An American in Provence

every night guests turn out their lights
but no one will be resting tonight
in michie tavern

people say the party ended centuries ago
just cause they were never asked to go
people paid to stay in michie tavern
long before the floors creaked
not knowing that they
would never leave

every night guests turn out their lights
but no one will be sleeping tonight
in michie tavern

every night
the guests meet in the ballroom
i've seen those lights
from the highway

a french boy and an american
are dancing too close tonight
everyone's watching
and everyone's whispering
they hate it so much that they'll do it
every night

every day the tourists eat
at the slave house next door
complain of how they've
had a hard day in their cars
and the waitresses
the white waitresses complain
about the every day

but a french boy and an american
are dancing real close tonight
everyone's watching
and everyone's whispering
they hate it so much that they'll do it
every night

guests turn out their lights
but no one will be resting tonight
in michie tavern

-"Michie Tavern" by Julie Loyd

I love this song, I guess for obvious reasons. Julie Loyd is a Charlottesville native. I first heard her playing at Soulful Sundown and immediately bought all three of her CDs.

http://www.julieloyd.com/

I asked her about this song, and she said she was reading about ghost stories of Charlottesville, and came across this one about Michie Tavern. She said that supposedly a young French cavalier came over and danced the first waltz with the governer's daughter, which was very shocking at the time because their bodies were TOUCHING! And that ghosts still haunt Michie Tavern and have balls in the upper room.