There was a man I used to pass
On my way into town
He was covered in dirt like the world had beat him down
I often wondered how he ended up like that
So one day driving home
I pulled over to ask
I said, “Man, where’d it all go wrong?”
He said, “Son, do you really wanna know?”
“My daddy left for another woman
Moved off to L.A.
My mama fought hard against that cancer
She died when I was eight
I finished school, my country shipped me off to war
When I came home, my whole world didn’t love me anymore”
“It’s hard to see all that when you’re driving by
So I just write down, “Jesus saves”
‘Cause there ain’t no way I could fit that on a sign
I can’t fit that on a sign”
I took him to a diner
I bought him a cup of coffee
He asked me
If he could bum a couple dollars off me
He told me his story, I told mine
He said thanks ’cause most folks around here
Would never take the time
He said
“I lost my job down at the mill
When that factory closed
Army stopped sending me them checks
The bank took everything I own
Hitchhiked my way up to Chicago
The nights were too damn cold
I hopped a train headed west
‘Cause I had nowhere else to go”
“It’s hard to see all that driving by
So I just write down, “Jesus saves”
‘Cause there ain’t no way I could fit that on a sign
There ain’t no way to fit that on a sign”
“I probably would’ve wrote down a little more
If I could’ve found a bigger piece of cardboard”
“My brother Walter was my hero
But he was bad to drink
One night, he laid his Harley down
Near that Ohio riverbank
Me and my ex-wife tried for kids when we were dating
Hell, we even had baby names picked out
But little Walter didn’t make it
“It’s hard to see all that driving by
So I just write down, “Jesus saves”
‘Cause there ain’t no way I could fit that on a sign
I can’t fit all that on a sign”