Johnny Cash - One Piece at a Time lyrics
[Johnny Cash - One Piece at a Time lyrics]
Well, I left Kentucky back in '49
And went to Detroit working on assembly line
The first year they had me
Putting wheels on Cadillacs
Every day I'd watch them beauties roll by
And sometimes I'd hang my head and cry
Because I always wanted me one
That was long and black
One day I devised myself a plan
That should be the envy of most any man
I'd sneak it out of there in
A lunchbox in my hand
Now getting caught meant getting fired
But I figured I'd have it all
By the time I retired
I'd have me a car worth
At least a hundred grand
I'd get it one piece at a time
And it wouldn't cost me a dime
You'd know it's me when I
Come through your town
I'm going to ride around in style
I'm going to drive everybody wild
Because I'll have the only
One there is around
So the very next day when I punched in
With my big lunchbox
And with help from my friend
I left that day with a lunchbox full of gears
I've never considered myself a thief
But GM wouldn't miss just one little piece
Especially if I strung it
Out over several years
The first day I got me a fuel pump
And the next day I got me
An engine and a trunk
Then I got me a transmission
And all of the chrome
The little things I could get
In my big lunchbox
Like nuts, and bolts, and all four shocks
But the big stuff we snuck out
In my buddy's mobile home
Now, up to now my plan went all right
Until we tried to put it
All together one night
And that's when we noticed that
Something was definitely wrong
The transmission was a '53
And the motor turned out to be a '73
And when we tried to put in the
Bolts all the holes were gone
So we drilled it out so that it would fit
And with a little bit of help
From an a daptor kit
We had that engine running just like a song
Now the headlights, they was another sight
We had two on the left and one on the right
But when we pulled out the switch
All three of them come on
The back end looked kind of funny too
But we put it together and
When we got through
Well, that's when we noticed that
We only had one tail-fin
About that time my wife walked out
And I could see in her eyes
That she had her doubts
But she opened the door and said "Honey
Take me for a spin"
So we drove up town just to get the tags
And I headed her right on down main drag
I could hear everybody laughing
For blocks around but up there at the
Courthouse they didn't laugh
Because to type it up it took the whole staff
And when they got through the
Title weighed sixty pounds
I got it one piece at a time
And it didn't cost me a dime
You'll know it's me when I
Come through your town
I'm going to ride around in style
I'm going to drive everybody wild
Because I'll have the only
One there is around
Uh, yeah, Red Ryder?
This is the Cotton Mouth
In the Psycho-Billy Cadillac, come on
Huh? This is the Cotton Mouth
And negatory on the cost of
This mo chine, there, red Ryder
You might say I went right up to the factory
And picked it up, it's cheaper that way
Uh, what model is it?
Well, it's a '49, '50, '51
'52, '53, '54, '55, '56
'57, '58, '59 automobile
It's a '60, '61, '62
'63, '64, '65, '66, '67
'68, '69, '70 automobile
And went to Detroit working on assembly line
The first year they had me
Putting wheels on Cadillacs
Every day I'd watch them beauties roll by
And sometimes I'd hang my head and cry
Because I always wanted me one
That was long and black
One day I devised myself a plan
That should be the envy of most any man
I'd sneak it out of there in
A lunchbox in my hand
Now getting caught meant getting fired
But I figured I'd have it all
By the time I retired
I'd have me a car worth
At least a hundred grand
I'd get it one piece at a time
And it wouldn't cost me a dime
You'd know it's me when I
Come through your town
I'm going to ride around in style
I'm going to drive everybody wild
Because I'll have the only
One there is around
So the very next day when I punched in
With my big lunchbox
And with help from my friend
I left that day with a lunchbox full of gears
I've never considered myself a thief
But GM wouldn't miss just one little piece
Especially if I strung it
Out over several years
The first day I got me a fuel pump
And the next day I got me
An engine and a trunk
Then I got me a transmission
And all of the chrome
The little things I could get
In my big lunchbox
Like nuts, and bolts, and all four shocks
But the big stuff we snuck out
In my buddy's mobile home
Now, up to now my plan went all right
Until we tried to put it
All together one night
And that's when we noticed that
Something was definitely wrong
The transmission was a '53
And the motor turned out to be a '73
And when we tried to put in the
Bolts all the holes were gone
So we drilled it out so that it would fit
And with a little bit of help
From an a daptor kit
We had that engine running just like a song
Now the headlights, they was another sight
We had two on the left and one on the right
But when we pulled out the switch
All three of them come on
The back end looked kind of funny too
But we put it together and
When we got through
Well, that's when we noticed that
We only had one tail-fin
About that time my wife walked out
And I could see in her eyes
That she had her doubts
But she opened the door and said "Honey
Take me for a spin"
So we drove up town just to get the tags
And I headed her right on down main drag
I could hear everybody laughing
For blocks around but up there at the
Courthouse they didn't laugh
Because to type it up it took the whole staff
And when they got through the
Title weighed sixty pounds
I got it one piece at a time
And it didn't cost me a dime
You'll know it's me when I
Come through your town
I'm going to ride around in style
I'm going to drive everybody wild
Because I'll have the only
One there is around
Uh, yeah, Red Ryder?
This is the Cotton Mouth
In the Psycho-Billy Cadillac, come on
Huh? This is the Cotton Mouth
And negatory on the cost of
This mo chine, there, red Ryder
You might say I went right up to the factory
And picked it up, it's cheaper that way
Uh, what model is it?
Well, it's a '49, '50, '51
'52, '53, '54, '55, '56
'57, '58, '59 automobile
It's a '60, '61, '62
'63, '64, '65, '66, '67
'68, '69, '70 automobile