Well let me tell you bout a friend I know / he sneezes everywhere he goes
He’s got the worst case of allergies as I’ve seen anywhere
Aside from pollen, dust, dirt, and grass / plastic, wood, metal, glass
He’s allergic to fresh water and fresh air
Most foods he cannot touch, just says, “No thank you, very much”
Can’t have gluten, corn or wheat or flax or whey
Dogs and cats he can’t go near and most people seem to give him fear
Cause most of our conversations go this way:
“Achoo! Achoo! Pardon me!” “Bless you!”
“Would you happen to have, by any chance, a—choo!”
“If you are gonna sneeze, for goodness sakes man, use your sleeve!
And may God bless you!” “Achoo!”
Now the thing about this friend of mine is that he gets a little bit down sometimes
On account of cause he thinks that he is scorned
People always seem to think he’s sick, sneezing like a lunatic
But he says it’s just the way that he was born
That always seems to give me pause; I guess no one’s without his flaws
“Still” he says, “I wish it wasn’t so,”
I say, “Man, don’t let it get you down, you may not be the healthiest guy in town
But you’re more God-blessed than anyone else I know”
Chorus
Now thinkin about this friend I got always brings me round to another thought
Concerning what is wrong and what is right
Seems that some would try to attribute the instinct to bless a sneezing brute
To manners, saying that it’s just polite
Then they’ll go ahead and designate tween folks to love and folks to hate
And say that God’ll only bless a precious few
Now I don’t know that that’s the truth, I’ve heard it said but that sure ain’t proof
But if it is, well, God help me and you
Chorus
I prefer to think that we’re all due for at least one blessing, if not two
That it hardly matters whether we’re first or last
If you need a reason just say because sneezing’s something everybody does
No exceptions, no exclusions, or outcasts
So God Bless You: whether lost or found, high or low or up or down
God bless you, whether chained or bound for home
God bless the mad, the meek, the mild, each complaining crying child
God bless the bastard and the orphan, all alone
God bless the scoundrels and the scabs, the beggars on corners dressed in rags
And every person that’s hard pressed to find a buck
God bless the hobo and the bum, the hitchhiker with his waving thumb
God bless the truckers who’ll stop to pick him up
God bless the guilty and the innocent, the 1 and the 99 percent
God bless the ones who don’t know which ones they are
God bless the hopeless and the poor, the gangster, thug, the pimp, the whore
God bless the man who holds the door ajar
God bless all the women and the men, and anybody that’s a blend
Who falls down somewhere in between the two
Christian, Buddhist, Muslim, Jew; God bless the atheists, too
They all sneeze, just like me and you—achoo!
God bless the captain and the cook, the storeowner and the crook
Everyone who doesn’t look like he’s supposed to
God bless the black, the white, the red, God bless the living and the dead
And everyone who’s ever said, “Achoo!”
God bless you, whether straight or gay, God bless the ones who swing both ways
God bless the ones who don’t have to pick a side
God bless the inmates on Death Row, the strong man in the circus show
God bless the bearded woman, who’s his bride
God bless the jesters and the clowns, God bless the addicts, falling down
God bless the ones who wear crowns of gold and thorns
God bless the pope, the priest, the nun; the fans who fill up the stadium
God bless the dirty devils and their horns
God bless the doctor and the nurse, the driver of the village hearse
The gardner and the man who digs the graves
God bless the nations, each and all, God bless the world that ain’t so small
And anyone else I might’ve forgot to say
Chorus
Sam Steffen is a Pennsylvania-bred, Boise-based singer-songwriter whose songs are the torch-wood for a new generation of
folk music that has learned from the best stuff in the tradition and aims in spite of everything to keep the human spirit alive and kicking. A versatile musician and skilled finger-picker, Sam is at heart a story-teller, and a prolific one....more
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