1940
This song is based on a true story—the lives of our co-writer Randy Barber’s grandparents. We did take certain liberties to make the story flow. His grandparents were actually married in the back of a department store on a Friday night, after closing time. That is such a great part of the story that it was tough to lose it, but we had all kinds of trouble getting “Woolworth’s” to fit with our melody, rhymes, and syllable count.
Eventually, we were able to come up with the good image of him walking a long distance to town, then shining his dusty shoes before they got married at the courthouse. But there really is a brother ‘Earl’, and Randy’s grandmother did wear a blue wedding dress. The baby, Randy’s Mom, wasn’t actually born in June (but it rhymes with two, you know), but her Dad did build the house himself—with a little help from friends and family.
This was a nice one to finish, a nice tribute to Randy’s grandparents.
