Dale's Roses
--------------------
My song for you this evening is not to make you sad
Nor for adding to the sorrows of our mourning racing fans
But lately I've been thinking and it just won't leave my mind
I'll tell you of a man one time who could make the darkness shine
Dale Earnhardt of Carolina he came from across the infield
A great man for the dancing and the racing and the wheels
He'd turn donuts in the infield, he'd leave them on your car
And there was little doubt just what this man was aiming for
There were roses
Roses
There were roses
And the tears of the people ran together
They called him the Intimidator and it was a name well known
It fit him perfectly `cause on the track no mercy was shown
With his mirrored shades he'd raise as much hell as could be
No one wanted to look in their mirror and see that black number three
Dale was quite the character, never content to be in the shade
Never a shy one, race history is full of moves he'd made
"If I catch him I'm going to beat the shit out of him" was heard at one end
And these words were coming from the man who'd been his best friend
He was tough and determined and championship bound
In the search for danger no one more daring could be found
And although he'd crash your car and beat the track on the fly
No one would have guessed that this man was actually pretty shy
He'd race long and he'd race hard he'd park you in the wall
He didn't want to injure, he just wanted to win was all
In the years that followed it was the championship he wanted to win
Pedal to the metal and his final count was seven times
There were roses
Roses
There were roses
And the tears of the people ran together
That day at the racetrack he was the man we always knew
Then later he fell back to protect the spots of one and two
He settled back to play a wall then someone tried to get past third
And proclaiming his friend the victor was something he never heard
It was on that Sunday evening that the awful news came `round
Ironhead hadn't survived this trip to Daytona town
We'd seen him hit the wall up there, we knew it might be bad
But when we heard that he was dead, we just could not understand
But we'd seem him survive worse, we cried, we begged them with our tears
But the fates are often fickle with ears that cannot hear
The guy in charge delivered the news, cutting us to the core
Our hearts stopped beating when they said he would shine no more
The gathered at the graveside on a bleak and dismal day
The minister he bowed his head and for love and healing he prayed
And those of us who knew him from among the racing world
Bowed our heads and said a prayer for the resting of his soul
My song for you this evening is not to make you sad
Nor for adding to the sorrows of our mourning racing fans
But lately I've been thinking and it just won't leave my mind
I'll tell you of a man one time who was so much larger than life
Ironhead was our champion, a legend to the core
And it hurts so badly that he'll never raise the score
And those who never knew him they are not the ones to cry
It's Junior, and Teresa, and the likes of you and I...
There were roses
Roses
There were roses
And the tears of the people ran together
~~~~DKS~~~~
March 02, 2001
--------------------
My song for you this evening is not to make you sad
Nor for adding to the sorrows of our mourning racing fans
But lately I've been thinking and it just won't leave my mind
I'll tell you of a man one time who could make the darkness shine
Dale Earnhardt of Carolina he came from across the infield
A great man for the dancing and the racing and the wheels
He'd turn donuts in the infield, he'd leave them on your car
And there was little doubt just what this man was aiming for
There were roses
Roses
There were roses
And the tears of the people ran together
They called him the Intimidator and it was a name well known
It fit him perfectly `cause on the track no mercy was shown
With his mirrored shades he'd raise as much hell as could be
No one wanted to look in their mirror and see that black number three
Dale was quite the character, never content to be in the shade
Never a shy one, race history is full of moves he'd made
"If I catch him I'm going to beat the shit out of him" was heard at one end
And these words were coming from the man who'd been his best friend
He was tough and determined and championship bound
In the search for danger no one more daring could be found
And although he'd crash your car and beat the track on the fly
No one would have guessed that this man was actually pretty shy
He'd race long and he'd race hard he'd park you in the wall
He didn't want to injure, he just wanted to win was all
In the years that followed it was the championship he wanted to win
Pedal to the metal and his final count was seven times
There were roses
Roses
There were roses
And the tears of the people ran together
That day at the racetrack he was the man we always knew
Then later he fell back to protect the spots of one and two
He settled back to play a wall then someone tried to get past third
And proclaiming his friend the victor was something he never heard
It was on that Sunday evening that the awful news came `round
Ironhead hadn't survived this trip to Daytona town
We'd seen him hit the wall up there, we knew it might be bad
But when we heard that he was dead, we just could not understand
But we'd seem him survive worse, we cried, we begged them with our tears
But the fates are often fickle with ears that cannot hear
The guy in charge delivered the news, cutting us to the core
Our hearts stopped beating when they said he would shine no more
The gathered at the graveside on a bleak and dismal day
The minister he bowed his head and for love and healing he prayed
And those of us who knew him from among the racing world
Bowed our heads and said a prayer for the resting of his soul
My song for you this evening is not to make you sad
Nor for adding to the sorrows of our mourning racing fans
But lately I've been thinking and it just won't leave my mind
I'll tell you of a man one time who was so much larger than life
Ironhead was our champion, a legend to the core
And it hurts so badly that he'll never raise the score
And those who never knew him they are not the ones to cry
It's Junior, and Teresa, and the likes of you and I...
There were roses
Roses
There were roses
And the tears of the people ran together
~~~~DKS~~~~
March 02, 2001