Kim Baker: Songs & Lyrics

A fictional character I envisioned in my mind. I wanted to tell her story.

~Words and Music by Kim Baker~

She collects her pennies in a rusted, tin can
Planning her big escape with her dreamscape man
But the coins, they don’t seem to be quite adding up
As she sips the day-old coffee from her steaming red cup

Her dress is torn, her shirt is frayed
Her knees are scabby from all the times she’s prayed
For God to help her find a way out
And into a new life, with a laughing shout

For this is the life she’s known
Deep in the Indiana rain
All these years wasted
Like an endless summer’s refrain
She looks at her hands, and sees her mother’s trial
And her timeless words, about the miracle mile

When she and Bob were married, it was love at first sight
Fireworks lit up the sky, when they kissed that first night
And she can still remember how his hands felt on her skin
Shifting all she knew of herself, from the deepest core within

But all that faded later, when those hands struck her face
Her soul left jaded, on her blood-stained lace
And she tells all her friends that things will get better
And she writes to her mom, in a heartfelt letter:

“This is the only life I’ve known
Deep in this Indiana rain
All these years I’ve wasted
Like the notes of a refrain
I look at my hands, and I see your smile
Telling me, ‘You can make it honey, through this miracle mile!’”

Another day passes, another week, another year
Gathering up her courage, pulling her children near
And one quiet night, in the midst of Spring
She cashed in those coins, packed all the hope that she could bring

Her heart was pounding as she turned the key
To the ignition she knew was gonna set their life free
She closed her eyes and heard a long steady ring
And from the depths of her knowing, she began to sing:

“This is the only life I have
Deep in this Indiana rain
And I’m not gonna waste it
It’s time to bury this pain
I look at my hands, brush my hair back and smile
To this first moment of freedom, my miracle mile”