A farmer and a teacher, a hooker and a preacher
Ridin' on a midnight bus bound for Mexico
One's headed for vacation, one for higher education
And two of them were searchin' for lost souls
That driver never ever saw the stop sign
And eighteen wheelers can't stop on a dime

There are three wooden crosses on the right side of the highway
Why there's not four of them, Heaven only knows
I guess it's not what you take when you leave this world behind you
It's what you leave behind you when you go

That farmer left a harvest, a home and eighty acres
The faith and love for growin' things in his young son's heart
And that teacher left her wisdom in the minds of lots of children
Did her best to give 'em all a better start
And that preacher whispered, "Can't you see the Promised Land?"
As he laid his blood-stained bible in that hooker's hand

There are three wooden crosses on the right side of the highway
Why there's not four of them, Heaven only knows
I guess it's not what you take when you leave this world behind you
It's what you leave behind you when you go

That's the story that our preacher told last Sunday
As he held that blood-stained bible up
For all of us to see
He said "Bless the farmer, and the teacher, and the preacher
Who gave this Bible to my mama
Who read it to me"

There are three wooden crosses on the right side of the highway
Why there's not four of them, now I guess we know
It's not what you take when you leave this world behind you
It's what you leave behind you when you go

There are three wooden crosses on the right side of the highway


Lyrics submitted by Stoney

Three Wooden Crosses Lyrics as written by Doug Johnson Kim Williams

Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC

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Three Wooden Crosses song meanings
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18 Comments

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  • +2
    General Comment

    I understand. The songwriters simply forgot about the driver, so they started to tell he was Jesus. And it fits perfectly to the lyrics. Don't you see??? 'Why there's not four of them heaven only knows' The hooker stayed alive, so the driver's cross is missing, because he should have died also. So the driver was somebody strange....

    nychtalopiaon February 09, 2007   Link
  • +2
    Song Meaning

    Everyone's taking the lyrics to seriously.

    Three of four people on a bus that crashed die. At the beginning of the song, the singer is wondering why there aren't four for all four passengers.

    " And that preacher whispered "Can't you see the promised land?" As he lay his blood stained Bible In that hooker's hand "

    The preacher's last act was to save the hooker by giving her the bible, and by doing so, bringing her to God. God saves the hooker and she turns her life around. The other preacher says "bless the farmer, and the teacher, and the preacher", meaning bless those who showed her the joy of an honest, good life. Without that, he wouldn't be there today.

    I'm not religious (I'm agnostic) and this is just my interpretation of the meaning of the song.

    kingskywalker94on March 13, 2009   Link
  • +1
    General Comment

    This song is beautiful.

    My interpretation is that the song writer was listening to his Preacher tell a story about his (the preachers) mother who happened to be a Hooker "searching for a lost soul" when she encountered a Preacher. That Preacher on the bus showed her and gave her the Bible. The Preacher on the bus ends up dying, but the Hooker does not. The Hooker ends up turning her life around and raises up a son who becomes a Preacher.

    James14on September 18, 2006   Link
  • +1
    General Comment

    James pretty much hit it square, and the concept of the "three wooden crosses" seems pretty clear to me. Five people were on the bus; the farmer, the teacher, the hooker, the preacher, and the driver. Three of the passengers do not survive...the hooker and the driver survive, but they're should have been four...maybe the driver is a reference to Jesus guiding the lost souls.

    Maloner885on July 08, 2008   Link
  • +1
    General Comment

    At the end of the song it sais the preacher held the blood stained bible up. And he sais God Bless the farmer,and the teacher. And the preacher who gave it to my momma who read it to me. The hooker survived the accident. In turn read it to her son who became a preacher later.

    kevinss1123on November 19, 2013   Link
  • +1
    General Comment

    A lovely song about how a group of people are tragically killed out of negligence, but it's okay because a prostitute survives and takes her survival to be an act of god.

    So while the woman is forever traumatized from the experience and turns to religion to cope, a person of learning who shares their passion for knowledge with others is killed, the world loses somebody whose work contributes to feeding hundreds or thousands. But the prostitute raises another preacher so apparently the incident had a positive result.

    MSD19on January 24, 2014   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    Well, I like this song to listen to, but I don't agree with the lyrics.

    Simplethings18on March 09, 2006   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    I don't understand the lyrics.

    anotherdayon September 17, 2006   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    Great song. The song makes great sense to me. Very easy to understand. Very beautiful. Randy Travis has a great voice. It makes the song that much better.

    scarredon November 29, 2006   Link
  • 0
    General Comment

    yea, i agree whit james14

    grungebeavis15on December 14, 2006   Link

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