well my name is russell perry
and i hail from tennessee
there's a million other fool rednecks
roaming the hills like me
i come with no credentials
can make no claim to fame
and i can throw a fastball
by any man who ever stepped up to the plate

i left home when i was sixteen
there was not much left to do
you could kick around on the farm teams
sleep in those motel rooms
you were handing out gospel tracts
one night after the game
so we compared our notes and dreams
and we found they were substantially the same

well my fastball would not fail me
see i was earning much respect
setting my eyes on a little
major league prospect
you know there never was a problem
three good low inside pitches wouldn't take right out
except this one little problem
honey well quite frankly it's hard to talk about

brenda oh brenda
i'm out here all alone
why are we drowning in the darkness
hey but we can't tell anyone
oh and i can't tell anyone

well you see i have this dream a lot
i am in a debtors' cell
and i reach out to grab the key
that will unlock my cell
as my expectant fingers
close on the steel so cold
well it turns into a sword
and it carves a name into my very soul

i've been feeling it in these bones
i'm so shipwrecked and worthless
sometimes the promises of comfort
are barely scratching the surface
and all my doctors' faces
are long drawn and lean
could be something in his past
maybe a little chemical imbalance

i don't care to be remembered
for the things i've said and done
i don't care to be remembered
for the games i may have saved or won
i wanna make our love
a big refuge and a fort
from a lonely little world
a broke down world
a struck out little world
that knows nothing of the sort