'Twas in the year of '82,
In the springtime of the year,
I left my mother and a home so dear
All for that girl on the greenbriar shore
My mother, she says, "son, don't go
Don't leave me here alone

Don't leave your mother and a home so dear.
Never trust a girl on the greenbriar shore."
But I was young and reckless too,
And I craved a reckless life.
I left my mother and a home so dear

And I took that girl to be my wife
Her hair was dark and curly too
And her lovin' eyes were blue;
Her cheeks were like the red red rose
That girl I loved from the greenbriar shore

The years rolled on and the months rolled by;
She left me all alone
Now I remember what my momma said,
"Never trust the girl on the greenbriar shore."