(laid-back guitar music)

- I'd like to do a song for you now.

It's been quite a few years
ago when I wrote this.

I lost my daddy and I wanted
to write a song for him.

I didn't want to write some old, sad,

crying, dying thing, you know.

So I started thinking about growing up,

all I wanted to do is drive something.

He taught me all about that,

and that's what this song's about.

♪ 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 forgotten ♪

♪ 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 short bed 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 pedals ♪

♪ 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 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 ♪

♪ Oh he let me drive ♪

♪ It's just an old plywood boat ♪

♪ With a '75 Johnson ♪

♪ With electric choke ♪