SONNY GEORGE

sonny george never meant to kill 11 kids
never mind what he meant to do
the fact remains, he did
sonny george was a working man
trying to make an honest buck
he was working on the day he killed them kids
with a big freightliner truck

no one really knows what happened
on that humid august morn
11 younguns left this world about as quick
as they were born
11 babies bit the dust, it wasn't a pretty sight
there's mamas and papas and there's sonny george
they won't sleep so well tonight

the songs get sung, stories're told, oh man how they glamorize
those pill popping lunatics, toothpicks holding up their eyes
gear-jamming maniacs w/ a flame shooting out of a smokestack pipe
40 tons of hell on wheels, coming at you down the old turnpike

sonny george, he trembled as he stood before the judge
sonnys' lawyer begged for mercy but the d.a. wouldn't budge
"well if you can't cut my client loose
can you cut the boy some slack"
the d.a. said "i'd cut my head off counselor,
if i thought it'd bring them children back "

there's blood still on the highway where this dreadful thing occurred
little bits of glass and metal, flowers by the curve
sonny george didn't go to jail, i suppose that's good
but he never spoke another word anybody understood

the songs get sung, the stories get told , yes ma'am they will glamorize
those pill popping lunatics, toothpicks holding up their eyes
gear-jamming maniacs w/ a flame shooting out of a smokestack pipe
40 tons of hell on wheels, coming at you down the old turnpike

sonny george never meant to kill them little folks
slight or well we knew him, no one around here jokes
nobody curses sonny george, they curse his awful luck
and there's not a day, some one don't say
goddamn a big old truck

phil lee - grm/bmi