Sugar Pine

Music: Peter Sprague
Lyrics: Randy Phillips

Got dirt under my fingernails
Got sawdust on my boots
This land, it is my heritage,
My people and my roots

My Daddy’s Daddy built this farm
And me, I made it shine
What I have done with these two hands
I can truly call it mine

(Pre-chorus)
I’ve raised me up a family
A life well lived I’d say
There’s one last thing I want to do
Before it slips away

(chorus)
Sugar pine,
Gonna build me a coffin,
Sugar pine
Gonna fell me a tree
Mill it into lumber, a beauty, just you see..
Gonna forge the iron and hinge the lid
To fit me 6 feet under
Sugar pine
A box from a sugar pine tree

V.2
Whatever they may say of me
I’m just a simple man
And everything I ever was
I’ve given to this land

For everything it’s given back
I offer up my thanks
For fields and woods and rivers

And what grows here on the banks

I’ve raised me up a family
A life well lived I’d say
There’s one last thing I want to do
Before it slips away

Sugar pine,
Gonna build me a coffin
Sugar pine
Gonna fell me a tree
Mill it into lumber, a beauty, just you see
Gonna forge the iron, and hinge the lid
To fit me 6 feet under
Sugar pine
A box from a sugar pine tree

(Bridge)
Leave it open to the skies
Before it’s fastened,
Add a sprig of prairie sage
Tied up within
Let my two good horses pull
Steady the wagon
Past the old spring
Through the woods
Where I spent the best days of my
Childhood

V.3
Now my old age has me
And the seasons left are few
All I’ve taken from this good earth
I will pay when debts come due

Dig a grave by my sweet Ginny
Hoist the coffin down
Let my seven sons and grandsons
Lower me into the ground

(Pre-chorus)
I’ve raised me up a family
A life well lived I’d say
There’s one last thing I want to do
Before it slips away

Sugar pine,
Gonna build me a coffin,
Sugar pine
Gonna fell me a tree
Mill it into lumber, a beauty, just you see
Gonna forge the iron, and hinge the lid
To fit me 6 feet under
Sugar pine
A box from a sugar pine tree

(end tag)
To Everyone who’s ever loved me
Raise your whiskey or your wine
And just let my memory linger
Like the scent of the sweet
Sugar pine