Copperhead Road
Steve Earle

[INTRO RIFF]

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Well my name's John Lee Pettimore
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Same as my daddy and his daddy before
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You hardly ever saw Grandaddy down here
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He only came to town about twice a year
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He'd buy a hundred pounds of yeast and some copper line
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Everybody knew that he made moonshine
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Now the revenue man wanted Grandaddy bad
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He headed up the holler with everything he had
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It's before my time but I've been told
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He never came back from Copperhead Road
 
[INTRO RIFF]
 
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Now Daddy ran the whiskey in a big block Dodge
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Bought it at an auction at the Mason's Lodge
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Johnson County Sheriff painted on the side
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Just shot a coat of primer then he looked inside
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Well him and my uncle tore that engine down
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I still remember that rumblin' sound
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Well the sheriff came around in the middle of the night
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Heard mama cryin', knew something wasn't right
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He was headed down to Knoxville with the weekly load
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You could smell the whiskey burnin' down Copperhead Road
 
BREAK ON VERSE
 
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I volunteered for the Army on my birthday
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They draft the white trash first,'round here anyway
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I done two tours of duty in Vietnam
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And I came home with a brand new plan
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I take the seed from Colombia and Mexico
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I plant it up the holler down Copperhead Road
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Well the D.E.A.'s got a chopper in the air
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I wake up screaming like I'm back over there
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I learned a thing or two from ol' Charlie don't you know
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You better stay away from Copperhead Road