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Three Wooden Crosses Lyrics
A farmer and a teacher
A hooker and a preacher
Riding on a midnight bus
Bound for Mexico
One was heading for vacation
One for higher education
And two of them were searching for lost souls
That driver never ever saw the stop sign
And 18 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 80 acres
The faith and love for growing 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 lay 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 momma
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
A hooker and a preacher
Riding on a midnight bus
Bound for Mexico
One was heading for vacation
One for higher education
And two of them were searching for lost souls
And 18 wheelers can't stop on a dime
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
A home and 80 acres
The faith and love for growing things
In his young son's heart
In the minds of lots of children
Did her best to give 'em all
A better start
"Can't you see the promised land?"
As he lay his blood stained Bible
In that hooker's hand
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
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 momma
Who read it to me"
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
Song Info
Copyright
Lyrics © Sony/atv Music Publishing Llc, O/b/o Distrokid, Capitol Cmg Publishing
Writer
Kim Williams, Doug Johnson
Submitted by
stoney On Apr 08, 2005
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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....
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.
"taking the lyrics too seriously"?
"taking the lyrics too seriously"?
as in literally. they're thinking "oh he forgot the driver", not, " maybe it's something to do with the hooker" which is what they should do.
as in literally. they're thinking "oh he forgot the driver", not, " maybe it's something to do with the hooker" which is what they should do.
thank you kingsky, for pointing out that verse. I didn't realize that the it was after the crash (while he was dying) when the preacher spoke to her: "blood stained bible"
thank you kingsky, for pointing out that verse. I didn't realize that the it was after the crash (while he was dying) when the preacher spoke to her: "blood stained bible"
Exactley right
Exactley right
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.
I believe that the bus driver, the farmer and the teacher are the three to die, the preacher gives his bible to the hooker after the crash to show her there is a reason she did not die with the others and he did not die with them so he could show this too her
I believe that the bus driver, the farmer and the teacher are the three to die, the preacher gives his bible to the hooker after the crash to show her there is a reason she did not die with the others and he did not die with them so he could show this too her
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.
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.
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.
@MSD19 - you might be missing the point. The songs tells us how, even in the midst of tragedy, God's hand is at work. While the other three did die in the accident, how many souls were brought to God by the work of the prostitute's son?
@MSD19 - you might be missing the point. The songs tells us how, even in the midst of tragedy, God's hand is at work. While the other three did die in the accident, how many souls were brought to God by the work of the prostitute's son?
Well, I like this song to listen to, but I don't agree with the lyrics.
what do you mean? what's not agreeable about them??
what do you mean? what's not agreeable about them??
I don't understand the lyrics.
I think they make sense if your religious, but all i got was it was a miracle because her kid became another preacher. I was kind of thinking man this preacher is a jerk believing that his mom survived because he was gonna be a preacher. Kind of self serving nonsense to me. but then again as a non religious person i see preachers as another type of businessman. I guess if you were the faithful type it would be a great thing.
I think they make sense if your religious, but all i got was it was a miracle because her kid became another preacher. I was kind of thinking man this preacher is a jerk believing that his mom survived because he was gonna be a preacher. Kind of self serving nonsense to me. but then again as a non religious person i see preachers as another type of businessman. I guess if you were the faithful type it would be a great thing.
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.
yea, i agree whit james14
There were other passengers on the bus including the driver who did not die.The farmer (on vacation...the teacher (looking for higher education....the preacher and the hooker were looking for lost souls....the preacher wanted to save people....the hooker was looking to make money from lost souls.....three of them died ...the farmer , the teacher , and the preacher. Before the preacher died he passed the Bible to the hooker and that is when she turned her life around and gave her life to Christ and probably got married and had a baby boy who in turn was raised in a Christian...
There were other passengers on the bus including the driver who did not die.The farmer (on vacation...the teacher (looking for higher education....the preacher and the hooker were looking for lost souls....the preacher wanted to save people....the hooker was looking to make money from lost souls.....three of them died ...the farmer , the teacher , and the preacher. Before the preacher died he passed the Bible to the hooker and that is when she turned her life around and gave her life to Christ and probably got married and had a baby boy who in turn was raised in a Christian home and became a preacher who is actually telling the story.