Some years ago, when autos were considered mighty slick,
My Pa, he got a notion that he’s going to get one quick,
He went down to the dealers, and he looked and talked a lot,
For Pa was quite particular ‘bout the kind of car he got.

They took him out to demonstrate, so that Pa would know,
Just how they rode up hill or down, and fast they could go,
And Pa came home each night, fagged out, and talked to Ma a lot,
For Pa was quite particular ‘bout the kind of car he got.

They took him in a Cadillac, say that was sure some car,
They took him in a shiny Ford, but not so very far,
He tried a Packard, a Buick new that day,
And at last my Pa decided to buy a Chevrolet.

It took a week for Pa to learn just how to handle it,
And when he brought it home one day he wasn’t scared a bit,
Why, No Siree, my Pa just sat behind the steering gear,
And said to Ma, “Come, jump right in there’s not a thing to fear.”

So Ma and I got in behind and sat up pretty straight,
For Pa said, “Better hang on tight, I run a lively gate.”
We hardly dars’t to speak a word, and I hung on to Ma,
I can never forget the day we took that ride with Pa.

He drove us out the old turnpike ‘bout twenty miles or so,
And fifteen miles an hour was as fast as he could go,
He talked about the different parts throughout the livelong day,
The clutch, and gear, spark plugs and brakes upon his Chevrolet.

And Ma and me just sat and listened to him talk,
But Ma whispered low to me, “Son, let’s get out and walk.”
And none of us dared to touch that car, and Pa worked after dark,
To shine and polish it each night, you’d never see a mark.

And nights he covered it all up with canvas nice and white,
Pa said, “When he was in a car, it had to look ‘bout right.”
And I could never set in front, because my Pa you see,
Said in the rear with Ma was where little boys should be.

'Bout a couple months ago, my Ma decided she,
Would buy a car to call her own, that’s what she said to me,
And so she went down town one day, and Ma she done it right,
And bought a Rolls Royce in blue and drove it home that night.

And I set up front with her and meddled with the gear,
I blow the horn and work the brakes, right when my Ma is near,
And she just smiles at me and says,
“There’s nothing to fear.”

And when my Ma speeds up a bit out on the main highway,
Why all the cops just turn their heads and look the other way,
And every day all spic and span, it stands beside the door,
To take us for a joy ride, that’s what a car is for.

Ma Looks just like a girl to me, pink cheeked and eyes that shine,
She sets behind the steering gear and Pa sits in behind,
She wears a nifty hat, and a marvelous dress of blue,
You’d think that she was seventeen instead of thirty-two.

She has a second maid to help, so we can ride about,
And when friends that come to call, they always find us out,
Sometimes we bring Pa home at night, and Ma says, “Set up straight,
You’d better hang on pretty tight, I run a lively gate.”

Oh, there has been a mighty change out at our house, I fear,
For Ma sets right up in the front and Pa sits in the rear.

Katherine Carey-Place 1878-1934

Copyright Roy Richard