“Dark Eyed Cajun Woman”

I think back to the time
When I first saw your face
You were walkin’ across the delta
To your cold and lonely place
You know, I took you for a small girl
Really not quite seventeen
Oh, Lord, but I was wrong, oh so wrong
You’re like a woman I’ve never seen
Dark eyed Cajun woman
Where are you comin’ from
Your soul is in the back woods
They say you never had a home
But I’m gonna know you better
If it takes all night and day
Dark eyed Cajun woman
You’ll never get away, no, no

Now the evenin’ is blowin’
I hear your voice most everywhere
Your cold, black eyes
They are dancin’ in the starlight
Warmin’ the cold night air
It’s so beautiful, you know I have to say
Dark eyed Cajun woman
You’ll never get away

Some people say that the song is about a girl that “he thought” was 16 (“not quite 17”) but that when he saw her up close, she was a “woman”.  But the meaning is really that she wasn’t a “kid of 16” — she was a “woman of 16”.