Country Boy

Now I grew up down an old dirt road
In a town you wouldn't know
My pops picked the place up for fifteen hundred bucks
Back in nineteen sixty-four.

My grandfather was a drinker
Back in the day, he put 'em down
But a war is known to change a man
And the whiskey's known to change a man.

But that's not me.

I rarely drink from the bottle but I'll smoke a little weed
I still live in the sticks where you wouldn't go
In a town of twelve hundred off an old dirt road
And a country boy is all I'll ever be.

Now, it's been twelve years since I sold my soul
To the devil in L.A.
He said, sign your name here on the dotted line
And your songs they all will play.

He set up shop on Sunset
He put me up at The Marque
He said, you want to sell a million records, boy?
You better listen to me.

He said, change your style, whiten your smile
You could lose a couple of pounds
If you want to live this life, you better lose that wife
Do you need your friends around?

I said, no, that's not me.

'Cause the biggest things in life are your friends and family
And I like my jeans and my old t-shirt
And a couple extra pounds never really hurt
'Cause a country boy is all I'll ever be.

'Cause Hank taught me how to stay alive.

You'd never catch me out the house without my nine or forty-five
I got a big orange tractor and a diesel truck
And my idea of heaven is chasing white-tailed bucks
And as a country boy I know I can survive.

Now two flags fly above my land
That really sum up how I feel
One is the colors that fly high and proud
The red, the white, the blue.

The other one's got a rattlesnake
With a simple statement made
"Don't tread on me" is what it says
And I'll take that to my grave.

Because this is me
I'm proud to be American and strong in my beliefs
And I've said it before but I'll say it again
'Cause I've never needed government to hold my hand.

And I've said it before but I'll say it again
'Cause my family's always fought
And died to save this land
And a country boy is all I'll ever be.