Steve Earle – Copperhead Road

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Well my name's John Lee Pettimore
Same as my daddy and his daddy before
You hardly ever saw Grandaddy down here
He only come to town about twice a year
He'd buy a hundred pounds of yeast and some copper line
Everybody knew that he made moonshine
Now the revenue man wanted Grandaddy bad
He headed up the holler with everything he had
It's before my time but I've been told
He never come back from Copperhead Road

Now Daddy ran the whiskey in a big black Dodge
Bought it at an auction at the Mason's Lodge
Johnson County Sheriff painted on the side
Just shot a coat of primer then he looked inside
Well him and my uncle tore that engine down
I still remember that rumblin' sound
Well the sheriff came around in the middle of the night
Heard mama cryin', knew something wasn't right
He was headed down to Knoxville with the weekly load
You could smell the whiskey burnin' down Copperhead Road

I volunteered for the Army on my birthday
They draft the white trash first,'round here anyway
I done two tours of duty in Vietnam
And I came home with a brand new plan
I take the seed from Columbia and Mexico
I plant it up the holler down Copperhead Road
Well the D.E.A.'s got a chopper in the air
I wake up screaming like I'm back over there
I learned a thing or two from ol' Charlie don't you know
You better stay away from Copperhead Road

Copperhead Road
Copperhead Road
Copperhead Road

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Lyrics submitted by shauncreaney

Track duration: 04:30

"Copperhead Road" as written by Steve Earle

Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, Warner/Chappell Music, Inc.

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Copperhead Road song meanings
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  • 0
    General Comment:Being from the mountains of NC just across the TN line for many years, and having bought a quart or more ;) of "white", this is what I think Steve Earle's Copperhead Road means ..

    FIRST VERSE is talking about John Lee Petemore and how he watched his Daddy & Grandaddy run shine. Most moonshiners would only go to town 2 times a year, which does call a little attention to them. The last run his Grandaddy did, the revenue man was chasing him, and he never came home. Maybe he crashed, maybe the revenue man shot and killed him (not anything out of the ordinary), who knows ... guess we get to use our imagination on that one.
    SECOND VERSE it's not a Big "Black" Dodge .. it's a Big "BLACK" Dodge ... alot of the sheriff's departments would and still do sell their old cars at auction. So his daddy and uncle bought one, rebuilt the engine that had that "rumblin sound" and ran liquor in it. One night his daddy was going to Knoxville, TN do make his delivery. He crashed either on Copperhead Road, or somewhere else, because corn mash does smell when it's cooking ... guess we use our imagination again.
    THIRD VERSE, well he didn't volunteer for the army, he is saying that because he was "white trash" that he was drafted for two tours in the Vietnam War and learned how to grow weed, pot, marijuana, etc. and decided to change from making and running shine to growing and selling pot. The DEA has a chopper flying around trying to find his pot he's growing and he wakes up screaming because of flashbacks caused by the DEA chopper. He learned how ol' Charlie set the booby traps and he is warning the DEA to stay away from Copperhead Road because of what will happen.

    Also, Copperhead Road is in Hampton Tennessee which is in Carter County. If you want to see where it is, just use whichever map program your computer has and get directions from your address to COPPERHEAD ROAD, HAMPTON, TENNESSEE.
    Great ride on our Harley ... :)
    Flag aljenn09on February 06, 2013   Link
  • +1
    General Comment:A couple more thoughts that haven't been covered: The bagpipes at the opening of the song are reminiscent of the Irish and Scottish heritage of many people in the American South. Bagpipes also invoke the insurrectionist/survivalist spirit of the Irish and Scottish, who have spent centuries fighting a much larger foe (the English). It has been argued that the fiery fighting spirit of the Scottish and Irish immigrants contributed to the Southern states succeeding in the American Civil War. Malcolm Gladwell has an interesting chapter on the South as an honour-based society in his book "Outliers."

    Also, Earle writes in an interesting parallel between John Lee and his father, in that his father used a cop car (a tool of the "establishment") to help him run moonshine, while John Lee III uses the military (another tool of the "establishment") to defend his contraband.
    Flag Joshaviahon April 09, 2012   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:Hey mavrick480 , That's a really solid point. lol I actually just did some research on that.

    In my opinion, I think that the story goes that his dad was leaving in the middle of the night (as MOONshiners usually did). JLP III woke up to his mother's crying because the sheriff came to arrest his dad when he left for Knoxville, and he incidentally was wrecked ON Copperhead Road during the chase w/ the sheriff; Thus, the whole shipment of shine could be smelt from JLP's house.

    "tore that engine down" prob means that they rebuilt (and bored out) the engine to a bigger size. and as it was already a cop car engine, would have made it out to be one bad ass (sounding) car.
    Flag iamscottjackon February 26, 2012   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:Could someone please explain to me what was ment by you could smell the whiskey burning down copperhead road? OH and why was the sherrif headed down in the middle of the night?
    Flag metals189on September 06, 2011   Link
    • 4 Replies
  • 0
    General Comment:hi everybody im alex from germany. theres a song from steve earle called "lonely are the free". does anybody here knows the exact and complete lyrics of this song, cause i cant find nothing on the internet?? i mean i love this song so much, and my english is not so bad (i think ;-) but there are some parts in the song that i dont understand...maybe somebody here can help me? i appreciate
    Flag thesurbon January 30, 2011   Link
  • +1
    General Comment:I am grateful for this comment by littlechicago1. I have always thought that Copperhead Road sounded like a real place.
    This is one of the great American songs by one great American artist.

    A couple of the comments here refer to the use of bagpipes. They sound more like Uillean pipes or Irish bagpipes. That sound may actually be electronic, either way they add to the 'heritage' feel of the song. Steve Earle is tapping into a deep, long felt and heart felt sentiment about the early settlers and frontiersmen. He sings about generations and the music reflects this. The music is rich in instruments and rhythm. The song is a masterpiece, it even puts Springsteen to shame in terms of combination of lyricism and musicality. You can return to this song any time and it still sounds as fresh.

    Flag mgvsmithon January 01, 2011   Link
    • 1 Reply
  • +1
    My Interpretation:I'm surprised someone hasn't already brought it up, but the song title may have a direct correlation with growing marijuana in that region of the country. When talking about booby trapping the fields, "I learned a thing or two from Charlie don't yah know", I think it's worth noting copperheads were used by paranoid growers who thought they might be robbed as their plants were budding. The technique was described to me, not in the context of the song, but by someone who lived and farmed** in the area in the late 70's/early 80's. I can't say for certain, but tend to believe this person when they told me how they used to round up copperheads two weeks before harvesting, secure the tails of the snakes to the stalks of the plants with fishing line, so if anyone tried to rob them in the "middle of the night," they would be bitten by an ornery snake with a fishing hook in it's tail. Anyway, that's how I've always interpreted the meaning. "You better stay away from copperhead road," rephrased; You better not be in my fields chopping off buds in the middle of the night. Maybe the DEA symbolizes anything/anyone that threatens a grower's operation?
    Flag KFCeedson May 04, 2010   Link
  • 0
    Song Meaning:I really an't believe this song has been out 20 years & you don't REALLY get it! As someone mentioned that grandad & dad get killed? There is absolutely no mention of Granddad getting killed. The only ones who die is the revenue man & dad. Also, its a big BLOCK dodge, not black. The police dept's used to donate their old police cars to different organizations for charity auctions, hence he bought the car at a masons lodge auction. A police car would have been what shiners wanted because of the high performance engine block, crank, & heads. Cops had the fastest cars back then so they took those engines & souped them up & lightened the cars so they could outrun cops. That rumblin sound would be from a different canshaft & timing combo, plus HP exhaust. The smell of the whiskey burnin' down copperhead road can be interpreted 2 ways. He did wreck, but you can say he just wrecked or cops wrecked him, it doesn't matter. But the smell is the smell of the weekly load that was in the trunk when the car wrecked. His life was going nowhere so he enlisted cause he would get drafted anyway. He came home with a brand new plan is teh viet cong got GI's addicted to drugs. He saw what people addicted to drugs would do for it. He comes home & continues the tradition of giving the people what they want, MJ is the new shine. He learned from charlie how to boobytrap a place & hide the drugs. That's it!
    I am from Johnson County, TN & the only town in the county is Mountain City. Copperhead Rd. is in a little community 5 or 6 miles outside of Mtn City called Neva, sometimes referred to as Crackers Neck.
    Steve once told me that Copperhead Rd is really a ficticious state of mind, it can be wherever you want it to be, but there is a copperhead rd in Johnson Co. TN & Steve was aware of this which made it even better. Johnson Co. Tn is in the NE corner of the state bordering NC & VA. It is the TRI-CITY area. Bristol, Kingsport, Johnson City. Bristol is about 2 hrs from Knoxville. I have met Steve Earle on a few occasions. The tri cities is a very musically oriented place. Bristol is the birthplace of country music, & Johnson City has the Blue Plum festival & Little Chicago blues festival. I now reside in Johnson City, which is in Washington Co., Not Johnson. But all of upper E.TN is basically considered the Tri-City area with little communities in between.
    Flag littlechicago1on December 03, 2009   Link
  • +1
    Song Meaning:I really an't believe this song has been out 20 years & you don't REALLY get it! As someone mentioned that grandad & dad get killed? There is absolutely no mention of Granddad getting killed. The only ones who die is the revenue man & dad. Also, its a big BLOCK dodge, not black. The police dept's used to donate their old police cars to different organizations for charity auctions, hence he bought the car at a masons lodge auction. A police car would have been what shiners wanted because of the high performance engine block, crank, & heads. Cops had the fastest cars back then so they took those engines & souped them up & lightened the cars so they could outrun cops. That rumblin sound would be from a different canshaft & timing combo, plus HP exhaust. The smell of the whiskey burnin' down copperhead road can be interpreted 2 ways. He did wreck, but you can say he just wrecked or cops wrecked him, it doesn't matter. But the smell is the smell of the weekly load that was in the trunk when the car wrecked. His life was going nowhere so he enlisted cause he would get drafted anyway. He came home with a brand new plan is teh viet cong got GI's addicted to drugs. He saw what people addicted to drugs would do for it. He comes home & continues the tradition of giving the people what they want, MJ is the new shine. He learned from charlie how to boobytrap a place & hide the drugs. That's it!
    I am from Johnson County, TN & the only town in the county is Mountain City. Copperhead Rd. is in a little community 5 or 6 miles outside of Mtn City called Neva, sometimes referred to as Crackers Neck.
    Steve once told me that Copperhead Rd is really a ficticious state of mind, it can be wherever you want it to be, but there is a copperhead rd in Johnson Co. TN & Steve was aware of this which made it even better. Johnson Co. Tn is in the NE corner of the state bordering NC & VA. It is the TRI-CITY area. Bristol, Kingsport, Johnson City. Bristol is about 2 hrs from Knoxville. I have met Steve Earle on a few occasions. The tri cities is a very musically oriented place. Bristol is the birthplace of country music, & Johnson City has the Blue Plum festival & Little Chicago blues festival. I now reside in Johnson City, which is in Washington Co., Not Johnson. But all of upper E.TN is basically considered the Tri-City area with little communities in between.
    Flag littlechicago1on December 03, 2009   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:It sounds to me like everyone is getting the point, obviously John Lee Pettimore I and II die, and then when Pettimore III says in the final verse that "I wake up screamin like im back over there" he is saying that when he hears the chopper in his sleep he is thinking that he is under attack, and good thing he is smarter than the DEA he will have a trap set, but i think he is refering to the song "Still In Saigon" by Charlie Daniels when he says,"I learned a thing or two from ol' charlie dont ya know". because that song was released well before this song was. but this one is better.
    Flag landSHARKKon May 20, 2009   Link

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