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Watch Alan Jackson as he performs one of his Number One hit “Drive (For Daddy Gene)” at the PBS’ annual Fourth of July broadcast, 2021 A Capitol Fourth. He is one of many top performers of the show. Alan performed from the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville with the stage decorated with a series of American flags.

Alan did a comment before he performed and uttered these beautiful words: “I lost my daddy and I wanted to write a song for him, and I didn’t want to write some old sad crying, dying thing so I started thinking about growing up, and all I ever wanted to do is drive something. He taught me all about that and that’s what this song’s about.”

Alan wrote “Drive (For Daddy Gene)” as a tribute to his late father, Eugene Jackson, who died in 2000. The song was released as the second single from Jackson’s 2002 album Drive and reached No. 1 on the U.S. Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks and peaked at No. 28 on the Billboard Hot 100.

About Alan Jackson

Alan Jackson was born in the small town of Newnan, Georgia, on October 17, 1958. He grew up singing gospel music, both in church and at home with his family, and as a teenager he performed locally as part of a country duo. He left school to work and married his high-school sweetheart, Denise, who worked as an airline stewardess. In 1989, Jackson became the first artist signed to Arista’s new country division. Jackson’s debut album, Here in the Real World, was issued in 1990 and became a platinum-selling hit on the strength of four Top Five hits: the title cut, “Chasin’ That Neon Rainbow,” “Wanted,” and the first of many chart-toppers, “I’d Love You All Over Again.” He shot to full-fledged superstardom with the follow-up, 1991’s Don’t Rock the Jukebox, whose title track was an inescapable number one smash that year.

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Drive (For Daddy Gene) Lyrics

Alan Jackson

It’s painted red, the stripe was white
It was eighteen feet, from the bow to stern light
Secondhand, from a dealer in Atlanta
I rode up with daddy, when he went there to get her

Put on a shine, put on a motor
Built out of love, made for the water
Ran her for years, ’til the transom got rotten
A piece of my childhood, will never be forgotten

It was, just an old plywood boat
A ’75 Johnson with electric choke
A young boy two hands on the wheel
I can’t replace the way it made me feel
And I would turn her sharp
And I would make it whine
He’d say, You can’t beat the way an old wood boat rides

Just a little lake across the Alabama line
But I was king of the ocean
When daddy let me
Drive

Just an old half-ton shortbed Ford
My uncle bought new, in ’64
Daddy got it right, ’cause the engine was smoking
A couple of burnt valves, and he had it going

He’d let me drive her when we haul off a load
Down a dirt strip where we’d dump trash off of Thigpen Road
I’d sit up in the seat and stretch my feet out to the pedals
Smiling like a hero that just received his medal

It was just an old hand-me-down Ford
With three-speed on the column and a dent in the door
A young boy, two hands on the wheel
I can’t replace the way it made me feel and
And I would press that clutch
And I would, keep it right
He’d say, “a little slower son; you’re doing just fine”

Just a dirt road with trash on each side
But I was Mario Andretti
When daddy let me
Drive

I’m grown up now
Three daughters of my own
I let them drive my old jeep
Across the pasture at our home

Maybe one day they’ll reach back in their file
And pull out that old memory
A nd think of me and smile
And say

It was just an old worn out jeep
Rusty old floor boards
Hot on my feet
A young girl, two hands on the wheel
I can’t replace the way it, made me feel
And he’d say turn it left
And steer it right
Straighten up girl now, you’re doing just fine

Just a little valley by the river where we’d ride
But I was high on a mountain
When daddy let me
Drive

Daddy let me drive

Oh he let me, drive

It’s just an old plywood boat
With a ’75 Johnson
With electric choke

Source: Musixmatch

Songwriters: Jackson Alan Eugene

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Tags: Alan Jackson, Alan Jackson Music, Alan Jackson Drive, top country, country music, solid gold, top country music