“Let Her Run”

Rosalie Broussard was a restless girl from a very young age. She would often wander off, not telling her parents anything, causing them to worry. Rosalie was precocious, sexually mature for her age. She got herself pregnant before she was sixteen and decided to have the baby, a boy, whom she chose to name James (b. 1985).

Rosalie married Tully Tate, and they went to live in Bellamy, Alabama, leaving James behind with Rosalie’s father. Rosalie and Tully had twin girls a few years later.

Throughout these early years of her marriage, Rosalie would run off from time to time, forcing Tully to find her and bring her back, only to run off again a few weeks later.

Finally, Tully just gave up on her and let Rosalie run.

LET HER RUN
(F.D. Leone, Jr.)

Rosalie Broussard just turned sixteen
She likes movie magazines
Spends hours in her room alone
But Rosalie’s barely hanging on

She hasn’t told her parents yet
Robert Abbott said it’s either him or it
Under her pillow there’s a list of names
She circled in red Jenny and James

Tully Tate drove a log truck
From Hosston to Bastrop
Rosalie met Tully one Friday night
For once everything felt just right

Tully was from Alabama
He and Rosalie left Louisiana
Got in his truck and drove all night
After leaving James with her daddy Mike

Rosalie’s restless as it gets dark
Listening to the wind outside and a dog bark
She’s stir crazy in that little town
Bellamy, Alabama’s all shut down

Tully works at the WestRock paper plant
Rosalie’ll wander off when she feels trapped
Leaving eggs frying in the pan
Tully just can’t understand

Rosalie don’t know why she has to roam
Tully always found her and brought her home
Later she hates the harm she’s done
One day Tully’s just gonna let her run 

© 2020 Frank David Leone, Jr./Highway 80 Music (ASCAP). The songs and stories on the Highway 80 Stories website are works of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, locales, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.