ANVIL HEART AND HAMMER HANDS (OUTLAW COUNTRY) - Levi Stoker
Daddy was a blacksmith down in Iron County
Living off the heat and the timber bounty
Taught me how to take the hit, taught me how to bend
How to shape a piece of steel that wouldn't snap or end
I done spent forty years at the furnace door
Sweat drippin' heavy on the concrete floor
They brought in machines, said my work was done
Left me standin' empty under the noonday sun
Got grease in my pores and coal in my chest
And a stubborn spirit that won't take a rest
When the world comes down with a heavy blow
It only strikes a spark in the dark below
I set my feet in the red dirt clay
And I pound out a life in my own damn way
I got an anvil heart and hammer hands
Forged in the fire of these Southern lands
Let the sparks fly high, let the metal ring
I'm endurin' the songs that the shadows sing
You can beat on the rhythm, you can push me to the edge
I'm holdin' the line on a razor-thin ledge
I won't splinter, I won't bend
With an anvil heart, I'll break you in the end
My wife's got a limp from an old fall down
Daughter needs tuition in a college town
I take extra shifts at the scrap metal yard
Where the work is heavy and the hours are hard
My knuckles are thick and my palms are scarred
From pullin' heavy loads through a broken backyard
They can measure my wealth in a copper coin
But they can't weigh the strength in a workin' man's groin
I got an anvil heart and hammer hands
Forged in the fire of these Southern lands
Let the sparks fly high, let the metal ring
I'm endurin' the songs that the shadows sing
You can beat on the rhythm, you can push me to the edge
I'm holdin' the line on a razor-thin ledge
I won't splinter, I won't bend
With an anvil heart, I'll break you in the end
So strike the iron while the fire's hot
I'm standin' right here on the lot I bought
You can beat on my chest till the hammer breaks
I'm made of the stuff that the thunder makes
I got an anvil heart and hammer hands
Forged in the fire of these Southern lands
Let the sparks fly high, let the metal ring
I'm endurin' the songs that the shadows sing
You can beat on the rhythm, you can push me to the edge
I'm holdin' the line on a razor-thin ledge
I won't splinter, I won't bend
With an anvil heart, I'll break you in the end
Let the iron cool
The sparks fadin' out
Hammer hands
Still holdin' on
