Jeni Hankins & Billy Kemp: Listen & Lyrics

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I never knew my Great Grandfather Babe Eli Osborne so I asked my mother about him -- what he was like. She said with a shy smile that he was good for nothing and then proceeded to tell me his remarkable and tragic story.
I wrote the lyrics and a melody for "Middle Creek" back in 2003 and I remember feeling for the first time like a songwriter. I thought of "Middle Creek" again as Billy and I were preparing to record at Big Grey and sang it for Billy. He had a few thoughts on the arrangement which gave the song that extra something. Then we began singing it in unison, moving to a harmony in the chorus, and I felt "Middle Creek" became the song it was meant to be.

Grandpa Babe died while he was shaving.
Took ‘em three days before they found him out
in the cabin where he lived up on Middle Creek
where the flies swarmed around his mouth.

The day he died was twenty years since the fire
that took Mildred, Vicey, and little James,
and Brenda, and Franklin there beside them.
They say since then he weren’t the same.

And it’s hot.
Yes, it’s hot up on Middle Creek,
where peace comes slow to the wicked.
And it’s cool.
Yes, it’s cool under the cedar trees,
where the branches brush the grave
of Grandpa Babe.

He grew corn to make his moonshine.
Mildred kept the garden out back of the house.
He sold timber off the land and did some trading.
He and Mildred held the place somehow.

The Old Regulars, they spoke of retribution
at the little church to which he never came.
And they prayed, yes they prayed for his salvation,
that he’d burn his still house down and praise
Jesus name.

And it’s hot.
Yes, it’s hot up on Middle Creek,
where peace comes slow to the wicked.
And it’s cool.
Yes, it’s cool under the cedar trees,
where the branches brush the grave
of Grandpa Babe.

Some folks called him good for nothing.
Some say he was just broke.
But on that last day with his hand on the razor,
I wonder did he smell the smoke?

I wonder did he call to heaven?
Did Mildred hear her name?
And when his heart seized up on him,
did he see Mildred and the children, in Jesus’ name, through the flames?

And it’s hot.
Yes, it’s hot up on Middle Creek,
where peace comes slow to the wicked.
And it’s cool.
Yes, it’s cool under the cedar trees,
where the branches brush the grave
of Grandpa Babe.