The Ballad of Cap Calhoun
Album: River Rain
By: Uncle Bob
By: Uncle Bob
Duration
3:18
Genres
Description
This is a song my friend Doug Rees challenged me to write. I told him the story of my Uncle Cap, and when I told him Cap's motto, "I will if I want to." Doug challenged me to write the song using that motto as my tag line. A half hour into the next morning this song was on paper. It is as close to the true history of Cap's life as I could make it.
Lyrics
Every morning at dawn he had a saucer of coffee, A shot of Old Crow and a pee in the yard While he’s havin’ his coffee Old Shep’d be workin, Drivin’ the cows from the field to the barn. Chorus: Well I will if I wanna and you ain’t gonna stop me, Workin’ all day on an Illinois farm. I will if I wanna and you ain’t gonna stop me, Never did anyone anyone harm. He spent every day with the team in the traces, Feet on the ground and his hands on the plow. He never dreamed of far away places, He spent all his time in the now. They took him away to fight for his country, In the trenches of France in World War I, But his wounds brought him home, back to his farming. He never took to the gun. Well he lost his farm in the Great Depression, Rode the rods to Ioway Where he met his wife, the beautiful Eva, Took her back home to stay. Well he lived out his life on that Illinois dirt farm, Never was more than a hired hand, But he lived every day the way that he wanted, And he died in a field on the land.
