You were born in Missouri, to a mother all alone
Your daddy was out on the road again
And it stayed like that till the age of five, when your father died
But you never could find anger, he was the traveling kind
Sometimes she would tell you stories,
As she laid you down to sleep.
About how he had played the biggest stage
The years went by and you grew up strong
But there was something you just couldn't find
You turned 18, and your momma gently wept
And told you the last words that he said
Son take your horses and run
And you will know this country like the back of your hand
The names will escape you, but the faces never will
This one life is yours and yours alone
Thanksgiving came and passed like rain on southern afternoon
You were living like you never had before
And a friend of yours you'd known in school
Called you up to have a drink
He said there's someone that I think you should meet
You laughed it off and claimed circumstance
Would keep you from a bride
The truth was those thoughts led your bones to shake
But he wouldn't accept a coward's words and the plans were made that night
6 months later she became your wife
9 months later your little girl cried, for the first time
Son take your horses and run
And you will know this country like the back of your hand
The names will escape you, but the faces never will
This one life is yours and yours alone
And I loved your mother, your sister and your brother
They made me a man that could be loved
And it was Jesus there to save me
From the life that I got wrong
And I'm so glad I never walked alone
One day you realized you were the same age as me
When I passed away
You called mother and told her she was loved
That night after you read Brown Bear
And sang your child to sleep
You thanked the good Lord for family
That we aren't together but one day we would be