The Good Stuff

(album: No Shoes, No Shirt, No Problems - 2002)

Well, me an' my lady had our first big fight
So I drove around 'til I saw the neon light
A corner bar, an it just seemed right
So I pulled up

Not a soul around but the old bar keep
Down at the end an' looking half asleep
An he walked up, an' said: "What'll it be?"
I said: "The good stuff"

He didn't reach around for the whiskey
He didn't pour me a beer
His blue eyes kinda went misty
He said: "You can't find that here

'Cause it's the first long kiss on a second date
Momma's all worried when you get home late
And dropping the ring in the spaghetti plate
'Cause your hands are shaking so much
An' it's the way that she looks with the rice in her hair
Eating burnt suppers the whole first year
An' asking for seconds to keep her from tearing up
Yeah, man, that's the good stuff"

He grabbed a carton of milk an' he poured a glass
An' I smiled an' said: "I'll have some of that"
We sat there an' talked as an hour passed
Like old friends

I saw a black an' white picture an' it caught my stare
It was a pretty girl with bouffant hair
He said: "That's my Bonnie
Taken 'bout a year after we were wed"

He said "Spent five years in the bar
When the cancer took her from me
But I've been sober three years now
'Cause the one thing stronger than the whiskey

Was the sight of her holding my baby girl
The way she adored that string of pearls
I gave her the day that our youngest boy, Earl
Married his high school love"
"An' it's a new tee-shirt saying: 'I'm a Grandpa'
Being right there as our time got small
An' holding her hand, when the Good Lord called her up
Yeah, man, that's the good stuff"

He said: "When you get home, she'll start to cry
When she says: 'I'm sorry,' say: 'So am I'
An' look into those eyes, so deep in love
An' drink it up
'Cause that's the good stuff
That's the good stuff"