Lois - Video
PUBLISHED:  Sep 19, 2012
DESCRIPTION:
On a farm in Efland, North Carolina during the Great Depression lived a girl by the name of Lois Marie Gill. Volunteering at the Salvation Army store a few years ago, my sister came across a pocket-size notepad once belonging to Lois.

Just above the Royster logo; written in eloquent cursive, sits the name 'Lois Gill,' and within it are the faded writings and musings of a young woman living on the farm, attending the Efland schoolhouse, and experiencing the trials and tribulations associated with young love. I've had the booklet with me for a few years not knowing exactly what to do with it.

Her writings are profound and sincere; they hark back to a simpler time when life wasn't absurdly complicated or distracting. By reading her poetry I have found comfort in knowing so much has changed throughout history; except love. The complexity, the dedication, the sacrifice, the pleasure and the pain— love has never changed and no matter how ridiculous society or we as people may become, love will always remain the same. It is our last true sanctuary; whether you have love, have lost it, or have never even experienced it. At any given moment, we are all within an earshot of being loved. We are all capable of being loved; at least that's what I like to believe.

So I reckon this song is about the institution of love based loosely on the experiences of a farmer's daughter in 1938. It's the first video I've recorded in full 1080, in my beater car, and with my beater guitar. The booklet shall remain in my possession until I can find a more suitable home, but I will leave you with my five favorite one-liners of Lois Marie Gill.

5) Please, please, don't make me blue. I wonder if pa will let me marry you.
4) Red-headed gal sitting on a stump, makes my heart go bump to bump.
3) Up in the highest part of Heaven, down in the lowest part of Hell. Darn a boy that kisses a girl and runs away to tell.
2) Columbus discovered America, Balboa the ocean blue. But the greatest discovery in all the world was when I discovered you.
1) Apples are good, peaches are better. If you love me at all then you'll answer my letter.

Lyrics:

Late last night sang a whip-poor-will
out beyond the valley west of Hendersonville.
The ground was barren there was nary a yield
but a love was growing from the dandelion fields.
Where the drought is high and the wind don't blow.
Won't you lay down your burdens before the worry takes its toll?
When a bright-eyed boy meets a doe-eyed girl
it's a long way to Heaven from the Carolina soil.
Kiss me, kiss me, lickety-split.
Yonder comes daddy with a hickory stick.
Cry your name in-between the licks.
If you pick me out a flower then I'll pick me out a switch.
Where the drought is high and the land don't grow.
Won't you lay down your burdens before the worry takes its toll?
When a bright-eyed boy meets a doe-eyed girl
it's a long way to Heaven from the Carolina soil.
The bales are lifted and the seeds are sown.
My tongue is tied-up, twisted, and my heart is set in stone.
When a bright-eyed boy loves a Carolina girl
well nothing could be finer than to be all yours—
sneak out the door—
leave until tomorrow for the Hatteras shore.
One last chore, better than all—
answer to your every single beck and call.
I left a good home down in Etowah.
I'm never gonna see my maw or my paw.
Where the drought is high and this bird has flown.
Won't you lay down your burdens before the worry takes its toll?
When a bright-eyed boy meets a doe-eyed girl
it's a long way to Heaven from the Carolina soil.

[Written by Dustin Kane Davis]
[Inspired by the writings of Lois Marie Gill]
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