LYRICS OF THE WEEK: Three Wooden Crosses By Kim Williams and Doug Johnson

We’re posting lyrics of hit songs so that our songwriters can study them to see how winning songs are constructed. Of course a lot depends on the melody, the rhythm and the artist as to whether or not the song will sell… and whether or not it is in the right place at the right time!

So this week’s Featured Lyrics are from songwriters Kim Williams and Doug Johnson, and made famous by country singer Randy Travis.

My favorite lines are, “I guess it’s not what you take when you leave this world behind you, It’s what you leave behind you when you go.”

Lyrics to “Three Wooden Crosses”

A farmer and a teacher, a hooker and a preacher,
Ridin’ on a midnight bus bound for Mexico
One’s headed for vacation, one for higher education,
An’ two of them were searchin’ for lost souls
That driver never ever saw the stop sign
An’ eighteen wheelers can’t stop on a dime

There are three wooden crosses on the right side of the highway,
Why there’s not four of them, Heaven only knows
I guess it’s not what you take when you leave this world behind you,
It’s what you leave behind you when you go

That farmer left a harvest, a home and eighty acres,
The faith an’ love for growin’ things in his young son’s heart
An’ that teacher left her wisdom in the minds of lots of children:
Did her best to give ’em all a better start
An’ that preacher whispered, “Can’t you see the Promised Land?”
As he laid his blood-stained bible in that hooker’s hand

There are three wooden crosses on the right side of the highway,
Why there’s not four of them, Heaven only knows
I guess it’s not what you take when you leave this world behind you,
It’s what you leave behind you when you go

That’s the story that our preacher told last Sunday
As he held that blood-stained bible up,
For all of us to see
He said “Bless the farmer, and the teacher, an’ the preacher
Who gave this Bible to my mama,
Who read it to me”

There are three wooden crosses on the right side of the highway,
Why there’s not four of them, now I guess we know
It’s not what you take when you leave this world behind you,
It’s what you leave behind you when you go

There are three wooden crosses on the right side of the highway

# # # #
Songwriters Kim Williams and Doug Johnson

Published by Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Warner/Chappell Music, Inc.

http://www.metrolyrics.com/three-wooden-crosses-lyrics-randy-travis.html