The Momma 'n' Daddy Collection 27

It's time for another instalment with the sub-theme 'not strictly Mommas or Daddies to our singing subjects but Mommas or Daddies to their Mommas or Daddies'. You won't have forgotten (of this ilk) #13 in the series, Randy 'The Voice' Travis singing 'He Walked On Water'. Well, today it's John Prine remembering his granddaddy. I know this song as sung by him with The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band on Circle II, an album you should certainly own - John Prine and 'Grandpa Was A Carpenter':

Grandpa wore his suit to dinner
Nearly every day
No particular reason
He just dressed that way
Brown necktie and a matching vest
And both his wingtip shoes
He built a closet on our back porch
And put a penny in a burned out fuse.

Chorus:
Grandpa was a carpenter
He built houses, stores and banks
Chain smoked Camel cigarettes
And hammered nails in planks
He was level on the level
Shaved even every door
And voted for Eisenhower
'cause Lincoln won the war.

Well, he used to sing me 'Blood On The Saddle'
And rock me on his knee
And let me listen to the radio
Before we got TV
He would drive to church on Sunday
And take me with him too!
Stained glass in every window
Hearing aids in every pew.

Repeat chorus

Well, my grandma was a teacher
She went to school in Bowling Green
Traded in a milking cow
For a Singer sewing machine
She called her husband mister
And she walked real tall and proud
She used to buy me comic books
After grandpa died.

Repeat chorus

It's not everyone, let me tell you, who's 'level on the level'. If you've got a grandpa like that, you cherish him.

[The Momma 'n' Daddy Archive, containing all the details of the series, is here.]