The story behind this song
The third step still creaks, and somebody lets the screen door slap behind them on purpose, just so the house sounds right. He'd knock his pipe twice on the rail and a story would start — the storm getting bigger every summer, the fish gaining twenty pounds a year, and nobody ever corrected him, because the telling was the gift. Pipe smoke and cut grass; that's still how June smells.
The rocker sits empty now, but the porch still knows his voice.
For the grandkid who keeps the legend growing, knocking twice on the railing before they begin — just like he did.
Lyrics
The third step still creaks, Grandpa
I let the screen door slap behind me
Just so the house sounds right
I let the screen door slap behind me
Just so the house sounds right
You'd knock your pipe twice on the rail — that's how a story started
The storm kept getting bigger every summer that you told it
The fish gained twenty pounds a year, the snow rose past the windows
And we let it grow, 'cause the telling was the gift
The storm kept getting bigger every summer that you told it
The fish gained twenty pounds a year, the snow rose past the windows
And we let it grow, 'cause the telling was the gift
Now the chair rocks empty
But this porch still knows your voice
But this porch still knows your voice
So I came to tell one back to you, Grandpa, in the dark
About a man who built a family out of stories and a porch
I'll get some details wrong — you'd want it that way
A legend's not supposed to stay the size of facts
This one's yours
About a man who built a family out of stories and a porch
I'll get some details wrong — you'd want it that way
A legend's not supposed to stay the size of facts
This one's yours
Pipe smoke and cut grass — that's still how June smells to me
Lightning bugs on the railing where your coffee used to sit
You waved at every truck that passed, whether you knew them or not
Half this town can tell me stories I was raised on
Lightning bugs on the railing where your coffee used to sit
You waved at every truck that passed, whether you knew them or not
Half this town can tell me stories I was raised on
Now the chair rocks empty
But this porch still knows your voice
But this porch still knows your voice
So I came to tell one back to you, Grandpa, in the dark
About a man who built a family out of stories and a porch
I'll get some details wrong — you'd want it that way
A legend's not supposed to stay the size of facts
This one's yours
About a man who built a family out of stories and a porch
I'll get some details wrong — you'd want it that way
A legend's not supposed to stay the size of facts
This one's yours
Last night the youngest asked me how the big storm story goes
I knocked twice on the railing before I started in
And somewhere in the dark I heard you laughing
The story's still growing, Grandpa
You're in it now
I knocked twice on the railing before I started in
And somewhere in the dark I heard you laughing
The story's still growing, Grandpa
You're in it now
So I came to tell one back to you, Grandpa, in the dark
About a man who built a family out of stories and a porch
I'll get some details wrong — you'd want it that way
A legend's not supposed to stay the size of facts
This one's yours
About a man who built a family out of stories and a porch
I'll get some details wrong — you'd want it that way
A legend's not supposed to stay the size of facts
This one's yours
The third step creaks
The chair's not empty if I close my eyes
Tell me the one about — ah. You know the one.
The chair's not empty if I close my eyes
Tell me the one about — ah. You know the one.
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