The Rocket That Grandpa Rode lyrics - Jimmy Buffett

There's an old gypsy moth, made of glue and cloth

That lands in a horse filled field

An unusual event for those palomino gents

Who just stared at their future revealed

Why, oh why-oh did he fly out of Ohio?

Before we knew that genes held the code

But taking to wing is a haunting, taunting thing

Just like that rocket Grandpa rode

Yeah, it was the rocket that Grandpa rode

Sounds like braggin' but it's true, I'm not tryin' to big-time you

Shot up into space and he said look out down below

Gotta love that rocket that Grandpa rode

And the kids turned to flying machines

With their arms open wide like wings

But one solitary boy knows a plane is not a toy

I'm talkin' 'bout the man on the moon

I still remember July of '69

We all got to stay home from school

In stark black and white, we followed the flight

And the whole world was in that capsule

Oh, on the rocket that Grandpa rode

Sounds like braggin' but it's true, I'm not tryin' to big-time you

Oh what a flight, you'd better look out down below

Yeah, that's the rocket that Grandpa rode

Spacemen and women on this bus, an obese driver I don't trust

We're goin' to watch the shuttle fly away, last day

And for some kids behind my seat, there's a very special treat

More than just history on parade

Giant nozzles, bolts and beams, they called her Atlas by all means

Blood, sweat and tears were her payload

She was a stairway to heaven, old Apollo 11

The rocket ship their Grandpa drove

Oh, on the rocket that Grandpa rode

Sounds like braggin' but it's true, I'm not tryin' to big-time you

Rising up from that lagoon, we beat those Commies to the moon

Yeah, on the rocket their Grandpa rode

Yeah, on the rocket their Grandpa drove

Thank you, Neil

Thank you, NASA

Thank you, Captain Kirk, Mr. Spock

Scotty, Lieutenant Uhura and Chekhov

Yeah, the rocket that Grandpa rode