Our Song Lyrics

by Joe Henry

I saw Willy May's
at a Scotsdale home depot
looking at garagedoor springs
at the the far end of the fourteenth row

[ Lyrics from: http://www.lyricenter.com/e92446-joe_henry~our_song_lyrics.html ]
his wife stood there beside him
she was quiet and they both were proud
I gave them room but was close enough
that i heard him when he said outloud

this was my country
and this was my song
somewhere in the middle there
though it started badly and it's ending wrong

this was my country
this frightful and this angry land
but it's my right if the worst of it
might still somehow make me a better man

the sun is unforgiving
and there's nobody who'would choose this town
but we've squandered so much of our good will
that there's nowhere else will have us now

we're pushing line at the picture show
for cool air and a chance to see
a vision of ourselves portrayed
as younger and braver and humble and free

this was our country
this was our song
somewhere in the middle there
though it started badly and it's ending wrong

this was our country
this frightful and this angry land
but it's my right if the worst of it
might still somehow make me a better man

I've started something I just can't finish
and I barely leave the house it's true
I keep a wrap on my sores and joints

but yes I've had my blessings too

I've got my mother's pretty feet
and the factory keeps my house in shape
my children they've both been paroled
and we get by on the piece we've made

I feel safe so far from heaven
from towers and their ocean views
from here I see a future coming across
what soon will be beaches too

but that was him, I'm allmost sure
the greatest centerfielder of all time
stooped by the burden of endless dreams
his and yours and mine

he hooked each spring beneath his foot
he leaned over then he stood upright
testing each against his weight
for one that had some play and some fight

he's just like us I wanna tell him
and our needs are small enough
something to slow a heavy door
something to help us raise one up

and this was my country
this was my song
somewhere in the middle there
though it started badly and it's ending wrong

well this was God's country
this frightful and this angry land
but if it's his will the worst of it
might still somehow make me a better man

if it's His will
the worst of it might still
somehow make me
a better man