We grew up in a holler where the coal dust blew
Little wood house with a rusty tin roof
Money was thin, but the love ran deep
Seven of us kids in a room to sleep
My boots had holes where the gravel would bite
Daddy’d wrap ’em in tape just to get me through the night
They’d squeak and flap when I walked to school
But a poor boy learns to make do
I wore my brother’s pants when I got too tall
He got ’em from the oldest one of all
Patches on the knees and the seams wore thin
But Mama’d wash ’em clean and send us back again
Dinner some nights was biscuits and beans
Cast iron skillet and a pot of greens
Mama and Daddy would smile and say they’d ate
But they waited till the kids cleaned every plate
But come Sunday mornin’ when the church bells rang
Mama’d press a shirt and Daddy’d comb our hair straight
Hand-me-down jacket and a secondhand vest
But Lord we walked in wearin’ our Sunday best
Shoes shined up though the soles were thin
Voices raised when the choir sang hymns
We might’ve been poor like the folks all guessed
But we stood up proud in our Sunday best
Preacher talked ’bout heaven and a better day
Sun through the windows lit the dust our way
Mama closed her eyes when the singing rose
Daddy bowed his head real slow
After church we’d laugh out in the yard
Shake old hands and talk real hard
Didn’t matter if the truck barely ran
We felt rich just holdin’ hands
Cause come Sunday mornin’ when the church bells rang
Mama’d press a shirt and Daddy’d comb our hair straight
Hand-me-down jacket and a secondhand vest
But Lord we walked in wearin’ our Sunday best
Shoes shined up though the soles were thin
Voices raised when the choir sang hymns
We might’ve been poor like the folks all guessed
But we stood up proud in our Sunday best
Now I got kids of my own these days
Little more money, little easier ways
But I still remember them mountain roads
And the love in that small home
Yeah those taped-up boots and those hand-me-down threads
Biscuits and beans and the prayers we said
We didn’t have much by the world’s request
But we had enough in our Sunday best
Shoes shined up though the soles were thin
Hearts full up when the hymns rolled in
Lord I’d give it all just to stand there again
In that little church, Wearing my Sunday best
“Our Sunday Best” is track number 1 on the Thumper Barrel album, In A Coal Town.
Track: Our Sunday Best
Album: In A Coal Town
ISRC: QZNWY2695559
ASCAP: 935077934