From the recording A Dollar Looked Mighty Good / WAVE
Written by Valerie Smith, Ashely Lewis
Published by Buckle Down Publishing, BMI, ASHCACHE MUSIC PUBLISHING—BMI
Acoustic Guitar: Cody Kilby
Upright Bass: Evan Winsor
Fiddle: Steven Burwell
Mandolin: Andy Leftwich
Banjo: Tim Carter
Harmony Vocals: Lisa Kay Howard Hughes, Wally Hughes
Ashely Lewis and I wrote this song based on an excerpt from my great grandmother Maggie Brooks' journal which I found in an old trunk about 7 years ago. She had finally escaped from a violent marriage and learned how to earn her own money by doing various jobs. Maggie ended up being a very successful businesswoman in Plattsburg, MO., owning and operating a general store and a hotel. She was pretty proud to earn her own dollars and rise above her many early life challenges.
Lyrics
A Dollar Looked Mighty Good
Change, change is coming
and you know what's done is done
Strange, now I'm running
from the darkness to the sun
I'm on my own and I'm free
And I'll never feel these chains again wrapped around me
It wasn't much to some but this sum I understood
It was the first step toward forever
and that dollar looked mighty good
Rain washes footprints
and rusts the revolvers gleam
Pain won't hold tomorrow
You underestimated me…
I'm on my own and I'm free
And I'll never feel these chains again wrapped around me
It wasn't much to some but this sum I understood
It was the first step toward forever
and that dollar looked mighty good
Repeat Chorus