| Me and that navy ain’t speakin' at sailin' I tell you I’m through
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| On the advice of a doc I got me a shock I had to have somethin' to do
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| These nerves I got are from soakin' too long when the ship got hit by a plane
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| And right here about four years back I met Grasshopper MacClain
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| The sun was a burnin' and the desert red hot when his mother drove in with a
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| flat
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| She went inside to cool off with a beer and I saw her kid in the back
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| He lay on the seat in the swelterin' heat with hair the color of flame
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| A red headed mite but smilin' and bright was little ol' Grasshopper MacClain
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| I fixed her tyre and was totin' him round when she asked me how much she owed
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| I just laughed and said boy I settle for him
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| And to my surprice she drove off down the road
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| I figured she’d sober and come hurryin' back but for three long years she never
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| came
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| And all that time I was mother and dad to little ol' Grasshopper MacClain
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| I’d tell him of ships I’d sailed on the seas when I put him in bed at night
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| And that freckle faced kid was as sharp as a tack and quick as a mate for a
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| fight
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| I thought I’d wait till he growed a bit and let him pick out his own name
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| One day he came in with a bug in his hand and he said me Grasshopper MacClain
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| Oh he’d mimic my walk and he’d mimic my talk
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| Like my shadow he just tagged me around
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| Even had to be checked every time I was checked by the navy doc over the town
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| The doc’d laugh and thump his little ole chest and say feller you’re right as
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| rain
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| Then he’d turn to me and tell me that I’d be a new man
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| Thanks to Grasshopper MacClain
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| I guess you wonder why I’m tellin' you this well that’s why I’m here doin' time
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| For a bang and a sheriff and a red headed dame that came to take what was mine
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| Oh but you should’ve seen the way he fought you could tell that kid was navy
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| trained
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| But this lonely cell wouldn’t be so much like hell if I only had Grasshopper
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| MacClain |