North Followed Me

[Verse 1] Good old Newport, Rhode Island Salt on the porch boards I grew up on that shore wind And the old town scars They didn't want to leave the North So they packed it tight In the back of every truck bed In the dead of night [Pre-Chorus] I saw that grit in their eyes I heard that winter talk Packed in the frame of the houses Packed in the way they walked [Chorus] The North followed me The North followed me Good old Newport, Rhode Island Still breathing in me The North followed me The North followed me I moved down south for a new life But it came with me [Verse 2] Well I had to get away So I moved to North Carolina Thought I'd bury that old cold In the red clay and pines But the first hard laugh in the kitchen Cut right through the haze Same hard backs, same hard hands Just a different place [Pre-Chorus] I saw that grit in their eyes I heard that winter talk Packed in the frame of the houses Packed in the way they walked [Chorus] The North followed me The North followed me Good old Newport, Rhode Island Still breathing in me The North followed me The North followed me I moved down south for a new life But it came with me [Bridge] Not a ghost, not a threat Just a name I can't outrun On the tongue of every hard case When the long day’s done From Newport docks To Carolina roads Same old blood in a different home Same old codes [Final Chorus] The North followed me The North followed me Good old Newport, Rhode Island Still breathing in me The North followed me The North followed me I moved down south for a new life But it came with me The North followed me (The North followed me) The North followed me (The North followed me)