A Prairie Home Companion with Garrison Keillor

Nashville Open lyrics
Saturday, May 2, 2009

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In Nashville spring has made it’s entrance
With azaleas, dogwood, rhododendrons.
They’re planting, mulching, weeding, tilling,
Hoping things will grow, God willing.
Meanwhile, up a busy street,
Beautiful, poured from concrete,
Rising from a flat green lawn,
A replica of the Parthenon,
So as to leave you little doubt
This is the Athens of the South.
And in addition to scholarship
There is Bobbie’s Dairy Dip—
A soft-serve vanilla ice cream cone
To which Nashvilleans are prone,
After enjoying Meat and Three—
A staple here in Tennessee,
Hot fried chicken dripping grease,
Biscuits, greens, creamed corn, a piece
Of chess pie like grandma made,
And iced tea or lemonade.

Soon comes summer and high humidity
And people enduring their own fluidity
When people turn red, itch, and peel,
And burn their hands on the steering wheel.
So enjoy the month of May,
Get outside and seize the day
And enjoy the bounty
Of Davidson County.
It may not be Athens but still
It’s good enough to be Nashville.
And I knew a man who traveled to Venice, he
Couldn’t wait to get back home to Tennessee.