The Rocket That Grandpa Rode

(album: Songs From St. Somewhere - 2013)

There's an old Gypsy Moth
Made of glue and cloth
That lands in a horse filled field
An unusual event for those palomino gents
Who just stared at their future revealed

Why oh why oh did he fly out of Ohio
Before we knew that genes held the code
But taking to wing, is a haunting, daunting thing
Just like that rocket Grandpa rode

Yeah, it was the rocket that Grandpa rode
Sounds like bragging but it's true
I'm not trying to big-time you
Shot up into space and he said look out down below
Gotta love that rocket that Grandpa rode

And the kids turned to flying machines
With their arms open wide like wings
But one solitary boy knows a plane is not a toy
I'm talking 'bout
The Man on the Moon

I still remember July '69
We all got to stay home from school
In stark black and white we followed the flight
And the whole world was in that capsule

Oh, on the rocket that Grandpa rode
Sounds like bragging but it's true
I'm not trying to big-time you
Oh what a flight you'd better look out down below
Yeah, that's the rocket that Grandpa rode

Spacemen and women on this bus
An obese driver I don't trust
We're going to watch the shuttle fly away – last day
And for some kids behind my seat
There's a very special treat
More than just history on parade

Giant nozzles, bolts and beams
They called her Atlas by all means
Blood, sweat and tears were her payload
She was a stairway to heaven
Old Apollo 11
The rocket ship their Grandpa drove

Yeah on the rocket that Grandpa rode
Sounds like bragging but it's true
I'm not trying to big-time you
Rising up from that lagoon, we beat those Commies to the moon
Yeah on the rocket their Grandpa rode
Yeah on the rocket their Grandpa drove

Thank you Neil
Thank you NASA
Thank you Captain Kirk and Mr. Spock
And Scotty and Lieutenant Uhura and Chekov…
Yeah the rocket that Grandpa rode