Album: Scenes from the Southside (1988)

Charted: 44 5

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• While no one was looking on the old plantation
  He took her all the way down the long valley road
  They sent her away not too much later
  Left him walking down the old valley road.
  
  Sometimes i lead, sometimes i follow
  This time i'll go where she wants me to go
  She said maybe today, maybe tomorrow
  Go deep in the woods down the long valley road
  
  Walk on walk on little doll walk
  Walk on little doll
  
  Out in the hall they were talkin' in a whisper
  Everybody noticed she was gone a while
  Somebody said she was gone to her sister's
  Everyone knew what they were talkin' about.
  
  While no one was looking on the old plantation
  He showed her what they do down the long valley road
  Came back around like nothin' really happened
  Left him standing on the old valley road
  
  Walk on walk on little doll walk on
  Walk on little doll
  Walk on, walk on the valley road
  
  Standing like a stone on the old plantation
  Rich old man wouldn't ever let him in
  Good enough to hire, not good enough to marry
  When it all happens, nobody wins
  Walk on walk on little doll walk on
  Walkon little doll etc Writer/s: BRUCE HORNSBY, JONATHAN HORNSBY
  Publisher: Downtown Music Publishing
  Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Comments: 9

• Muttsey from New YorkNope.white girl goes black.we see it everyday.
• Todd Blass from Huntsville, AlabamaI can hear a little of the same repetition in The Battle of New Orleans with this song
• Darla from MontanaShe didn’t have an abortion, she waited out her pregnancy and gave her child up for adoption. If she’d had an abortion, she wouldn’t have needed to be “gone awhile”.
• Jason Wayne from Ashland VirviniaThe Valley road was Not about abortion, In so called simpler times when you heard that out of the blue that some young lady out of nowhere was suddenly going to visit her Sister and would be gone awhile, It was known she was indeed pregnant and " Gone awhile " meant gone for the next 8 to 12 months which gave Her time to Have the Child and either put it up for adoption or have the older sister or other relative take care of the child til She could graduate and move back and do it herself. During Bruce Hornsby Childhood Abortion in the Country parts of the South was almost unheard of and Still against the Law.
• Paula from CanadaThanks for the meaning of this song! Cheers Mick!
• Rudolph Boyce from Saint Philip Barbadosgreat music selections Bruce Hornsby my favorite..
• Mick from Elmhurst IllinoisWhile this song has a lighthearted feel to it, it's actually about a young lady getting an abortion after getting pregnant by a guy who was from a lower class than her. Lyrics like "Out in the hall they were talking in a whisper", "Everybody noticed she'd was gone awhile. Somebody said she'd gone to her sister's." (That's when she went to get the abortion) Also the line, "Standing like a stone on the old plantation, rich old man woulda never let him in, good enough to hire not good enough to marry" was about the working class boy (maybe even African American) who knocked her up.
• Pj from Dublin, Irelandlove this song, mid 80 s i think,, visions of endless summers evenings keep popping into my mind when i hear this classic.....
  I hope to catch next gig when he comes around this side of the water......
• Brian from Richmond, VaMuch of this Video was filmed around Williamsburg Virginia

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