[Verse 1: Heartland-rock male lead, gritty and drivin' over huge live drums, piano and jangle guitar] Hundred degrees on the county road, and not a lick of shade Just a sapling in a bucket and a borrowed rusty spade Twelve dollars at the co-op for a bur oak two feet tall Lady at the register said "honey, that's a long haul" Dale leans on his fence and spits and says "Wade, you're forty-one That tree'll shade a dog in eighty years, and you'll be long gone, son" And he's right, I did the numbers on the back of the receipt I'll be dirt before this thing can cool a single pair of feet [Pre-Hook: Heartland-rock male lead, drums buildin', tambourine] Dale keeps throwin' shade across the wire at me Whoa, I'm puttin' shade into the ground, you'll see [Hook: Heartland-rock male lead, full band, huge drums, piano poundin'] Go on and throw your shade, I'll be plantin' mine instead Eighty summers 'fore it's big enough to cool somebody's head I won't ever sit beneath it, and I'll never see it tall But I'm diggin' in this county like I'm gonna see it all [Verse 2: Heartland-rock male lead, harder, piano on every beat] I water it from milk jugs every evenin' after work Grasshoppers chew a leaf or two, the wind gives it a jerk Hail in August beat it flat, I staked it with a broom Lightning took the cottonwood and left my oak a little room Knee-high now, three summers in, I measure every inch Dale still laughs, but I caught him with his hose on it once in a pinch [Pre-Hook: Heartland-rock male lead, drums buildin', tambourine] Dale keeps throwin' shade across the wire at me Whoa, I'm puttin' shade into the ground, you'll see [Hook: Heartland-rock male lead, full band, huge drums, piano poundin'] Go on and throw your shade, I'll be plantin' mine instead Eighty summers 'fore it's big enough to cool somebody's head I won't ever sit beneath it, and I'll never see it tall But I'm diggin' in this county like I'm gonna see it all [Verse 3: Heartland-rock male lead, canopy open, piano and jangle guitar open into one wide ringing chord and the drums hit twice as hard] Then I sit down for my water break the way I always do Underneath the giant oak out at the corner, and I look up Somebody stood right here a hundred years ago and dug In the same red clay, in the same dumb heat, with a spade and a water jug And a neighbor at the fence said "you won't live to see it, friend" And he didn't, and I've rested in his shade since I was ten Forty years I've been coolin' off in a stranger's afternoon Never knew his name, never saw his face, never heard his tune So whoever's comin' eighty years from now, I dug it deep for you [Final Hook: Heartland-rock male lead, full band, huge drums, piano poundin'] Go on and throw your shade, I'll be plantin' mine instead Eighty summers 'fore it's big enough to cool somebody's head I won't ever sit beneath it, and I'll never see it tall But I'm diggin' in this county like I'm gonna see it all [End]
