The old man was covered with tattoos and scars   He got some in prison and others in bars   The rest he got workin' on old junk cars in the daytime   They looked like tombstones in our yard   And I never seen him when he wasn't tired and mean   He sold used parts to make ends meet   Covered with grease from his head to his feet   Cussin' the sweat and the Texas heat and mosquiters   And the neighbors said we lived like hicks   But they brung their cars for pa to fix anyhow   He was veteran-proud tried and true   He'd fought till his heart was black and blue   Didn't know how he'd made it through the hard times   He bought our house on the GI Bill   But it wasn't worth all he had to kill to git it   He drank pearl in a can and Jack Daniels black   Chewed tobacco from a mail pouch sack   Had an old dog that was trained to attack sometimes   He'd get drunk and mean as a rattlesnake   And there wasn't too much that he would take from a stranger   There were thirteen kids and a bunch of dogs   A house full of chickens and a yard full of hogs   I spent the summertime cuttin' up logs for the winter   Tryin' like the devil to find the Lord   Workin' like a nigger for my room and board   Coal-burin' stove no natural gas if that ain't country I'll kiss your ass   If that ain't country it'll hairlip the pope   If that ain't country it's a damn good joke   I've seen the Grand Ole Opry and I've met Johnny Cash   If that ain't country I'll kiss your ass   [ steel ]   Mama sells eggs at a grocery store my oldest sister is a first-rate whore   Dad says she can't come home anymore and he means it   Ma just sits and keeps her silence   Sister she left cause dad got violent and he knows it   Mama she's old far beyond her time   From chopping tobacco and I've seen her cryin'   When blood started flowin' from her calloused hand and it hurt me   She'd just keep workin' tryin' to help the old man   To the end of one row and back again like always   She's been through hell since junior went to jail   When the lights go out she ain't never failed   To get down on her knees and pray because she loves him   Told all the neighbors he was off in the war   Fightin' for freedom he's good to the core and she's proud   Now our place was a graveyard for automobiles   At the end of the porch there was four stacks of wheels   And tires for sale for a dollar or two cash   There was fifty holes in an old tin roof   Me and my family we was livin' proof   The people who forgot about poor white trash   And if that ain't country I'll kiss your ass   If that ain't country...   I'm thinking tonight of my blue eyes concerning the great speckled bird   I didn't know God made honky tonk angels and went back to the wild side of life