WHEN I WAS NINE

By John D. Loudermilk
©1971 Acuff-Rose Publ. Inc.

When I was nine, I found a toy that was interesting to a
Boy who was nine at the time
On a hot summer Sunday afternoon in Durham, North Carolina
I started thinking about pretty girls and kissing 'em and things
And at that very moment over in Baton Rouge, Louisiana
You were born - all wrinkled and bawlin' a baby's hollar
Diapered and powdered and drinking Pet milk from a hospital bottle,
Is it a boy or a girl?
What kind of boy would love you anyhow?

But at that very time, things started comin' together over in my mind
This girl's eyes, that girl's hair
All the pretty features I'd seen anywhere, I put 'em all together
Out of pin-up magazines, out of young boys' dreams
What a glamour queen should look like
And who would guess as you lay there with your hands in your mouth
And on your head, not a hair
That you were a dream come true
For a boy somewhere over in North Carolina
Who was nine at the time

(source: Standard Songs Pop/ Country/ Blues/ Folk/ Instumentals/ Novelty, Acuff-Rose Publications Inc. 1956-1973)

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