Claire Okpeah ran to Barrow
16 miles across the tundra
From the seal camp at Walokpah on the shore
And the rescue boat sent flyin' down
The desolate Bering shoreline found
The wreckage of the Lockheed, nothin' more
So they pried the cabin open
Freed the bodies, bruised and broken
From the engine that was pushed back past the door
Cleared away the gear and signal flags
Wrapped both men in their sleeping bags
And cruised back North much slower than before

When they brought him home to Claremore in the center of the plains
'N' laid him deep beneath the prairie soil
And they raised a marble stand, 'n' people stood with empty hands
And they said "this country ain't never gonna see that kind of man again"
For the center of his gravity was always in the plains
And he never met a man he didn't like
All he knew was what he read in the papers so he said
So we can let Congress write their jokes
But somebody's just gotta get 'em said!
And the center of his gravity was somewhere in the plains
And he never met a man he didn't like



sorry 'bout that break in the middle
Copyright by BEE 2 thousand and something