John Henry Bosworth, late in 'sixty-eight Decided that the time had come to settle his estate The riots of the summer were creeping into fall So he packed his family in the car And chose to leave it all Out on the open road with his elbow in the breeze He pulled his woman to him And he gave her heart a squeeze With a song that he'd been singing And they waved to the people that they passed All along the highway they went winging Headed for their paradise at last John Henry Bosworth's family on the farm Elizabeth is sitting knitting from a ball of yarn Koolaid's in the kitchen, Button's up in her bed And John he takes a long pull on his pipe And lays his head back in the easy chair With the Good Book in his hand He close his eyes and thank the Lord for making him a lucky man With a song that he'd been singing And they waved to the people that they passed All along the highway they were winging Headed for their paradise at last John Henry Bosworth, 1984 The sky is red, the city's dead And there's a knock upon the door Every piece of Scripture, every prayer he prayed Had brought him to this moment Of this particular day "Open the doors" he cried, "Let the brothers and the sisters inside I got everything to give now and nothing left to hide". With a song that he'd been singing And they waved to the people that they passed All along the highway they'd been winging Headed for their paradise at last And I was wondering if you had been to the mountain To look at the valley below? Did you see all the roads tangled down in the valley? Did you know which way to go? Oh the mountain stream runs pure and clear And I wish to my soul I could always be here But there's a reason for living way down in the valley That only the mountain knows