Nashville 2 - Hammer and a Song (13 page)

I look up at her, and it feels like I’m on one of those crazy amusement park rides that zooms you to a peak and then lets you plummet. This is the plummet part. “How can you say that?”

“Because it’s true,” she says, her voice breaking in the middle of the statement. “She needs you.”

I let myself look directly at her then, at the tears suddenly coursing down her face. I realize they are for Sarah. For us. For it all.

Hammer and a Song

Got my dad to thank for a lot of things
How he believed the first time he heard me sing
When he saw I had music in me
Said your gift won’t steer you wrong
But if you ever find yourself in need
Of something to fall back on

That’s when he said
Learn how to use a hammer
Go on and write your songs
You can build your dreams with both
Nail by nail, note by note
Put your faith in one
Your heart in the other
You’ll get where you belong
With a hammer and a song

Got no way to know how life’s gonna go
Knew I loved her the moment I saw her though
Aimed to lay the whole world at her feet
Didn’t want to let her down
Keeping after what I might never reach
But the woman I’m lucky I found

She said
Make good use of that hammer
Go on and write your songs
You can build our dreams with both
Nail by nail, note by note
Put your faith in one
Your heart in the other
You’ll get where you belong
With a hammer and a song

Been lucky enough to know what it feels like
To build a house up
Been lucky enough to know what it feels like
To bring the house down

Yeah, I made good use of that hammer
Went on and wrote my songs
I built my dreams with both
Nail by nail, note by note
Put my faith in one
My heart in the other
And I know where I belong
With a hammer and a song

Yeah I know where I belong
With a hammer and a song

Listen here:
Hammer and a Song

Fifty Acres and a Tractor

First time I saw her
She was drivin’ down highway twenty-nine
Tires flingin’ red dirt
She was workin’ that John Deere ‘n lookin’ fine
Had to pull my truck over
Sat there on the shoulder
While she rolled on by
Wavin’ that cute hi

Yeah I was taken
Oh I was shaken
So I asked around
Our little bitty town

(Found out she’s got)
Fifty acres and a tractor
That don’t really matter
She’s got the sway of a Carolina cornfield on a windy day
The lure of an Alabama morning in the month of June
A sweet little honey
Mama didn’t raise no dummy
Naw, what I’m after ain’t the
Fifty acres and a tractor

One truth I’ll sure own
It’s what every man wants down deep inside
A place callin’ him home
On the kind of land that’s real hard to find
Plenty peaks and deep valleys
Views that give a heart ease
From a front porch swing
With a hinge that sings

Grows a nice garden
Crows who guard it
An old mule or two
Make it ring out true

(got all that in her)
Fifty acres and a tractor
That don’t really matter
She’s got the sway of a Carolina cornfield on a windy day
The lure of an Alabama morning in the month of June
A sweet little honey
Mama didn’t raise no dummy
Naw, what I’m after ain’t the
Fifty acres and a tractor
yeah
wh-oa-oh

Might say wow to the plow
Oh, I mean to tell you now
That PTO’s got a whole lotta go
Be hard to say no

(to her)
Fifty acres and a tractor
But they don’t really matter
She’s got the sway of a Carolina cornfield on a windy day
The lure of an Alabama morning in the month of June
A sweet little honey
Mama didn’t raise no dummy
Yeah, the main attractor ain’t the
Fifty acres and a tractor
Fifty acres and a tractor

Listen here:
Fifty Acres and a Tractor

Read Holden’s blog:
holdenashford.wordpress.com

Next:

Nashville - Part Three:
What We Feel

Credits

Hammer and a Song

Written by Inglath Cooper and Gabe Stalnaker
Performed by Ron Wallace
Produced by Jason Garner Productions, Inc. –Nashville, TN
All rights reserved

Fifty Acres and a Tractor

Written by Inglath Cooper and Gabe Stalnaker
Performed by Ron Wallace
Produced by Jason Garner Productions, Inc. –Nashville, TN
All rights reserved

Dear Reader,
I would like to thank you for taking the time to read my story. There are so many wonderful books to choose from these days, and I am hugely appreciative that you chose mine. Wishing you many, many happy afternoons of reading pleasure.
All best,
Inglath

ABOUT INGLATH COOPER

RITA® Award-winning author Inglath Cooper was born in Virginia. She is a graduate of Virginia Tech with a degree in English. She fell in love with books as soon as she learned how to read. “My mom read to us before bed, and I think that’s how I started to love stories. It was like a little mini-vacation we looked forward to every night before going to sleep. I think I eventually read most of the books in my elementary school library.”

That love for books translated into a natural love for writing and a desire to create stories that other readers could get lost in, just as she had gotten lost in her favorite books. Her stories focus on the dynamics of relationships, those between a man and a woman, mother and daughter, sisters, friends. They most often take place in small Virginia towns very much like the one where she grew up and are peopled with characters who reflect those values and traditions.

“There’s something about small-town life that’s just part of who I am. I’ve had the desire to live in other places, wondered what it would be like to be a true Manhattanite, but the thing I know I would miss is the familiarity of faces everywhere I go. There’s a lot to be said for going in the grocery store and seeing ten people you know!”

Inglath Cooper is an avid supporter of companion animal rescue and is a volunteer and donor for the Franklin County Humane Society. She and her family have fostered many dogs and cats who have gone on to be adopted by other families. “The rewards are endless. It’s an eye-opening moment to realize that what one person throws away can fill another person’s life with love and joy.”

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www.inglathcooper.com