This Ain't Nothin'

He was standing in the rubble

Of an old farmhouse outside Birmingham

When some on-the-scene reporter

Stuck a camera in the face of that old man

He said, "Tell the folks, please mister, what are you gonna do

Now that this twister has taken all that's dear to you"

The old man just smiled and said, "Boy, let me tell you something

This ain't nothing"

He said, "I lost my daddy, when I was eight years old

That cave-in at the Kincaid Mine left a big old hole

And I lost my baby brother, my best friend, and my left hand

In a no-win situation in a place called Vietnam"

"And last year, I watched my lovin' wife

Of 50 years waste away and die

And I held her hand 'til her heart of gold stopped pumpin'

So this ain't nothin'"

He said, "I learned at an early age

There's things that matter, and there's things that don't

So if you're waiting here for me to cry

I hate to disappoint you, boy, but I won't"

Then he reached down in the rubble and picked up a photograph

Wiped the dirt off of it with the hand that he still had

He put it to his lips, and said, "Man, she was something

But this ain't nothin'"

He said, "I lost my daddy, when I was eight years old

That cave-in at the Kincaid Mine left a big old hole

And I lost my baby brother, my best friend, and my left hand

In a no-win situation in a place called Vietnam"

"And last year, I watched my lovin' wife

Of 50 years waste away and die

We were holding hands when her heart of gold stopped pumpin'

So this ain't nothin'"

He said, "This ain't nothin' time won't erase

And this ain't nothin' money can't replace"

He said, "You sit and watch your lovin' wife

Of 50 years fightin' for her life

Then you hold her hand 'til her heart of gold stops pumpin'

Yeah, boy that's somethin'

So this ain't nothin'

No, this ain't nothin'"