Daniel Lanois
Silium’s Hill
Shoe Shine Mamma spits for her money
Wants to make a living trying to make her own
All she ever wanted was to make her own money
And settle down on Silium's Hill

She prayed by the water on Manitou Bay
Sipping ambrosia on a holy night
Counting the lovers that had passed her way
They could not see her on Silium's Hill

On a frozen lamp pole I scratch her name
With my rusty old penknife on a empty heart
Standing by the window, is that you out there
At the Southern Cross over Silium's Hill?

Oh baby, will you ride with me
Through the wheat towns to Medicine Hat?
When the cold winds blow I'll be there
I'll hang on tight, baby, sure go for that

Now the old man knocks at my front door
Shoe Shine Mamma isn't here any more
There's a stranger in my place
Looking out over Silium's Way

Listen to the humming of the railway cars
My hands frozen on the wheel
Six hundred miles away from home
Running on the shadow of Silium's Hill
Somewhere back on Church Street
Shoe Shine Mamma spits for her money
Trying to make a living, want to make her own
Down at the bottom of Silium's Hill

Mamma want to build her own
Down at the bottom of Silium's Hill