John Hartford When The Sky Began To Fall
So you went and bought a book and now you stand right here and say you know it all
But where were you when all the guns went off the fire was hot and sky began to fall
Give an illustrated lecture are you're wantin' all the credit are we all supposed to stand around in awe
Tell me where were you when all the girls went home and the sky began to fall
You are standin' right in front of this ol' boy you don't intend to even see
Who could tell to you some things that most of which I do not think that you'd believe
Right now he's standin' there a starin' holes into the middle of your back
Cause he was really there when you didn't even know where it was at
Better step aside before he burns you when the holes go clean on through the cloth
He knows you were a thousand miles away back when the sky began to fall
He was standin' in the snow and he didn't have a hat or even shoes
With so much to load his mind that he'd been happy if it just had been the blues
I asked him what he thought but he didn't have a chance to say a word
Cause before I finished up you answered for him with a fairytale that everybody here had already heard
Some impressions of some things you didn't see but yet you think you mighta saw
Like you were leadin' in the stumble and the rumble when the sky began to fall
You're posin' for the camera wonderin' what you haven't said you oughta say
I wish they'd hurry up and pin a ribbon on your chest and maybe then you'd go away
All these battles that you fight and all these mountains in the jungles that you climb
You produced in technicolor on the movie lots a growing in your mind
Maybe next time that it happens you would only come so far and then only look
And only when the smoke had cleared then you could read about it in some book
That's the safest way to learn about the things you know you hadn't really saw
And no one would see you runnin' to your mother when the sky begins to fall
