Lyr Req: Grandmother's Song (Pierce Pettis)

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Grandmother's Song (Pierce Pettis)
From: GUEST,paddymac, cookieless again, dang it.
Date: 10 Oct 04 - 05:40 PM

Pierce has most emphatically not stopped performing. I saw him here in Tallahassee about two months ago. He is originally from Alabama, spent some time her, then went on to Nashville where he had some success as a songwriter. At present, he lives in northern Alabama, enjoying his family and gigging when it suits him. He usually does 2-3 shows a year her, where he has a loyal following. He has a unique talent for writing songs about everyday happenings that lots of folks can easily identify with.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Grandmother's Song (Pierce Pettis)
From: GUEST,Jennifer in Cambridge
Date: 10 Oct 04 - 11:58 AM

Thanks so much for your speedy replies! I heard the song recently on an unternet stre. I can't remember from where, unfortunately, but I'm sure the presenter dsaid that Pierce Pettis had stopped performing due to some adverse critique a while ago and the song wasn't available anymore. Do you know if that's true? I've visited the website you gave, Joe, and there seems to be a release this year!

Jennifer

Subject: ADD: Grandmother's Song (Pierce Pettis)
From: Joe Offer
Date: 10 Oct 04 - 02:19 AM

Gee, what a powerful song!
-Joe Offer-

---

Grandmother's Song
(Pierce Pettis)

My grandmother wrote poetry
That she rarely let other people read
And the words were sweet though they never did meet
With critical acclaim
But the ones who read it often said
This ought to be published
This ought to be read
But she would not agree
And they said it was a shame

That the world could
Continue to turn
Unaware and unconcerned
And never even know it
That she was a poet
A poet in her own time

From the time she was a gangly girl
Her books took her off to another world
Of Ivanhoe, Henry David Thoreau, and Edgar Allan Poe
But in Mississippi people don't generally read
They just look at pictures in magazines
So it's not a surprise that she kept to herself
And spent her time alone

And she did pretty well in school
She went to teacher's college too
But the teachers didn't know it
That she was a poet
A poet in her own time

Well, she met and she married a railroad man
She didn't do so much writing then
His work made him travel about
"Southern Serves the South"
And the Great Depression swept on in
Like a cold, unexpected northern wind
He forgot to come home one day
And she was left with three kids to raise

And there was nothing else a woman could do
Except to draw her paycheck
Teaching school
And the pupils didn't know it
But teacher was a poet
A poet in her own time

Now my grandmother lies in a crumpled bed
And at night she hears voices in her head
And the family worries in the whispering dark
If she's got her religion right
It's a hardening of the arteries
It's a softening of the mind
And I mean to go and see her, but I
Cannot ever seem to find the time

And at the nurses' station at night
They work crossword puzzles by the switchboard light
And the nurses don't know it
But grandma was a poet
A poet in her own time

Yeah the nurses don't know it
But grandma is a poet
A poet in her own time

© 1984 Let's Have Lunch Music (ASCAP)

from the Tinseltown CD booklet

---

More information about Pierce Pettis at http://www.piercepettis.com

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Grandmother's Song
From: Peace
Date: 09 Oct 04 - 05:55 PM

The song is on the CD? Tinseltown by Pierce Pettis.

One stanza I could find so far is this:

"Grandmother's Song":

    Now my grandmother lies in a crumpled bed
    And at night she hears voices in her head
    And the family worries in the whispering dark
    If she's got her religion right
    It's a hardening of the arteries
    It's a softening of the mind
    And I mean to go and see her, but I
    Cannot ever seem to find the time

Subject: Lyr Req: Grandmother's Song
From: GUEST,Jennifer in Cambridge
Date: 09 Oct 04 - 05:49 PM

Can anyone provide me with the words and music for this Pierce Pettis' composition, please?