The Kid From Spavinaw

Intro: verse 1 I was born in Oklahoma Nineteen thirty-one Outside the town of Spavinaw Where the red dust clouds the sun And I ran beneath your diamond skies And I drank your waves of grain My name is Mickey Mantle, boys And baseball is my game verse 2 My father's name was 'Mutt', boy And he worked down in the mines He pitched to me in the evening At least a thousand times A thousand times again In my nightmare and my dreams You're gonna live in the house that Ruth built, kid You're gonna make that Yankee team verse 3 Sure enough, the Yankee scout comes driving Right down Route 66 He'd have never come to Spavinaw Class ball in the sticks But I happened to be playing in an old wood ballpark Way out on the Mother Road That Yankee scout he signed me And I went up to the show verse 4 Strike 1, that was the drinking Strike 2, there go the knees Then my old man died in Denver Some type of lung disease When god starts throwing changeups You can't swing with fame or wealth If I'd known I's gonna live this long I'd taken care of myself Instrumental Verse 5 I don't miss the lights of Times Square I don't miss Toots Shore's bar I miss my old man pitching baseball Near the shed in our backyard I wish that he were still around To see these trophies on my shelf If I'd a-known I was going to live this long I'd taken better care of myself Outro: I was born in Oklahoma Nineteen thirty-one Outside the town of Spavinaw Where the red dust clouds the sun