Originally written in August 1974
Well I’m driving up to Nashville,
I’m gonna be a country star,
Singing my first song,
About this wreck I call my car.
I don’t know where I’ll go,
When I get to Nashville,
But I’ll cut me a record boy,
And stay ‘til I’ve had my fill.
I’ll be lost — when I get there,
Cause I don’t know where to go,
The odds are stacked against me,
‘Cause there’s no one there I know.
Oh my Nashville, how I love to say your name,
Oh my Nashville, how I long to play your game.
So many men have made money,
Singin’ ‘bout gettin’ drunk,
Or their pappy back in prison,
Or fightin’ some high school punk.
Well I don’t care much for drinking,
and “Bruiser” ain’t my name,
But when it come’s to making money son,
Boy you’re playing my game.
Look out Nashville….
I’m gonnabeller out loud.
Singin’ ‘bout my Pappy,
And all the miles he’s plowed.
Oh my Nashville, how I love to say your name,
Oh my Nashville, how I long to play your game.
Oh — lookout Nashville,
Here comes your new Country King,
He’s comin’ from the South,
And a town called New Orleans.
And Lord, I better make it,
‘Cause if I don’t,
I’ll disappoint some Cajuns
Way down in the swamp.
There’s Boudreaux and there’s Thibodeaux,
And my girlfriend Betty Lou,
There’s Mama, and there’s Pappy,
And my ex-wife Peggy Sue.
Oh, my Nashville, how I love to say your name,
Oh, my Nashville, how I long to play your game.
God can only help me,
I’ll pray to him every day,
I’ll walk the streets and knock-on doors,
Get a job so I can stay.
Whether open mic, or on the streets,
I’ll be singing every night and evermore.
Building my brand, whileplaying the game,
Getting’ on the airwaves, from shore to shore . . . ah shore
I’ll sing about love and sing about loss,
I’ll write songs every night and every morn,
Reaching and grasping for some kind of fame,
With the gift God gave me when I was born.
Oh, my Nashville, how I love to say your name,
Oh, my Nashville, how I long to play your game.
Mailed to Myself on July 19, 2025
Copyright July 19, 2025, by Stephen Craig Whitley – All Rights Reserved
