My uncle died in a fire on his birthday Redneck, heard he was burning trash in his yard one day And on to the pile, he threw an aerosol can of spray And that's how he died in the fire that day Before he retired, he was a truck driver He'd be gone through the winters and all through the summers In the winters, us kids would order Dominos and watch Happy Days And in the summer, we'd get frogs at the ponds and fry up their legs My Aunt still lives there, I don't know how I'd visit her in LaVarne, she makes me smile We'd remember the story of when I was young Getting stung by a hornet, she caressed my foot Rubbed bacon powder on it I was probably 5 at their home in LaVarne My cousin's friend was in the yard playing guitar We all gathered around, listened to her play and sing And I fell into a trance and knew one day I would do the same thing My Uncle died in a fire on his birthday Out by the barn and his old collection of cars Third degree burns, a charred up shawl in his hand My Uncle died a respected man I flew out there, I went to his funeral Was storming that day, the sky was deep purple And babies were crying, Kentucky Fried Chicken was served And that's how he would've wanted it, I'm sure And after the funeral out there in LaVarne They all gathered around when I picked up a guitar They fell into a trance as I sang and I played And outside the frogs croaked and the mantises prayed