Thank
You,
Les
Paul,
Thank
You,
Django,
Thank
You,
Merle
Are you aware of one great gift
you gave the world?
Beyond the craft your hands
created on your frets
You had a hand in molding those of chess
You set that bashful boy from
Knoxville all aglow
Each time he heard you pickin' on the radio
And even though it's
God alone who made the man
It took guys like you to mulch at
Atkins' hands
Those hands that shook with
fear like any normal hand
He played smooth and sweet the
night he opened at the
Strand
Those unique hands that started
life out splittin' rails
Who'd have thought they'd one
day fret from splittin' nails?
And who'd have thought that
Nashville boy from
Tennessee
Would one day win the hand of
Grand
Ole
Opry
I hadn't heard a thought that
Nashville sound would soon expand
From the love and guidance of
Chet
Atkins' hand
The road to
Nashville wasn't paved
with ivory keys
Especially for an awkward
boy still in his teens
At times he had no one to
tell his troubles to
And no sunshine in the
land of sunshine soon
He played for money and
for marbles and for
chalk
He tried to sing, but
Lord, the kid could hardly
talk
But he spoke a language
all could understand
But only when translated through
Chet
Atkins' hands
Joy is an unemployed
picker getting hired
And grief is when that picker's
always getting fired
When he's working job to
job and band to band
And label calls he's always
getting canned
But everybody knows it's
grief as well as joy
That helped to mow terrific
men from simple boys
And everybody knows
he's one terrific man
From head to toe and through
Jed
Adkin's hand
So thank you,
Maybell, thank you,
Knoxville, thank you,
Lord
And thanks to who it was that showed
Jed his first cord
He's come a million miles since
Knoxville and the
Strand
I'd go a million miles to shake
Chet
Atkins' hand I'd go a
million miles to shake
Chet
Atkins' hand