He was born in Dixon, Holland in 1893
Never had no running water,
no electricity
He raised his own tobacco
and he raised a family
And he always said
you can't go wrong with life
If you do what's mountain bright
Stand your ground straight and tall
Mountain bright
Hold on proud if you must fall
This has always been our land
And I love it more than life
When I die I know that I
Left mountain ride
A car rolled up one day
The U .S. highway on the door
The interstate is coming through
You can't live here anymore
The old man said my pa lived here
And my grandpa before
And I ain't giving up
without a fight
Gonna do what's mountain right
They came back to give him
one last chance
To change his mind
They came with guns and dogs
And talked through megaphones
This time
The old man said, I told you once
I'm not the running kind
And if you boys don't shoot first
I just might
And I'll be mountain bright
Gonna stand my ground
straight and tall
Mountain bright
And say to hell with all of y 'all
If you're gonna take my land
You're gonna have to take my life
But when I die,
I'll know that I was mountain drivin'
Now if you gas up addiction,
ask anyone in town
They'll point you to a cabin
that the highway goes around
You can be the headstone
where his epitaph is found
It says God may judge him
in a different light
But here he was mountain bright
Stood his ground straight and tall
Mountain bright
Said I'll fall proud if I must fall
This has always been his land
And he loved it more than life
And when he died
He knew inside
That he was mountain bright
He was born in Dixon, Holland
In 1893
Never had no running water
No electricity
He raised his own tobacco
and he raised a family
And he always said
you can't go wrong in life
If you do what's mountain right
If you do what's mountain right
Gonna stand proud, gonna stand tall,
just say to hell with all of y 'all,
do what's mountain mild.