Papa Was a Steel-Headed Man

Lyrics

[Verse 1] Just a simple kid from way out in the country It's a mystery how he won Mama's hand For as long as I remember, she would tell me: "Your Papa, he's a steel-headed man" Every day at Six a.m. he'd be out plowing Trying to make a buck on our acre plot of land But for all his work, we never had much money Papa was a steel-headed man [Chorus] Never had no schooling and he never left the farm Never had a thing to show but the muscle in his arm Yeah, the world was just a little more than he could understand Papa was a steel-headed man [Verse 2] He used to tell us stories from the Bible His homespun wisdom I still recall It was only as a man I came to find out He never knew much about anything at all He couldn't read a book and keep his lips from moving Or add two-and-two without looking at his hands He thought laughter was a vice and Jews were evil I declare, he was a steel-headed man [Chorus] Never had no schooling and he never left the farm Never had a thing to show but the muscle in his arm Yeah, the world was just a little more than he could understand Papa was a steel-headed man [Verse 3] Well, I had to shed a tear for my poor daddy This morning when we put him in the ground And as I watched the dirt he'd worked fall o'er his coffin I wondered where, in such a life, any larger meaning or purpose could be found For he lived as quietly and ignorantly as an animal He died pathetic, penniless, and alone And the worst thing is, even if he'd been some kind of a genius A hundred years from now, who would've known? [Chorus] Never had no schooling and he never left the farm Never had a thing to show but the muscle in his arm Yeah, the world was just a little more than he could understand Papa was a steel-headed man Papa was a steel-headed man