i am old, i am weary and i'm coming home to die would you bury me by the old oak 'tween the river and the Ashley oh charleston, won't you bury me
i'm the daughter of a merchant claimed the seabrook line his spirit to the crash of '29 left my family bound for europe the adeline packed my things and left my mom and dad behind
there the churches spot the skyline in an endless dawn and on rainbow row we'd walk the waterfront there he told me he take me but it could not be so i left the man i loved in charleston
i am old, i am weary i'm coming home to die would you bury me by the old oak tree 'tween the river and the Ashley oh charleston, won't you bury me
galleys, sick dead soldiers found a navy wrote the queen to have him stay his term with me I love my husband and my children but these my final days I am weary, and charleston calls to me
now I see its painted porches all the lazy noons sipping until the evening came and the graveyard where my father lay southern bones I can hear them now the church bells sing my name
i am old, i am weary and i'm home to die would you bury me by the old oak tree 'tween the river and the Ashley oh charleston, won't you bury me