Where I'm From

On a three hour flight from Memphis to L.A.

I was silently celebrating my first class upgrade

Laughing at my jeans and my boots

beside those high dollar shoes and Armani suits

When the gentleman next to me said "The drinks up here are free

So if you like the first one can be on me"

He said "I'm heading back from business in New York and Rome

Tell me son, where do you call home?"

I said "I'm from the front pew of a wooden white church

A courthouse clock that still don't work

Where a man's word means everything

Where moms and dads were high school flames

And gave their children Grandmother's maiden name

yes it may not sound like much

But it's where I'm from"

So we drank that round and then another

There wasn't a topic in this world we did not cover

He said "I headed out west when I was barely 19

Just a kid chasing my dreams"

And I said "I'm flying out here to pick up my big brother

He's been fighting the cancer they discovered

But he called last night and said 'I think this is the end

So come take me home to my family and my friends'"

"Where the quarterback dates the homecoming queen

the truck's a ford and the tractor's green

And "Amazing Grace" is what we sing

Where there's a county fair every fall

And your friends are there no matter when you call

It may not sound like much

But it's where I'm from"

And as we stood to claim the bags we checked

He said "I'll pray for your brother and did I mention that

Italian suits haven't always been my style

You see I was the quarterback of my high school team

We took state back in 63

And my wife, she's still my homecoming queen"

"Cause I'm from the front pew of a wooden white church

A courhouse clock that still don't work

Where a man's word means everything

Where moms and dads were high school flames

and gave their children Grandmother's maiden name

It may not sound like much

I said it may not sound like much,

But it's where I'm from"