[Intro — spoken, low, over lone electric guitar and Hammond organ] My grandson asked me why there’s a duck on the bottle. So I told him. [Verse 1] We were three boys on a farm outside of town An old tin tub beside the water tank Where the three of us would cool the summer down And nobody kept score and nobody drank One had a spine like a fencepost One had a heart like a hymn And me, well, I was the wild one The one they never could pin [Chorus] One was the backbone, one was the soft one And I was the duck Three men in a tub, no rules and no reasons And a whole lot of luck Cabernet for the one who stood up Merlot for the one who gave in And something a little bit wild in the middle That’s where I come in [Verse 2] I rode a motorbike out of that valley A crate of records and a head full of jazz Ten years of noise in the city Chasing whatever a wild one has Came home with nothing but a leather apron And the two of them met me at the gate The backbone said, “You’re late” The soft one said, “We saved you a plate” [Chorus] One was the backbone, one was the soft one And I was the duck Three men in a tub, no rules and no reasons And a whole lot of luck Cabernet for the one who stood up Merlot for the one who gave in And something a little bit wild in the middle That’s where I come in [Verse 3] The backbone’s up on the hill now Been there going on three years The soft one still cries at weddings And I still bring the duck, to hear him cheer So we set the table by the fire Lamb chops, his chair pulled in And a bottle with the three of us on it Same as it was. Same as it’s been. [Bridge — spoken, low, over guitar and Hammond only] People ask me why there’s a rubber duck on a serious bottle of wine. I tell them: one real friend in a lifetime is a lot. Two is more than most people get. Three is nearly impossible. So when you find three, you put something daft on the label so nobody ever takes it too seriously. He’d have hated that. He’d have loved it. [Final Chorus] One was the backbone, one was the soft one And I was the duck Three men in a tub, no rules and no reasons And a whole lot of luck Cabernet for the one who stood up Merlot for the one who gave in And something a little bit wild in the middle That’s where I come in [Outro] That’s where I come in. [Spoken] That’s where we all come in, boy. Pour your grandmother a glass.
