You sent me to the shed with all the tools

I remember how you said that I could take what I could use

I got a hammer and a ratchet set

A hundred tools I ain't used yet

They're rusty, but they work as good as new


Tools, tools


I remember you as quiet as a picture

Like that picture of the Navy sailor grinning for the girls

You had visited the barber

You were stationed at Pearl Harbor

A year before the War became the world's


And you say, "Boy, sometimes you've got to get up on that ship,

Leave all you love behind."

Well, Grampa, I've been everywhere

But Fargo, North Dakota

It ain't war, but it's a fight


Tools, tools


Well, I never knew you ever drew one picture

But if you want proof that I've got you

Here running through my veins

I could show you call the sketchbooks

That I filled when I was young

And sixty years ago you did the same


And you say, "Boy, just let 'em laugh

When all they see is lines--

Paint yourself a picture of your life.

I believe that Swedish folks were

Born with better eyes."

Grampa, I have always loved the sky

I think you're right

You gave me tools.


You sent that telegraph to tell her that you missed her

When my daddy was a baby, oh you gave him to the Lord

And the faith you handed down has somehow stuck around

And love has called you home again

To roam again no more


You sent me to the shed with all the tools

I remember how you said that I could take what I could use

Faith and Love and Hope are what I carried home,

They're rusty but they work as good as new


Tools, tools