There’s an oak on 4th & Main Street
Been there for a while
Two branches touch the bandstand
Couldn’t miss it if you tried
July sky is born with fire
They’re singin’ “Johnny Comes Marching Home”
October leaves piles and pyres
Quiet smolder of red and gold
I used to climb up and jump where the knot is
Once I slipped and chipped my tooth
Old Cyrus Blair said he had a treehouse up there
When the New Deal first come through
I know the sound of a two-stroke
Truck said DPW
Broke two chains on the knot,
saws were running hot
(and) they stumped it in an afternoon
Buckman loaded up about 16 cord
Told me to take some, don’t be shy about it
I said, “Mind your tongue, and your elders, son...”
And got down on my knees and I counted...and I counted
215 rings
That puts her at Ticonderoga
Old Glory had 13 stars
Revolution was over
215 rings
Close as the Cherokee lived to the land
When blood froze up in Kentucky
Boiled out in Cheyenne
215 rings
There’s a low limb that you can swing on
That’s where I asked for Annie’s hand
Right there Shady Grove was my darling
And ’Nam was a foreign land
Ronny got drunk when our numbers come up
I prayed we’d come home safe and sound
His momma tied a yellow ribbon there
To the same one he wrapped his truck around
That long scar was from some lightning
I got mine on a Huey’s gun
Hunkered down there during the firestorm
Trunk held the hurricane in ’81
I know the sound of a two-stroke
Truck said DPW
Broke two chains on the knot,
saws were running hot
(and) they stumped it in an afternoon
Got a grappler tri-drive for the heartwood
He told me the tonnage, I wouldn’t doubt it
And when them boys drove away,
like a hearse to the grave
I fell to my knees and I counted...and counted
215 rings
Rose up before old King Cotton
Deep roots to the Gettysburg dead
Gone but not forgotten
215 rings
Mein Kampf and the torch got goin’
We ran hard at the Third Reich’s blind spot
Berlin saw Jesse Owens
I know the sound of a two-stroke
Truck said DPW
Broke two chains on the knot,
saws were running hot
215 rings
That puts her at Ticonderoga
Old Glory had 13 stars
Revolution was over
215 rings
Close as the Cherokee lived to the land
When blood froze up in Kentucky
Boiled out in Cheyenne
215 rings
Mein Kampf and the torch got goin’
We silenced Hitler with iron
(On the) golden heels of Owens
215 rings
Woodstock on Yasgur’s ground
Armstrong went up on Apollo
Frazier knocked Ali down
215 rings...215 rings...215 rings
[Harmony Vocal: Rose Polenzani]
Copyright © 2006, Joel Ninesling All Rights Reserved.