Meghan Moxley

Oregon balladeer Meghan Moxley is now offering her music through Appaloosa Radio.

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The Battery Man

by Meghan Moxley

The Battery Man –

[Verse 1]
He drove the hills of Seattle, dawn still gray on the rainy streets,
A truck full of lead and mercury, rust and receipts.
Car batteries, boat batteries, truck batteries

Any kind you’d want

Delivering and picking ‘em up.

hands burned raw,
Acid ate through denim, but never touched his core.

[Pre-Chorus]
He picked up the old, left the new behind,
Trading weight for a dollar, day after time.

[Chorus 1]
Oh, Battery Man, carrying power and pain,
Keeping engines alive in the cold and the rain.
Your hands told the story before you ever spoke,
A working man’s gospel in grease and smoke.
Yeah, Battery Man, you did what you could,
The way only you would.

[Verse 2]
Army behind him, but Viet Nam still in his eyes,
A rented place in Ballard, watching ships pass by.
Mom at the doughnut shop, four a.m. at dawn’s light,
Sugared and jellies fried — dozens to make things right.

[Pre-Chorus]
Night school dreams and a welding mask,
Hoping the shipyard might forget the past.

[Chorus 2]
Oh, Battery Man, standing outside the gate,
Judged by a line on a form, by a long-gone mistake.
Still you came home dirty, still you stood tall,
Teaching me how a man doesn’t quit when he falls.
Yeah, Battery Man, you did what you could,
Held the charge for a family, the way only you would.

[Bridge]
Nineteen sixty-eight Chevy, packed up and southbound hope,
Every mile a question, every breath a rope.
Rice Hill, Oregon, the engine died cold,
No job, no map, no future sold.

A hippie stranger in a pickup, said, “Come on, it’s free,
Just doing this thing they call humanity.”

[Verse 3]
So we landed in quiet, metal sparks and trees,
He wasn’t chasing peace signs, just a way to be.
Fixing what was broken, making something stand,
Steel in the fire, truth in his hands.