Missouri's tied together like a rolling rag rug
Bit and pieces and necessity and love
You can sense the proud and working dirt poor
Clean and pressed like Sunday shirt but edge worn
Chorus: You think by now we'd be a little further on
For all this tumbling we've been through
As I'm leaving Missouri into Southern Illinois
I feel like I'm finally getting closer to you
When women look for answer then learn to listen and sit still
Men think they've got to take some kind of stand
Yet we're drawn together like magnet to magnet
Spend years trying to explain again
Chorus: You think by now we'd be a little further on
For all this tumbling we've been through
As I'm leaving Missouri into Southern Illinois
I feel like I'm finally getting closer to you
There's a photo on the table of my family and me
Taken in some studio in 1963
The faces are familiar but I can't tell you why
Most families nod and then they sigh
Chorus: You think by now we'd be a little further on
For all this tumbling we've been through
As I'm leaving Missouri into Southern Illinois
I feel like I'm finally getting closer to you
When I get healed I'm gonna be a healer
That's just the nature of those things
We don't exist in any solid form
We're always moving and changing
Chorus: You think by now we'd be a little further on
For all this tumbling we've been through
As I'm leaving Missouri into Southern Illinois
I feel like I'm finally getting closer to you