old man Henry brought Mary here
To farm this land and make a life for her
Now he says she waits for me
right under that old tree
My land's bought and paid for,
In his ninety -seventh year,
old man Henry had made it clear
somewhere else he wasn't about to go
While around him his neighbors sold,
Old Man Henry, he kept a hold.
I'd see him kneeling in the evening,
Now how you gonna buy that with gold?
They sent a group from City Hall,
Old Man Henry stood up and met them all.
that he'd built with his own two hands
He said, I told you all before,
now I'll tell you just one time more
My land's bought and paid for,
what don't you understand?
The sheriff came out from town,
Henry looked him straight up and down,
the sheriff said, Henry, listen please,
this ain't nothing personal,
It's only business, Henry said,
Now the headlines, three inches tall,
Henry fired up on them all
For I'd been sittin' on a hill
Far away but close enough still
To hear what they were sayin'
And see what they were doin'
Cause I watched it with my
Twenty cars came out from town
A two -room shack with a grave out
back and an acre of ground
to see what all the commotion was for
I never heard such an awful sound
From forty men half crazed
As the bullets struck all around him
Henry's house it caught ablaze
As the fatal bullets hit him,
Henry fell across Mary's grave.
A man of ninety -seven years
lay dead upon the ground.
As his soul winged up to heaven,
Henry laid dead crosses, Mary
Their little home a pile of ash
Nothin' left but the memories
They got your damned highway at last
Now the folks that speed on by
Never once stopped, nor even asked why
There's a sign by the highway
And a man just won't let go you
