Two Hands and Six Strings

Two Hands and Six Strings

   Way out on the other side of nowhere –

   that’s where my mother’s brother lived.

   All the people said that he was crazy,

   but they didn’t know him like I did.

   They didn’t understand he was an artist

   because they’d never heard him sing.

   And they didn’t know he could work miracles

   with his two hands and six strings.

   I used to go there just to listen

   and maybe learn a thing or two.

   I loved to hear him pick the “Wildwood Flower”

   and sing “Every Day I Have the Blues.”

   There’s no denying he was different,

   but being different doesn’t mean a thing

   when you can rock a young boy’s universe

   with your two hands and six strings.

   I think he had some reefer in his background

   and maybe even something else besides.

   He never missed a chance to warn me

   about the price of getting high.

   He knew that his future was behind him,

   and his present wasn’t all that great a thing.

   But he could take you to another world

   with his two hands and six strings.

    

   So I worked real hard on everything he taught me,

   and when he died, I got his old guitar.

   I was gonna play just like my uncle,

   but I was gonna be a star.

   Well, I learned that there’s a lot of guitar players,

   and the world doesn’t owe you anything.

   But sometimes I can still do something beautiful

   with my two hands and six strings.