The Wine and the Wrath
Words and Music by Joe Bolinger
Cecil and Esther raised a good boy.
A redneck, a scholar, a beatnick, a ploy
A pretty good hookshot,
A bundle of joy.
And who’s that risin from the Indiana corn
A smart young fella who’s gonna get bored
At a prestigious school
his family can’t afford.
Chorus:
Hey dad you walked the line.
You paid your dues, you did your time.
You raised me good, and I turned out fine.
The grapes of wrath, and a bottle of wine.
Searchin and searchin for the right way to be
With Shakespeare and Dylan and Woody Guthrie.
His hair may be long,
but he ain’t no hippie.
He’d go to work when it was still night
To teach all the inmates to read and to write.
He rose from his warm bed
a battle to fight.
Chorus
Bridge
Shakespeare on a cold night.
A glass of whiskey and a game.
Teach me things I don’t need to know
But I’ll listen just the same.
A game of catch, the summer’s drawing near.
Let’s load up that Metro and drive it outta here.
We’ll come home on backroads
And watch out for deer.
And if he gets mad, he’ll throw down his hat.
He’ll pick it back up again and that will be that.
While all the other coaches are just
Padding their stats.
Chorus
They finally let him out, he took to the streets
In a retirement bike with a gel padded seat.
He lives off of grapefruit and
Oatmeal and meat.
Now he and mom and bunkering down
For another hard winter in that hillbilly town
With me and my brother just
Comin around.
Chorus
A redneck, a scholar, a beatnick, a ploy
A pretty good hookshot,
A bundle of joy.
And who’s that risin from the Indiana corn
A smart young fella who’s gonna get bored
At a prestigious school
his family can’t afford.
Chorus:
Hey dad you walked the line.
You paid your dues, you did your time.
You raised me good, and I turned out fine.
The grapes of wrath, and a bottle of wine.
Searchin and searchin for the right way to be
With Shakespeare and Dylan and Woody Guthrie.
His hair may be long,
but he ain’t no hippie.
He’d go to work when it was still night
To teach all the inmates to read and to write.
He rose from his warm bed
a battle to fight.
Chorus
Bridge
Shakespeare on a cold night.
A glass of whiskey and a game.
Teach me things I don’t need to know
But I’ll listen just the same.
A game of catch, the summer’s drawing near.
Let’s load up that Metro and drive it outta here.
We’ll come home on backroads
And watch out for deer.
And if he gets mad, he’ll throw down his hat.
He’ll pick it back up again and that will be that.
While all the other coaches are just
Padding their stats.
Chorus
They finally let him out, he took to the streets
In a retirement bike with a gel padded seat.
He lives off of grapefruit and
Oatmeal and meat.
Now he and mom and bunkering down
For another hard winter in that hillbilly town
With me and my brother just
Comin around.
Chorus