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