My Old Man

I got a picture of himbarefoot in the mud

Behind his grandpa's plow an' two great mules

When he turned ten years old, on May 8, '53.

He grew up fearin' God in Washburn, Tennessee

The closest thing he had to a Dad was his Uncle Bob

An' he could only dream of things like little league baseball

An' that little boy, with big blue eyes and calloused hands

Huh, became my old man

Well she was a Kentucky girl, born on Valentine's Day

The fourth child of five to my Grandma, Eula May

So shy and beautiful with sunset hair and emerald eyes

Her Daddy spent his life workin' in the coal mines

Now in my eyes, all my life, my Daddy's been a Saint

But even Saints need Angels to show them the way

And over thirty-seven years ago, he asked for Margaret Lynn's hand

And that Angel married my old man

And there were times I tried to buck, the truthful things they said

But now I'm glad that, more than once, they rattled my stubborn head

'Cause my folks are just like mountains, I looked at from afar

But now the closer I get to them, the bigger they are

The time seems to fly anymore, and the holidays are so far apart

There's no way a 'phone call could express what's in my heart

So this is just a song to say how greatful I am

For Mamma and my old man

For Mamma and my old man