We're Getting By

Well I started out as a desert rat swinging sticks for baseball bats Got a dog to call our own and when you called she came home Summer in the Phoenix heat made my dad move his feet and Pack his bags to head up north where wolves would holler back and forth Years rolled by one by one and I became an adopted son Alaska called us to it's roots where pioneers wore sheep skin boots Killed the food by their own hands, dressed the kids, sowed the land Drank all the beer left at Chilkoot Charlies I am a son, I am a son of a 49er It's this feeling that we share it's the clean air that we breathe Makes us proud to be so bold My brothers were good at games, sports and things we stayed up late Racing our bikes, chopping trees and torching bees with fireworks Once I caught a baseball hit to my left eye, blackened it Bruised and blue well I must confess that I got pictures of this mess The sun would shine all through the night, midnight sun is hella bright And in the winter darkness fell to some it was heaven to others hell But I was busy doing things I was good at school and drooling on girls But my mom raised me right never once did I fistfight Except one time my ass was about to get kicked and my little brother Did all the fighting for me, we call him Big Ben He is a son, he is a son of a 49er It's this feeling that we share it's the clean air that we breathe Makes us proud to be so bold Well my mother, bless her heart, raised us up to healthy start With homecooked meals and lots of love, never pushed when it came to shove Taught us all that she did know then at 18 it was time to go Taught me how to cook and clean, wash my clothes and pick up things And open doors for pretty girls, notice when they had new colored curls Thanks ma, girls seem to like me now She is a daughter, she is a daughter of a 49er It's this feeling that we share it's the clean air that we breathe Makes us proud to be so bold My Dad has a lot of scars from hunting things and fixing cars On our walls two bear rugs, black and brown, looking smug Once I went to Kodiak and fell into a bear attack And I got this scar on my neck from a paw so big it hurt like a wreck But my dad shot him in the heart, my was stopped but soon did start And that bear went down on wounded knee and on our wall for all to see He is a son, he is a son of a 49er It's this feeling that we share it's the clean air that we breathe Makes us proud to be so bold