HENRY HAD A MERRY CHRISTMAS

Walter Brennan - 1962


SPOKEN:
My Dad used to raise turkeys for Christmas
And about a week before, he'd take 'em into town
He always kept the biggest one 'specially for us
And Mom'd cook it to a golden brown

One year he brought the usual batch home
Just hatched, with lots of growin' to do
There was one awful skinny like, he put in my care
He never figured he'd pull through

I named him Henry and with a young boy's touch
I finally got him to grow
Now, I know'd what'd happen if he'd grow'd too much
I remember, I used to tell him so

Henry, you're growin' a-way too fast
Dad's got his eye on you
And Christmas Day's gonna be your last
Eatin' the way you do

Course I never thought about the ones Dad sold
How they'd wind up in the oven too
But I'd seen what'd happen when the ones he'd choose
What him and that axe could do

Early one mornin' Dad took 'em to town
And sure enough, Henry was left
And by Christmas Eve, the way I moped around
They all know'd how bad I felt

After supper Dad left the house
An' ev'rything was quiet, 'cept the old hall clock
It was a long, long wait.....
Henry jumped straight up when that axe hit the choppin' block

We shot out the back door to where Dad was
All of us a-runnin' around
And Dad just stood there, grinnin' at us
Then we hear'd a gobblin' sound

No, we didn't have turkey that Christmas Day
But that was all right with us
And there weren't a one of us that didn't want it that way
And you know, Henry had a Merry Christmas


(Transcribed by Mel Priddle - September 2005)