Anderson, South Carolina - TL Hanna High

The people there will tell you - ask any passerby

About the kid who speaks in gibberish - folks’ll tell you, “Shoot...

Wasn’t nothing but a little love and attention gave voice to a mute”

Who stood with his transistor - pressed against his ear

Picking up certain frequencies that only he could hear

There was this little man inside it - perhaps his only friend

The only one who’d talk to him - the only one back then

Coach Jones barked, “Come here, boy!” to this kid up in the stands

Who was mimicking him loudly - making gestures with his hands

The players on the football team exchanged uneasy glances

You jumped when Coach said to jump - but oh, how slow the boy was advancing

Coach Jones was pulling on the drawstrings on his hood

The kid, he spoke in gibberish -Coach, he understood

Lamb imitating lion - it sure looked like easy prey

But this is not what happened - no, it went the other way

This kid they nicknamed Radio was 18 going on 6

The team needed a water boy - and so the job was his

Coach convinced the principal to bend a couple rules

He’d pick up Radio every day - on his way to school

Everywhere that Coach Jones went his lamb was sure to go

They tried him out in Special Ed but his marks were too low

The kid’s now in his 50’s - his hair is sprinkled white

For 30 years he’s come to school - he cannot read or write

Come Football Fridays - they let Radio be the star

He falls in with the marching band and then with the color guard

He jumps when the cheerleaders jump - with pom poms on his hands

He cusses like the coaches do & he high fives with the fans

They give Radio report cards & they give him varsity letters

They let him wander freely in his TL Hanna sweater

He visits all the classrooms - and whenever there’s a test

He whips out his box of crayons - he tries his very best

Everyone knows Radio - the townspeople adore him

The students pat his head just like their parents did before them

Anderson, South Carolina...folks’ll tell you, “Shoot...

It wasn’t nothing but a little love and attention - gave voice to a mute