SOMETIMES STORIES ARE TRUE Lyrics

I was seven years old at my grandparents' breakfast table

It was ten o'clock in the morning and I was having a bowl of cereal

And my grandfather comes rushing in the door

He's an old man, he's out of breath and I'm thinking, oh my God, what's wrong, Grandpa, what's wrong

He holds his hand up and that means for me to shut up

Because you were taught respect back in those days

And if you didn't give respect, then you were taught to do something you didn't want anyway

A lot of you know what I mean

That was back in the days when he said, go pick me a switch, boy, but I'm going to wear you and your brother out with it

What? Oh, no, no, no, no, no

I cried all the way to the tree, so did he

Back in them days when the parents could do this, they said they would beat the, I'm going to beat the water out of you

Because I told you, I told you not to do that, but you did that anyway

Oh, no, no, no, no, it wasn't me, it was him, it wasn't me

And my little brother said, it wasn't me, it was him

My daddy had a real quick way of solving a problem real quick

He says, well, I'll just whip both of you

I'll make sure I get the right one

He looked at me and I looked at him and we both said, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah

It didn't matter if we was quick as lightning, fast as thunder

No, no, it didn't matter

My daddy was quicker

We never did get away from him, no matter how hard we tried

Well, well, we was taught respect

We was taught manners

We was told to hold your head up, boy

Keep your head up high

Young man, you look a man in the eye

Okay, daddy

Never drop your head when you're talking to another man, no, no, no, no, no

You ain't talking to nobody

Hold your head up high

Don't beat around the bush

Get to the point

Don't ask why

Whatever they say that you want to know, don't ask why

No, no, no, no

You just did what you were told

Because if you didn't, you'd have to go out there to that switch tree and get another switch

I told my little brother, man, I'll tell you what I'll do

I'm going to go pick me the biggest switch in that tree

He started to offer that I could reach

I reached up and grabbed the limb

He said, oh, no, no, no, no

I hope you're going to get that over there

You ain't got no hand saw or nothing

I just bent the limb over

I got the one that was a little bit smaller than that one that I could break

I broke that one

It was longer than me and him both, and I kept going

There's a wind

And every time I went, I could feel that on my backside

I said, oh, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no

They would grab me by the hand

And you start taking off like an airplane, yeah

Flying around and around and around and around we go

Hopping and jumping and screaming

Ooh, yeah, yeah, yeah

Mm, they taught us how to be good that way

Ooh

Back in those days, yeah

When my day with my father came

It wasn't nothing like the days in his Father's time when he was a little man

Grew into a young man

And into a big old burly bear looking man, yeah

Mm

So anyway, I was at the breakfast table

Eating my bowl of cereal

My grandfather came in

This is the type of men that raise me

Because it takes a man, sometimes men

To raise a young man

To teach this young man discipline

because he has none

No, no, no, no, no, no, no

He ain't got none

No, no

And you know that you don't have to teach a child how to be bad

No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no

Because we already know how to be bad

We already know how to be bad

All on our own

Yeah, yeah, yeah

Ooh, yeah

Yes, we do

We gotta teach our children how to be good

And apparently, in my neighborhood

that mean, come here, boy

Go back to that switch tree

and pick me one

That you can barely drag back to me

Not again

No, no, no

And then he looks at my little brother

And he says, this time you get to pick it

I went, oh, my God

No, no, no, no, no

Yeah

This was the upbringing that I had

This was strict

because it takes a man to raise a man

And women, I'm sorry

But you just don't understand

Living in that right there

That's what you got your mommy for yeah

But my Grandpa sat my Grandmother down

At the breakfast table

Like he did a million times in my lifetime

7 years old

Eating my breakfast cereal

Watching what was going on

My grandpa said

Baby

We've been together

Since we were 15 years old

And we're both 85 years old

But look at us now

Yeah, yeah, yeah

I was just out in my garage thinking

I've been working on this all weekend

For a long time as a hobby

My first car, you know, yeah

Had plenty of kisses from you mama

In the backseat of that old Lincoln

Out in the garage

Yeah, baby, yeah

There's a reason I don't get rid of it

Cause we were both just kids

When we discovered it

Baby

But I was in my garage

And I was thinking

I'm 85 years old

My God, I can go anytime

So I went on and on and on

And I ran and I ran

The street of my house

The house burnt down

And I built my garage their

Yeah, yeah

You know that's been my main cave

For all my life

60 years

Oh yeah, 60 years

I've turned a lot of wrenches

In that garage

I sure have

But mama, I was sitting there

Thinking about you

And it crossed my mind

I could take my last breath

And I don't wanna be

Turning no wrenches

No, no, no, no, no

You've been by my side

Since we've been 50 years old

And we're both 85

Oh baby

Oh

All this time you've been

By my side

You will complete my life

And you'll deserve it

When I take my last breath

I'll be by your side

Mmm, yeah

And then a second later he said

you follow me yeah

Follow me into eternity

Yeah

Follow me into eternity

We'll cross into Heaven

Heavenly gates of eternity

Forever I am

Floating like butterflies

Baby, just you and me

In the promised land

Oh, in the promised land

When I take my last breath

I wanna be holding your hand

There by your side

Like I've always

Like I've always been your man

And said

Baby, I love you

And that's just the way

I wanna go to

The strangest thing happened

About seven years later

I was 14 years old

I was over at the breakfast table

Because I loved my cereal

I saw Grandmama and Grandpa

Sit down on the couch

And I could see them

From where I was at

And they both grabbed

Each other by the hand

And they laid their heads back

And they walked

In the promised land

They walked

And they walked

In the promised land

They walked

In the promised land

Never seen nothing like that in my life

Never again will I ever

So beautiful

They went out peaceful

I've been fulfilled

I wanna go like that

After a long, long, long life

Yeah, baby

Sometimes the stories are true

Yeah, yeah, yeah