Red Dust

Red dust (take me home)
Mm, ten years gone

Twelve-hour shift in the freezing rain
Mop the marble where the rich folks dine
I wire the money home every Friday
Keep a little less of me each time
They see a strong man, smiling, steady
Nobody sees the boy that's gone
Left with one suitcase and my mother's blessing
Ten years on, and the line's still long

And the snow don't know my name
And the clock won't turn around
I close my eyes when the night shift ends
And I'm barefoot on red ground

Red dust (take me home)
Red dust (I hear you call)
I crossed an ocean for the gold
But the red dust still knows my name

Home (home, sweet home)
Take these tired bones home
Been gone too long (too long)
Red dust, take me home

There's a house where the rain hits the tin roof
And a photo curling at the edge
I watched my sister marry on a video call
Smiled at the screen till the signal fell
My father still winds that watch each morning
By the mango tree his father grew
Mama says, "Son, the gate is always open
Mama says, "Son, the gate is always open
Come home while your daddy still knows you"

Red dust (take me home)
Red dust (I hear you call)
I crossed an ocean for the gold
But the red dust still knows my name

My little girl was born right here
She don't know the red road or the rain
I tell her 'bout the mango and the river
It lands like a story, not a place

Red dust (take us home)
Red dust (I hear you call)
I crossed an ocean for the gold
But the red dust still knows my name

The snow don't know my name
But the red dust still knows my name