(Written by Bruce Springsteen)
At 16, she quit high school, to make her fortune in the Promised Land
She got a job behind the counter at an all-night hamburger stand
She wrote faithfully home to Mama, "Now mama, don't you worry none
From small things, Mama, big things one day come"
It was late one Friday, he pulled in out of the dark
He was tall and handsome First she took his order, then she took his heart
They bought a house up on a hillside where little feet would soon run
From small things, Mama, big things one day come
Oh, but luck was fleeting It's sad but it's true
When your heart is bleeding, you don't want to hear it abused
She packed her bags and went to Wyoming with a real estate man
She drove down to Tampa in an Eldorado Grand
She wrote back, "Dear Mama, life is just heaven in the sun
From small things, Mama, big things one day come"
Well, she shot him dead on a sunny Florida road
When they caught her, all she said was she couldn't stand the way he drove
Back home, lonesome Johnny waits for his baby's parole
He waits high on the hillside where the wide-open rivers roll
At his feet and almost grown now, a blue-eyed daughter and a handsome son
From small things, Mama, big things one day come
From small things, Mama, big things one day come