Bill Martin

(Bill Martin and Jody Stecher)

 

It should have been a quick trip through

Heading on home to you

No fog or storm and nothing in my way

When the mumble we all dread

Went and turned my face to red

“Please stand by, there’ll be a slight delay.”

 

If you let us on the plane, we will not go insane

And we'll quit playing music in this hall

Relieve our great frustration and meet our expectation

Before we bang our heads against the wall

 

They would not even tell us how long it’s gonna be

Or even the cause of the delay

When they said “just stand by” I hung my head to cry

I’m not sure I’ll get out of here today

 

About an hour later, riding down the escalator

One woman, she stood out among the throng

A frown upon her face and a banjo in a case

She said “I’ve been waiting here too long.”

 

If you let us on the plane, we will not go insane

And we'll quit playing music in this hall

Honor every reservation, get us to our destination

Before we bang our heads against the wall

 

As we sat down to eat, up walked a man named Pete

A flatpicker from Boise, Idaho

You know we got to talking, to the gate we soon were walking

To pick some tunes until they let us go

 

Now two more hours in we met a kid named Jim

A devil's box, some rosin and a bow

By then we were on fire, longing to be higher

Looking down upon the Earth so far below

 

If you let us on the plane, we will not go insane

And we'll quit playing music at the gate

 

Honor every reservation, get us to our destination

We’ll forgive the airline that we love to hate

 

We played that Soldier’s Joy, Sally Ann, the Boston Boy

Katy Hill, Grey Eagle and Old Joe

With a square dance at the gate, we don’t care how long the wait

When they called to board I almost didn’t go

 

Now I haven't seen those guys since we finally reached the skies

It’s been years since we made that terminal ring

With a song to lift the blues and a tune to move your shoes

All the passengers all around us they did sing

 

If you let us on the plane, we will not go insane

And they’ll quit playing music in this hall

Honor every reservation, get us to our destination

Before we bang our heads against the wall