Copperhead Road [German translation]

Well, my name's John Lee Peddimore.

Same as my daddy and his daddy's before.

You hardly ever saw granddaddy down here.

He'd only come to town about twice a year.

To buy a hundred pounds o' yeast and some copper line.

Everybody knew that we made moonshine.

Now, the revenue man wanted granddaddy bad.

Headed up the holler1 with everything he had.

Before my time, but I've been told.

You never come back from Copperhead Road.

Granddaddy ran whisky in a big black Dodge.

Bought it at an auction at the Mason's Lodge.

Johnson County Sheriff painted on the side.

Just shot coat of primer, then he looked inside.

Well, him and my uncle tore that engine down.

I still remember that rumbling sound.

Then the sheriff came around in the middle of the night.

Heard mama crying that something wasn't right.

He was headed down to Knoxville with the weekly load.

You could smell the whisky burning down Copperhead Road.

I volunteered for the army on my birthday.

They draft the white trash first, 'round hear anyway.

I done two tours of duty in Vietnam.

I came home with a brand new plan.

I'd take the seed from Columbia and Mexico.

I just planted up a holler down Copperhead Road.

Now the D.E.A.'s got a chopper in the air.

I wake up in a scream like I'm back over there.

I learned a thing or two from Charlie2, don't you know?

You better stay away from Copperhead Road.

Copperhead Road

Copperhead Road

Ha! Copperhead Road

1. (Appalachian English) a valley between two hills or a small clearing2. an umbrella organization that included a Communist guerrilla force in South Vietnam, which the Southern government and the foreigners referred to as the Việt Nam Cộng-sản (which means "Vietnamese Communists"), usually shortened to Việt Cộng. The Americans shortened this to "V.C." and then used the phonetic alphabet for the initials: "Victor Charlie." And of course, that was shortened to plain old "Charlie."

• Artist:Steve Earle