's blood crawl
My mother was upset to see how thin and poorly clothed I was.

Little skinny shoulder blades stickin' through your clothes
My clothes were so worn out and ill-fitting that my shoulder blades could be seen through them.

And where you get a jacket from God above knows
My mother didn't know where to get me a jacket from.

It's lucky for me lad your daddy's in the ground
My father had passed away, so he didn't have to see how poorly we were doing.

And can't see the way I let his son go around and she made a queer sound
My mother was upset to think about how my father would feel if he were still alive and saw how poorly we were doing.

That was in the late fall when the winter came
This was later in the fall, just before winter arrived.

I'd not a pair of bridges nor a shirt to my name
I didn't have any pants or shirt to wear.

I couldn't go to school or out of doors to play
I couldn't even go to school or play outside because I didn't have suitable clothing.

And all the other little boys passed our way
All the other boys in the town had nice clothes, and it made me feel left out and embarrassed.

Son said my mother come climb into my lap
My mother asked me to come sit in her lap.

And I'll chave your little knees while you take a nap
She promised to rub my knees until I fell asleep for a nap.

And oh but we were silly for half an hour or more
We spent some time being silly and having fun together.

Me with my long legs draggin' on the floor
I was so tall that my legs were dragging on the floor while I sat in her lap.

I rocked rocked rocked to a mother goose rhyme
She rocked me back and forth while singing a popular nursery rhyme.

Oh but we were happy for half an hour's time
We were content and happy for at least a little while.

Men say the winter was bad that year fuel was scarce and food was dear
That winter was particularly harsh, and supplies like fuel and food were scarce, making things even harder for us.

A wind with a wolf's head howled about our door
The wind was so strong that it sounded like a wolf's howl outside our door.

And we burned up the chairs and sat upon the floor
We had to burn our furniture for heat and had to sit on the floor instead.

All that was left us was a chair we couldn't break
All we had left was one chair, which we couldn't even use for fuel or warmth.

And the harp with the woman's head nobody would take for song or pity sake
No one even wanted to buy our harp, which we could have sold to get some money to help us through the winter.

The night before Christmas I cried with the cold
On Christmas Eve, I was so cold that I cried myself to sleep.

I cried myself to sleep like a two year old
I was so upset and cold that I cried like a small child would.

And in the deep night I felt my mother rise
During the night, I felt my mother get up from where she was sleeping.

And stare down upon me with love in her eyes
She looked down at me with a loving expression on her face.

I saw my mother sitting on the one good chair
The chair that we were able to keep was the only one left that was still in good condition.

A light falling on her face from I couldn't tell where
There was a strange light illuminating her face, but I couldn't tell where it was coming from.

Looking nineteen and not a day older
My mother looked young and beautiful, as if she hadn't aged a day since I was born.

And the harp with the woman's head leaned against her shoulder
The harp, which no one wanted to buy, was now resting against my mother's shoulder.

Her thin fingers moving in the thin tall strings
She started playing the harp, plucking at the thin, tall strings.

Were weave weave weaving wonderful things
As she played, she was also weaving, creating something amazing.

Many bright threads from where I couldn't see
There were lots of bright, colorful threads that I couldn't quite see clearly.

Were running through the harp strings rapidly
The threads were running through the harp strings quickly, almost as if they were being woven together at the same time.

And gold threads whistlin' through my mother's hands
There were even some golden threads weaving through her fingers as she worked.

I saw the web grow and the pattern expand
The fabric she was working on was growing bigger and bigger, and the pattern was becoming more complex.

She wove a child's jacket and when it was done
After a while, she had woven a jacket for me to wear.

She laid it on the floor and wove another one
She was so skilled at weaving that she didn't even have to stop to admire her work; she immediately started on another jacket.

She wove a red cloak so regal to see
She continued weaving, creating a beautiful and regal-looking red cloak.

She's made it for a king's son I said and not for me but I knew it was for me
I pretended that the cloak was fit for a king, but I knew deep down that she had made it for me.

She wove a pair of bridges and quicker than that
She wove a pair of pants for me faster than I could even believe possible.

She wove a pair of boots a little cocked hat
Next, she wove me a pair of boots and a small hat to keep me warm.

She wove a pair of mittens she wove a little blouse
Finally, she wove me some mittens and a little blouse to complete my new outfit.

She wove all night in the still cold house
My mother worked tirelessly all night, despite the cold temperatures in our home.

She sang as she worked and the harp strings spoke
As she worked, she sang, and the harp's strings seemed to come to life and speak with her music.

But her voice never faltered and the thread never broke
Despite working all night, my mother's voice continued to be strong, and she never made any mistakes in her weaving.

But when I awoke there sat my mother
When I woke up, my mother was sitting there by the chair.

With the harp against her shoulder lookin' nineteen and not a day older
She was still holding the harp, and she looked young and beautiful just as before.

A smile about her lips and a light about her head
She had a smile on her face, and there was a light shining around her head.

And her hands in the harp strings frozen dead
However, her hands were stiff and frozen, as if she had been working all night without stopping.

And piled up beside her toppling to the skies
Next to her were all the clothes she had woven for me, piled up so high that they seemed to be reaching up to the sky.

Were the clothes of a king's son just my size
All the clothes were beautiful and looked like they were fit for a king, but they were all perfectly my size.