Thanksgiving 1985

[Verse 1]
My stepdad's name is Rodney
I guess he's been okay to me
He says things when he's drinking
Mostly I just let it pass
But sometimes I wish you were here
You'd take him out and kick his ass
Yeah you'd take him out and kick his ass

[Verse 2]
They say the war was winding down
When you took that AK-47 'round
Jackson from your company
Calls me now and then
He says he kept a picture of me in your tent
Showed it off to everybody who came in
He's gonna come down and visit sometime from Bethlehem

[Chorus]
You'd've carved the turkey
We'd've pulled the wishbone you and me
Instead of him and that stupid grin
"Honey don't cook let's go out again
Get in the car boy lets take a ride
Instant mashed potatoes Kentucky Fried"
A lot of things would have been different here
Thanksgiving 1985

[Verse 3]
And that old fender you left behind
Mom says you loved it and now its mine
I've been taking lessons
It feels good and I can play
And just like you I dig Hendrix too
And this other dude named Stevie Ray
Man I wish you could hear him play

[Chorus]
You'd've carved the turkey
We'd've pulled the wishbone you and me
Instead of him and that stupid grin
"Honey don't cook let's go out again
Get in the car boy lets take a ride
Instant mashed potatoes Kentucky Fried"
A lot of things would have been different here
Thanksgiving 1985

[Verse 4]
My sister's five and I'm sixteen
Feels a little bit in between
My girlfriend goes to a different school
Her name is Jan and she's sixteen too
And I've got an old car I've been working on
It's a rusted out Dodge from '72
It's kinda funny how that'd be new to you

[Verse 5]
Dad I feel myself drifting off
The day was hard and this pillow's soft
I know you're listening
And you hear every word I say
I don't mean to bum you out
It's just that today was a real bad day
But listen tomorrow, you can hear me play

[Outro]
I have a friend named Ben Bullington. He passed away almost about a year ago. He was a medical doctor, but he wrote songs. He actually put out five records, and really never toured 'em or anything like that, like you're supposed to do if you want people to know about them, I suppose or something. He kept his doctoring job, and he loved writing songs as much as anyone I've ever known, and in a way him not going out and playing and making records and trying to get on charts and stuff like that in that kind of capacity, I thought, brought a kind of purity to what he was doing that escapes some folks. Pretty good song about modern country music