Lyrics:

Now Carole once told me she dreamed she was pretty
And lived in a very cool part of the city
With a man who came home every evening at 6
And begged her to play him his favorite licks
On a steel guitar
On a real guitar

Now her pa'd been a welder during the war
And he played country music every night 'til 4
With some drugstore cowboys who could pick and grin
And if you let it all out they'd bring it all back in
On a steel guitar
Well, they could get it together on a steel guitar

Now he taught his daughter to drink whiskey like water
And to go for the man who had something to offer
He said to her, 'Baby, you can go very far
With an easy laugh and a steel guitar
A steel guitar
Well, you don't need a man now, baby, with a steel guitar'


Now Jack was a rambler, he'd been around Nashville
He knew all the tricks and he sure wasn't bashful
When he heard Carole playing her steel guitar
He said to her, 'Baby, you and me can go far
On your steel guitar
Well, we could make it together, mama, on your steel guitar'


Now to make a long story short they had a couple of children
And Jack went to war and the enemy killed him
Carole got his pension and a purple heart
And every night 'til 2 she just rips 'em apart
With her steel guitar
She said, 'You don't need a man with a steel guitar'

Now she plays country music and she's paid up her dues
You oughta drop in, brother, if you got nothing to lose
She can steal a guitar like she steals a heart
And they come every night to get picked apart
By a steel guitar
By a real guitar

By a steel guitar
Lord, she'll pick you apart, she'll pick you apart
On a steel guitar
On a real guitar
Mmm, goin' away now, baby, with a steel guitar
You'll go very far on a steel guitar
You'll be a movie star on a steel guitar