In The Blood (Flying Machine)

Brenda Sutton

"Many, but not all of the parts of this song are true.  I love hearing Juanita Coulson sing it. "- Brenda Sutton

In the Blood is available on the tape Strangers No More, published by DAG in the late 1980's. And you can visit Brenda's website here.

In the Blood

Copyright ©1986 by Brenda Sinclair Sutton- All Rights Reserved
Lyrics posted by permission of the author

When I was just a baby, I'd sit on Granny's knee,
And listen to the stories that she loved to tell to me
About the day her mama saw a bi-plane in the sky.
The pilot stormed their barn and said, "Hey, lady, you want to try?"
Her Daddy yelled, "If man should fly, God would have given wings!"
Great-grandma called back, "Pray for me!  I've sprouted feathered things!"

Chorus:
"Strap me in that fine machine and watch me fly.
I'm a creature bound to earth who longs for sky.
You say we're not soaring folk?
Spin the prop and watch my smoke!
You can go to hell, I'm going for broke.
I've got to try!"

She told me how her husband Tim went off to fight the war.
While most were going Infantry, he begged for the 8th Air Corps.
He learned to fly at Oklahoma's Pilot Training School.
They shipped him off to England to join the Fearless Fools.
He was to steer B17s, that flying fortress slow.
He thought, "We'll make great targets for them Jerries down below, but..."

Chorus

My Daddy fell for whirly birds that hover way up high.
He flew the evac choppers in a shrapneled Korean sky.
We bought the little Piper Cub when I was four or so,
And I was only six when I flew my first touch-n-go.
Now, you might say that being airborne's sort of in my blood;
Mom says that she conceived me when she joined the Mile High Club.

Chorus

I visited the rest home to see my Granny dear.
She said, "Come closer, child o'mine, there's something you must hear.
I watched it on the Late Late News... they've opened space today.
I've booked to first-class seats for us on TWA.
We're zipping down to Florida to catch that shuttle flight,
So pack your bags!  We're off for space tonight!

Last Chorus:
And strap us in that fine machine and watch us fly!
We're creatures bound to earth who long for sky.
You say we're not spacin' folk?
Light the candle and watch our smoke.
You can go to hell, we're going for broke.
We've got to try.
And so we're off for Lunar Land, Grandma and I.