From the recording Shallow Water
Pierce Pettis & Jonell Mosser
©2002
I heard Pierce perform this song for the first time at the Kerrville Folk Festival. I was alone in the audience, stunned and moved to tears.
When I gathered songs for this album, I didn?t think I could record it, as it seemed to emphasize a certain view of salvation that for me is more poetry than theology. I didn’t even take a copy of it when I went to the VCCA. Once I’d begun the recording process, however, the song wouldn’t leave me alone, and I finally called Pierce to ask for a copy of the demo. Turned out he was on the road, but his sweet wife Michele found a rough work tape and overnighted it to me.
The night I aimed to record it I felt positively possessed, almost too moved to sing. At one point I began to cry, and I cried so hard I was afraid I wouldn’t be able use my vocal performance because listeners could hear how congested I’d gotten from my crying jag! I kept the best feeling take, however, because I knew I’d never want to try to recreate that feeling.
Lyrics
I don’t have to cry anymore
I don’t have to worry about what’s in store
Walk that road exhausted and poor
I don’t have to cry anymore
I don’t have to know it all
I don’t have to be so smart and stand so tall
Climb that mountain only to fall
I don’t have to know it all
You did that for me
You did that for me
You wore the chains so I could be free
You did that for me
I don’t have to be ashamed
I don’t have to hang my head and shoulder the blame
Wonder if my life’s been in vain
I don’t have to be ashamed
You did that for me
You did that for me
You wore the chains so I could be free
You did that for me
Man of sorrow, well acquainted with grief
Dragged to the city dump, spread eagle on a cross beam
Propped up like a scarecrow, nailed like a thief
Left for all the world to see
You did that for me
You did that for me
You wore the chains so I could be free
You did that for me
You did that for me
You did that for me
Words & music by Pierce Pettis & Jonell Mosser
©2002 Universal-PolyGram International Publishing, Inc. (ASCAP) / Brother’s Mother’s Music (BMI)