Grasshoper MacClain

Grasshopper Macclain - Jimmy Dean

Me and that navy ain't speakin'

At sailin' I tell you I'm through

On the advice of a doc

I got me a shock

I had to have somethin' to do

These nerves I got are from soakin' too long

When the ship got hit by a plane

And right here about four years back

I met grasshopper macclain

The sun was a burnin'

And the desert red hot

When his mother drove in with a flat

She went inside to cool off

With a beer and I saw

Her kid in the back

He lay on the seat in the

Swelterin' heat with hair the color of flame

A red headed mite but

Smilin' and bright was

Little ol' grasshopper McClain

I fixed her type and was totin' him

Round when she asked me

How much she owed

I just laughed and

Said boy I settle for him

And to my surprise

He drove off down the road

I figured she'd sober and

Come hurryin' back but for three long years

She never came

And all that time I was

Mother and dad to little

Ol' grasshopper McClain

I'd tell him of ships

I'd sailed on the seas

When I put him in bed at night

And that freckle faced kid

Was as sharp as a tack and

Quick as a mate for a fight

I thought I'd wait till he

Glowed a bit and let him

Pick out his own name

One day he came in with

A bug in his hand and

He said me grasshopper McClain

Oh he'd mimic my walk

And he'd mimic my talk

Like my shadow he just

Tagged me around

Even had to be checked every time

I was checked by the navy

Doc over the town

The dock's laugh and thump

His little ole chest and

Say feller you're right as rain

Then he'd turn to me and

Tell me that I'd be a new man

Thanks to grasshopper McClain

I guess you wonder why

I'm tellin' you this well

That's why I'm here doin' time

For a bang and a sheriff

And a red headed dame

That came to take what was mine

Oh but you should've seen

The way he fought you could

Tell that kid was navy trained

But this lonely cell wouldn't be

So much like hell if I only

Had grasshopper macclain