Across State Lines

Written in June 2022. First enslaved people following the way north to freedom. Then same sex couples traveling to states where they were free to choose whom to marry. And now women traveling to states where they could make their own conscientious choices about carrying a pregnancy to term (or more often a 2nd or 3rd or more) since the Dobbs decision...

He escaped the iron bonds of slavery    
Headed north from the fields of Tennessee
Ohio River beckoned like an open door
Another life is waiting on the farther shore
A - G - (3x) G - A -
Across state lines, across the border
What you seek & what you find
A different side of law and order
Freedom’s in the steps you take - across state lines
D G D G / D G A - / 1st / D G A D (G D G)
Doug & William, Mary Beth & Caroline
And hundreds more beside them in 2009
Headed to Vermont strong & proud
Making their love legal, living love out loud 

(bridge) Seems like it’s mostly men 
Seems like they’re mostly white
Who chip away at freedom’s stone
In the name of rights
A - Bm - (3x) A - - -
One unwise encounter with a local boy
Now she’s headed north to Illinois
Hands are there to help her so she’s not alone
She says “At least there’s still a place where my body is my own”

- lyrics & music by Stuart Stotts © 2022 author. All rights reserved.