Wooden Nickels (c)

                                 Joyce Rapier

Verse: 

 Don't take no wooden nickels I heard the old man say.

You can't get nothin' for'em, even on a rainy day.

I didn't understand the old man on the porch,

as he rocked back hard in that old cane chair

and he said it loud once more.

Chorus:

Don't take no wooden nickels, son, no wooden nickels please

You can't get nothin' for'em 'cept a little girlish tease.

Don't take no wooden nickels, take instead old wooden lore

Cause another wooden nickel, is as wooden as the one before.

Verse:

Don't take no wooden nickels kept rumblin' in my mind

I wondered what that old man meant as I left him far behind.

That night I asked my poppa 'bout what the old man said.

"It's because that old man likes you son, he sees you in the life that he's led."

Verse:

The old man and I, through the years, became the best of friends

He spun tales’o gold, of fishin' holes, and kite streams in the air.

Blue trolleys rollin' down, dusty broken cobblestones,  of river floats, calliopes and the wooden nickels in his coat.

Verse:

Don't take no wooden nickels became a part of me

because of the wooden nickels, the old man gave to me.

I’m glad I took the time for the wrinkled old man’s prose,

As a child I liked the nickel, as a man I cherish it most.

Repeat Chorus

Tag:      Cause another wooden nickel, son, is as wooden as the one before.