Nick Tressler
Raised Rowdy Founder who wishes honky tonks didn’t have a closing time
Every once in a while you hear a song and it just takes you to a moment or time. That song does what country music is best at. It makes you feel something. Actually the best songs make you feel more than something, they make you feel everything all at once. This is the power of the best country music.
Riley Green hit those heart strings with his newest unreleased track “Grandpas Never Died”. Many writers pen songs almost daily in hopes of hitting a home run like this track. This might not ever be Riley’s biggest hit, but it will touch the hearts and lives of so many of his listeners and that is REALLY what country music is about.
At his core, Riley Green is a songwriter. Sure he’s a great entertainer and puts on a great live performance. Everyone that has been lucky enough to see his live show knows that. But the true power he holds are in the words he sings and way he can make you clinch to every phrase. Not everyone has that.
Riley wrote this track solo, a feat he was known for before he got to music city, before any record labels came calling when Riley was just, well, Riley. So it’s great to see even though he’s surrounded by some of the most talented songwriters in the genre he still takes the time to just sit down with a guitar and his thoughts and write a song as special as “Grandpas Never Died”.
Riley was kind enough to send us over the lyrics so you all can start learning them word for word to sing back to him at shows. This one is pretty freaking special folks.
“Grandpas Never Died”
Verse 1:
I wish girls you love never gave back diamond rings
I wish every porch had a swing
I wish kids still learned to say sir and ma’am, how to shake a hand.. I wish every state had a Birmingham
I wish everyone knew the words to “Momma Tried”
And Monday mornings felt a little more like Friday nights
Chorus:
I wish even cars had truck beds
And every road was named Copperhead
And every cooler held a million cold Bud Lights
I wish high school home teams never lost
And small town drinkin kids never got caught
I wish the price of gas was low and cotton was high
I wish honky tonks didn’t have no closing time…
And grandpas never died
Verse 2:
I wish Sundays on a creekbank would never end
Wish I could learn to drive again
I wish that first time seventeen she was my everything kiss in a Chevrolet could happen everyday
I wish everybody over seas was gonna make it home
And country music still got played on country radio
Chorus
I wish even cars had truck beds
And every road was named Copperhead
And every cooler held a million cold Bud Lights
I wish high school home teams never lost
And small town drinkin kids never got caught
I wish the price of gas was low and cotton was high
I wish honky tonks didn’t have no closing time…
And grandpas never died
Bridge
I wish good dogs never got grey and old
I wish farms never got sold
Chorus
I wish even cars had truck beds
And every road was named Copperhead
And every cooler held a million cold Bud Lights
I wish high school home teams never lost
And small town drinkin kids never got caught
I wish the price of gas was low and cotton was high
I wish honky tonks didn’t have no closing time…
And grandpas never died
These words, they aren’t just words. They are emotional expression. Honestly we have not seen this level of vivid imagery from Riley since “Bury Me in Dixie” which is one of the songs that catapulted him to fame.
These lyrics, though expressed in the most simple way, mean so much. The song takes you through the sometimes painful, sometimes pleasant, but always introspective road of memories. Each line takes you on a turn down that road. Like a girl giving back a ring, or a cooler full of beers. Farms getting sold, your favorite songs like Copperhead Road being played. A family business struggling, Sunday nights on a creekbank with those you hold dearest and the loss of one of your mentors. The journey is the beauty. It makes us who we are and if it wasn’t for the heartbreak those good times with your friends wouldn’t be as meaningful.
It’s tears, smiles, hugs, the high fives, and more tears… but in the end, it’s what makes life, well, life.
Thank you Riley for writing songs that not only sound good, but ones that can touch your heart in so many different ways. Only the best of the best can give you that full range of emotions all wrapped up in simple lyrics and a clean melody. We Thank you for that. And here is to so many more years of getting to hear this man create songs that you just can’t stop listening to.