DOWN FROM DOVER

- written by Dolly Parton
- duet recorded with Lee Hazlewood
- appears on NANCY SINATRA & LEE HAZLEWOOD: NANCY & LEE AGAIN (1972)

Lyrics

I know this dress I'm wearing doesn't hide the secret I have tried concealing
When he left he promised me that he'd be back by the time it was revealing
The sun behind a cloud just casts the crawling shadow o'er the fields of clover
And time is running out for me I wish that he would hurry down from Dover

I've been gone so long when I left the snow was deep upon the ground
And she has seen the spring and summer come and now the leaves are turning brown
And any time a tiny face will show itself 'cause waiting's almost over
But she won't have a name to give it if I don't hurry down from Dover

My folks weren't understanding when they found out they sent me from the home place
My daddy said if folks found out he'd be ashamed to ever show his face
My mamma said I was a fool and she did not believe it when I told her
That everything would be all right 'cause soon he would be coming down from Dover

She loved me more than anything she could not refuse me when I needed her
She was the only one I'd loved and she did not believe that I was using her
He couldn't leave me here like this I know it can't be so it can't be over
I wouldn't make her go through this so long, oh I'll be coming down from Dover

My body aches the time is here it's lonely in this place where I'm lyin'
Our baby has been born but something's wrong it's much too still I hear no cryin'
I guess in some strange way she knew she'd never have a father's arms to hold her
And dying was her way of telling me he wasn't coming down from Dover