ALAN JACKSON

written by Alan Jackson

produced by Keith Stegall

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Here comes another selection from the lovely and ever so country

realm of country. Georgia’s Alan Eugene Jackson got started writing

and recording in the late ’80s. After signing to Arista Nashville,

Jackson album after album started ascending and accelerating up

the country charts. Not being quite the country fan as is my associate

who requested this song around 2004, my intro and acquaintance with Alan came with “A Holly Jolly Christmas” (when it’s the holiday season, with holiday songs, the concept of staying within a certain neighborhood of genres flies out the window), and his collaboration with fellow Georgia native and all-time great comedian Jeff Foxworthy, “Redneck Games.”

“The song is dedicated to Alan’s father, Eugene Jackson, who died on January 31, 2000. In the song, Alan recalls as a child he and his father driving around the countryside in an old beat up truck that they fixed up together, as well as a boat they would drive around the lake. In the final verse, Alan talks about sharing his childhood experiences with his daughters and letting them drive his Jeep around their pasture.” —from the song’s Wikipedia page

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Complete with the classic NASCAR Mario Andretti reference dropped.

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Have notes to add? Let me know!

YT:

full version

music video

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Alan’s official website

Lyrics

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Was painted red, the stripe was white / 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, and made for the water / Ran her for years, ’til the transom got rotten / A piece of my childhood that’ll never be forgotten, it was / Just an old plywood boat / With 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’d make it whine / He’d say, “You can’t beat the way a old wood boat rides” / Just a little lake ’cross 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 ridin’ ’cause the engine was smoking / A couple of burnt valves and he had it going / He’d let me drive her, and we’d 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 pedals / 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 I would / Press that clutch, and I’d keep it right / And he’d say, “A little slower, son, you’re doin’ 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 ’em drive my old Jeep ’cross 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 / Was just an old worn-out Jeep / Rusty old floorboards, 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 / She’s just an old plywood boat / With a ’75 Johnson, with electric choke

first release: Drive (2002/01/15)