The Bird Hunters
The covey took wing
Shotguns a singing
A pointing dog down in the old logging road
Danny got three
And looked back a grinning
I fumbled around and I tried to reload
The country was cold
With the sun westward sinking
It's good to be back in this place
With my hands around
A Belgian made Browning
My mind on the lines of her face
Well now Danny's my buddy
We grew up like family
Hunted this timber before we could drive
The old English pointer
He once belonged to me
But I gave him up when I moved in '05
Off to the girl
Off to the city
Off on a wing and a chance
Hell I thought it'd play out
Just like some story
We fell in love at a rodeo dance
She said go on back to Cherokee County
Won't you crawl back with nothing but a razor and a comb
Babe, if you need me, I'll be where you found me
Go on to hell, honey, I'm headed home
Dan says, "Look at old Jim
A dozen Decembers
Behind him no worse for the wear
And your time spent in Tulsa
Did not help your shooting
And look at the gray in your hair
How good does it feel?
You belong in these hills
It's best that you let it all end
If you'd have married that girl
You'd have married her family
You dodged a bullet my friend"
She said go on back to Cherokee County
Won't you crawl back with nothing but a razor and a comb
Babe, if you need me, I'll be where you found me
Go on to hell, honey, I'm headed home
I was beginning
To deal with it ending
The old dog had pointed while part of me died
And a flutter of feathers
Then a shotgun to shoulder
I thought of the Fourth of July
She'll be home on the Fourth of July
I bet we'll dance on the Fourth of July
Dan says, "Hell of a shot
Looks like you've still got it
That's what we came here to do
It's light enough still
At the foot of the hill
We could kick up a single or two"
She said go on back to Cherokee County
Won't you crawl back with nothing but a razor and a comb
Babe, if you need me, I'll be where you found me
Go on to hell, honey, I'm headed home
Go on to hell, honey, I'm headed home