Cookie-tin Banjo

My father has an old guitar and he plays me folk songs My father has an old guitar and he plays me folk songs There is nothing I want more than to play like him He goes to the basement and builds me a cookie-tin banjo He builds me a cookie-tin banjo The strings are made of rubber bands The strap is an old red neck tie The body is the big round lid of a metal cookie-tin When he plays his old guitar I play my cookie-tin banjo I play my cookie-tin banjo right along with him The more we play together the more I fall in love with music And I realize that my banjo is a toy that I've outgrown I want strings of steel and something new and something real So he gets me a guitar to call my own Then dad says to me on this fine afternoon Let's sit on the stairs, I'll teach you a tune He hands me a pick, one that's little and black He shows me the g chord, I've never looked back Now buried somewhere in a closet is my cookie-tin banjo In my arms is my guitar, my greatest source of joy For the life that I have now I'm grateful to my father He gave the gift of music to his boy It started with a simple homemade toy