Elijah came to Texas To build his family a home With his wife and new baby And what little goods that they owned Had a good yoke of oxen And hand tools for clearing the land And he built him a church 'Cause he was a God fearin' man All of his children when there Worshiped here through the years On down to my granddad He's buried 'bout 40 yards from here It's where I was baptized And where I took me a wife And if I have my say so That's where I'll rest when it's time chorus: When I'm dead and I'm gone Won't you carry me home To that little white church In my daddy's home town 'Cause Lord knows I'm some kind of sinner But I've done come this far And it's too late for changin' When this race has been run Take me back where I came from And let me return what I took from the ground When this body won't carry me no further Take me back And lay me down This east Texas red dirt Won't grow much of nothin' they say 'Cept tomatoes and peaches They mostly drill for oil nowadays And a hired hand named Regan First made me understand And he told me the red was the blood of my kin in the land chorus