Granny's 12 Gauge isn't some joke band or parody of West Virginia culture.  We write songs about real things and things we've really lived, and celebrate the soul of the great Mountain State.  We like mixing hard rock and punk with the blues, country, gospel, bluegrass, etc., the music we grew up with, and seeing what happens.  We take chances and we've lived with the consequences, both good and bad.

Some people never grasp what G12G is about because they don't take the time to listen to the lyrics and put all the pieces into place.  However, those that do help keep G12G together.  This band has never wanted anything but to make fellow West Virginians proud, and we truly thank those of you who have taken the time to figure it out.  We dedicate this lyrics page to you...

We like to keep about 20 songs fully lubricated for a show--this is our current favorite list. We occasionally rotate in songs from our "B list" of half-forgotten tunes that we keep mothballed, plus whatever new we've come up with that we're ready to try out. Click on Highlighted songs to see lyrics. Those with an "*" are on the 1st CD. This is a standard set list as of 1999.--Cap

Flatwoods Monster--A strange thing happened in central West Virginia on September 12, 1952. An object descended onto a nearby hilltop, and a schoolteacher, her children and some of their friends decided to investigate...

McBeth Mine Explosion--O.K., G12G plays a lot of coal-mining related songs, but this one is special. The lyrics were written in 1938 by a West Virginia band called "Cap, Andy, and Flip."

Mr. Sensitive--Granny always says, "Sweetie, there's only two kinds of people in this world--assholes and cool people."

Ballad of Sid Hatfield*--Are you from West Virginia and don't know about Sid Hatfield? Shame on you. Two-gun Sid could outfight and outgun any man in the roughest coalfield in West Virginia, but Sid (Police Chief of Matewan) was odd--he didn't sell out to the company. Thus, Sid and his best friend were killed (actually, executed) in an ambush by company-paid detectives on the Welch County courthouse steps in August, 1921.

Creek*--Have you ever looked into the water and realized it lives, and has to eat, like yourself?

Twin Hohner Attack--Cheap guitars are a lifestyle, and don't you forget it. The G12G guitar unit was brought-up on Hohner guitars--by choice. This is an ode to the band, the road, and playing rock and roll.

Step on the Gas*--Coal trucks and tiny cars don't mix, especially when the truck is late because of the gin-induced hangover.

Daddy Drove a Brush Hog*--The story of a young boy left in the shadow of his father's love for the loneliness of median mowing.

Train Don't Roll Here*--The railroad brought our grandparents here a hundred years ago, but in most places the trains are long gone. The people left have only the empty grades to ponder.

Damn You Fickle Bitch--Women bring out the best, but also the worst, in men. This is a good example of the latter.

Hoodoo Engine*--It's 1924...a proud man in a jinxed locomotive stares down the steep grade of a logging railroad coming into Canaan Valley, West Virginia. From a trackside phone he promises his wife he'll make it to Davis in 30 minutes or eat dinnner with the Devil in Hell. The grade, and the Devil, wins...Fred Viering gets a sanding lever through his skull.

Bottle of Revision*--Sometimes drinking can revise your personal history, at least on a small scale, for a little while.

Highwall Blues*--If you've ever seen a "classic" West Virginia strip mine, especially one abandoned after the coal company skipped town, you've seen a highwall. They're those 60-plus-foot-high scars encircling mountains. In the company's view, they provide wonderful opportunities for learning geology while expanding West Virginia's job base. So what the company had to move you out of your house and into a trailer. Hey...what's that watery red stuff comin' out of the hill?!? [This was the way of strip mining in the good old days, now they just remove the mountain. See "Mountaintop Removal" below. --Rhonda]

My Luck is Gonna Change--Sure, things have been going bad. You had big plans for the county fair, but they didn't work out. But just wait, your salvation is near...

Self Destruction Under Construction--A bizarre story about the realization of inner peace through the contemplation of asphalt paving jobs, the death of loved ones, and the consumption of Jim Beam Whiskey.

13 Shots of Pain*--It's late, the music is loud, your girl just left in a huff, and one more drink sounds like a great idea.

Promised Land*--Love has the power to drive you insane, especially when the one you love doesn't love you. So will talking to the preacher help? No, and niether will talking with the Devil...

Dried-Up Dreams--A dark tale about a washed out town. Oh no, not Morgantown...

Full Speed Ahead--You're far from the mountains and you can't stand the flat land, and baby, you're comin' back!!

Doghouse--Every man knows the consequences of late-night carousing and what's at home waiting.

Strip Joint Girl--In West Virgininia stripping is allowed on all levels, from mountaintops to halter tops. It's a pretty lucrative business either way, but the Strip Joint Girls will one day win, as they should.

You Will Fade Away--Everybody dies, but what do you take with you when you go?   We'll all find out, because we'll all soon be history.

Steamshovel--A serial-killer mine foreman and his two hapless helpers cover all traces of his evil deeds.

Mountaintop Removal--If you're a coal company, with enough money and enough connections, you can pretty much do whatever you want to do in West Virginia. All things will be subjugated to your needs and profit potential. All things...regardless of the consequences...including the mountains themselves. That's progress.

Buffalo Creek--Here's a good example of the way things work in West Virginia. In 1972 a mine refuse dam (a pile of mine tailings spilled into a valley that ends up turning into dam when it rains) collapsed, killing 118 people.  The company (Pittson Coal) claimed they were not responsible as it was an act of God, i.e., that God had put too much water there for their "dam" to hold. After a national public outcry, the coal company promised to redeem itself, and the governor (dear Arch Moore, may he rest in jail) scrambled to secure disaster funds. Arch Moore of course thought a new major highway down the hollow should be a first priorty for the disaster funds. In the end, neither ever happened. Want to see how seedy this was? Click Here.

My Mind Is Somewhere Else--"The truth is not written on the face; it is written on the soul, the heart, and the mind. This is a place most eyes don't see"--Twylus Pickney (band lawyer).

Disappear--Remember the words of Jim Morrison, "Learn to forget."

Too Many Dues--Hard livin' will take its toll.

A Portion of the "B List"
Mudstone! Bonecoal!
Laughing Tiki God
Hills Like White Elephants
The Phillippi Mummies
It Is This Way With Men Who Fly
Blisters on my Eyes
The Battleship West Virginia
Fortunate Son (John Fogerty)
Sometimes People Go Crazy
Cave In
Where'd ya' Get That Motor, Baby?
The Quick and the Dead
Impaled on the Guardrail
Bury Me on Grumbien's Island
Sin City (Gram Parsons)
Hard Times are Blowin' Away
How'd You Get so Good at Breaking My Heart?
It's All a Game to You
If I Could Make a Livin' By Makin' Mistakes
Are you Sure Hank Done it This Way? (Waylon Jennings)
When the Party Was Over
Your Memory Will Haunt Me
Spit In Your Eye
 

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