Drive (For Daddy Gene)

It's painted red, the stripe was white

It was eighteen feet, from the bow to stern light

Secondhand, from a dealer in Atlanta

I rode up with daddy, when he went there to get her

Put on a shine, put on a motor

Built out of love, made for the water

Ran her for years, 'til the transom got rotten

A piece of my childhood, will never be forgoten

It was, just an old plywood boat

A '75 Johnson with electric choke

A young boy two hands on the wheel

I can't replace the way it made me feel

And I would turn her sharp

And I would make it whine

He'd say, You can't beat the way an old wood boat rides

Just a little lake across the Alabama line

But I was king of the ocean

When daddy let me

Drive

Just an old half-ton shortbed Ford

My uncle bought new, in '64

Daddy got it right, 'cause the engine was smoking

A couple of burnt valves, and he had it going

He'd let me drive her when we haul off a load

Down a dirt strip where we'd dump trash off of Thigpen Road

I'd sit up in the seat and stretch my feet out to the pedels

Smiling like a hero that just received his medal

It was just an old hand-me-down Ford

With three-speed on the column and a dent in the door

A young boy, two hands on the wheel

I can't replace the way it made me feel and

And I would press that clutch

And I would, keep it right

He'd say, "a little slower son; you're doing just fine"

Just a dirt road with trash on each side

But I was Mario Andretti

When daddy let me

Drive

I'm grown up now

Three daughters of my own

I let them drive my old jeep

Across the pasture at our home

Maybe one day they'll reach back in their file

And pull out that old memory

And think of me and smile

And say

It was just an old worn out jeep

Rusty old floor boards

Hot on my feet

A young girl, two hands on the wheel

I can't replace the way it, made me feel

And he'd say turn it left

And steer it right

Straighten up girl now, you're doing just fine

Just a little valley by the river where we'd ride

But I was high on a mountain

When daddy let me

Drive

Daddy let me drive

Oh he let me, drive

It's just an old plywood boat

With a '75 Johnson

With electric choke