While his friends
were rockin' round the clock
inside the high school gym
He was out back in his pickup truck,
pickin' up WSM
Carl Perkins and Roy Orbison
were blastin' in the hall
Outside Carl Smith and Roy Acuff
and the Wabash Cannonball
That graduation speaker
told every boy and girl
It was their American duty
to go forth and save the world
But the only part he wanted to save
was Nashville, Tennessee
The home of country music,
where he always wanted to be.
He checked into Music City
at the Sam Davis Hotel,
Bought his mom an electric picture
of the wo man at the well.
Just a short walk to the stage door
of the Grand Ole Opry,
He was getting a little bit closer
to where he al ways wanted to be.
Aw, pretty bird now.
He told anyone who'd listen,
I'm gonna be a star.
They'd smile and keep on walking,
Say, yeah, I'm sure you are.
He'd shake his fist and tell them,
Just you wait and see,
Today you are country music,
But tomorrow I won't be.
He's done everything he wanted to
and more than he planned
He's got two Silver Eagles
and another one for the band
He's got three ex -wives in Nashville
and another in L .A.
Gold records and a TV show,
and taxes he can't pay
Two kids he never gets to see
and will never get to know
But he's had 18 number
one records in a row
He never sees the lights of home,
cause there's no home to see
But he's in country music
where he always wanted to be.