Wonderful Soup Stone

(album: Sings Lullabys, Legends And Lies - 1973)

I swear you could taste the chicken and tomatoes
And the noodles and the marrow bone
But it really wasn't nothing but some water and potatoes
And the wonderful wonderful soup stone.

Hanging from a string in my momma's kitchen
Back in the hard time days
Was a little ol' stone 'bout the size of an apple
It was smooth and worn and gray.

There wasn't much food in my momma's kitchen
So whenever things got tight
Momma'd boil up some water put in the stone
Say let's have some soup tonight.

And I swear you could taste the chicken and tomatoes
And the noodles and the marrow bone
But it really wasn't nothing but some water and potatoes
And the wonderful wonderful soup stone.

It'd been in the family for a whole lotta years
So we knew it was a nourishing thing
And I remember momma as she stirred it in the water
And we could all hear her sing.

It's a magical stone and as long as we got it
We'll never have a hungry night
Just add a little love to the wonderful soup stone
And everything'll be all right.

And I swear you could taste the chicken and tomatoes
And the noodles and the marrow bone
But it really wasn't nothing but some water and potatoes
And the wonderful wonderful soup stone.

So it carried us all through the darkening days
Till finally the sunshine came
And the soup stone started in a gathering dust
But it hung there just the same.

But ever since then Lord the food's been plenty
And ever now and then I find
That momma in the kitchen and the wonderful soup stone
Drifts across my mind.

And again I'd taste, taste the chicken and tomatoes
And the noodles and the marrow bone
But it really wasn't nothing but some water and potatoes
And the wonderful wonderful soup stone.

We were nourished by the wonderful soup stone.
Oh, the wonderful, wonderful soup stone...