Stumblin' footsteps on the ground, all drunked up like Cooter Brown
I can hear him make his way up the porch, the blues in flames, a walkin' torch
Long is the night without a friend, if you don't believe me just look at him
And he jumped head first into the shallow end

He married my grandma in '43, then Uncle Sam shipped him off to Italy
The 2nd war put blood on his hands, he lost his mind and he lost his friends
Since then, he ain't never been the same, and the single-malt seems to ease the pain
And he jumped head first into a shallow grave

The local Veterans Hall helped get him some land
Bought him a lumber mill in east Alabam
Daddy and my uncles did the best they could, workin' like the devil choppin' wood
Passed out in the loft on the hay, cigarette burned it all away
And he jumped head first back in the whiskey grave

So he moved to Texas with the oil field trash, rough neckin' Spindletop, barely any cash
Lost my uncle in a Vietcong den, so we drove to Houston where they flew the body in
About that time my folks had me, heard it eased my grandma through her misery
Then he jumped head first back into 1943

His old work truck's in the barn caked with rust, since grandma passed the place is full of dust
It's him and the single malt 'cept for holidays, when the grandkids come over and there ain't nothing to say
Long is the night without a friend, if ya don't believe me just look at him
And he jumped head first into the shallow end