My father had skin like leather 
Hands like steel 
From a lifetime spent in the cottonfields 
Though hed come home tired and dirty 
Almost everynight 
He found the strength to smile at me and hold my mama tight 
While that old transister radio would play the opry out in the hall 
Id sit and watch their shadows glide across the wall 

And theyd dance to a dixie lullaby 
Picture of love beneath the southern sky 
Oh my what a beautiful life 
Just like a dixie lullaby 

I left home at 18 
In a hand me down chevrolet 
Packed my mamas goodness and my old mans stubborn ways
It was college, work, and love 
Then the babies came 
The youngest ones got his grandaddy's name 
And in the early morning hours when my children could not sleep.
I'd rock them in my arms to a simple beat 

And id sing them a dixie lullaby 
Hush baby dont you start to cry 
Oh my what a beautiful life 
Just like a dixie lullaby 

My father was a mountain of a man 
That was the description that I gave 
The morning that we laid him in his grave 
There with my mama by his side, we said our last goodbye 
To a man we thought would never die 
As I stood there in the fields of amazing grace 
Oh how the tears ran down my face. 

And I sang him a dixie lullaby 
Well meet again, by and by 
Oh my what a beautiful life 
Just like a dixie lullaby 

Oh my what a beautiful life 
Just like a dixie lullaby