Missouri River Bridge

Between the skyscraper on the prairie
 And where the west begins
 Ironworkers worked on
 The Missouri river bridge
 He said the profits of the trade
 Were well worth the risk
 We raised five babes
 You were our sixth
 And each morning I'd watch him go
 My nose against our
 Foggy North Dakota ranch home window
 Your daddy was a builder of many things
 I only wish
 He would have built
 Himself some wings
 I took a seamstress job in Bismarck
 After Papa took the fall
 Ann looked after you
 Joe became the bearing wall
 Had no means for a burial
 We were barely keeping fed
 But we can lay these flowers
 On the Missouri riverbed
 And each morning wake up brave
 If your back's against a wall
 That will not budge
 Then leave your love engraved
 Your daddy was a builder of many things
 I only wish
 He would have built himself some wings
 When you're forty years old
 You'll receive a telephone call
 This is when you'll find
 Out the story isn't true at all
 They'll say we regret to inform you
 That your father has just died
 You'll tell them you already
 Got that news as a little child
 But I could not bare to say
 The only bridge
 Your daddy built
 Was the one he used to walk away
 Your daddy was a builder of many things
 I only wish
 He would have built
 Himself some wings
 I only wish
 He could have built himself
 Some wings