Virgil And The Moonshot - Ray Stevens

Well, ol' Virgil always was a clown

Dumbest man in our hometown

But somehow, he got hired out at the NASA base

And then one day, against all the rules

While cleanin' up a space capsule

He closed the hatch and started playing Man in Space

He put a spacesuit on and sat right down

Started flippin' switches and messin' around

A siren started blastin' and a green light was flashin' «ready»

Yeah, hoses were snappin' and gas was going «whoosh»

Virgil just had to give that button a push

And son of a gun, he was gone like Richard Petty

Oh, mama

Hello, Houston, we got a problem

Get Gladys on the phone

Somebody tell her where I’m at

How long I’ll be gone

Yeah, remind her she needs to feed my dogs

Milk the cow and slop them hogs

Hello, Houston, we got a problem

How y’all gonna get me back home?

Huh?

Well, we saw it right there on TV

My wife, my kids, the dog and me

On a broadcast from outer space on the evening news

Oh, Virgil wasn’t havin' any fun

He’d run down the batteries on his Star Wars gun

And he was turning green in various shades and hues

He said, «Boys, you better get me down quick

'Cause I’m afraid I’m gonna be sick

I don’t, I don’t think I can take much more of this

Lord, all I do is just float around

Half the time I think I’m upside down, you know

I need to throw up but I don’t know where up is»

Hello, Redneck One, Redneck One, this is mission control

Stand by, Virgil, we’re about to execute your re-entry

Execute me?

Lord, have mercy

Couldn’t, couldn’t you just dock me a couple of days' pay?

Whoa, here we go again

Hello, Houston, we got a problem

I think we got a flat tire

Yeah, I just looked out that little round window

And the whole capsule’s afire

Everything’s a-shakin' and a-burnin' hot

If you’re gonna execute me, I’d just as soon be shot

Hello, Houston, we got a problem

I’m droppin' like a fallin' star

Well, give NASA credit, they got him back

And of course, he was immediately sacked

And we were all amazed at the fame Virgil’s ride had brought

But ol' Virgil knew just how to work it

'Cause the next thing you know, he’s on the talk show circuit

Billin' himself as «The Redneck Astronaut»

Hello, Oprah, we got a problem

Montel’s on the other phone

Yeah, he wants to book me too

And so does 20/20 and Jenny Jones

Now I’m sure that we can work it out in time

Just have your people talk to mine

Hello, Oprah, gotta go now

60 Minutes is on the phone

Hey, 60 Minutes, yeah

Aw, I’d love to

But you know, I gotta have that first segment

And, yeah, and Mike Wallace has gotta host it

Uh-huh, oh, well, okay, fine then, we’ll give it to Dateline

Eh, uh, what’s that?

Oh, well, that’s more like it

Yeah, well, I kinda, I kinda thought you’d see it my way

I mean, after all, it does make sense, don’t it?

Spacesuit?

Yeah, I got a spacesuit

Well, you know, it’s, it’s not a real spacesuit

But I mean, you can’t tell the difference from three feet away

Glad-Gladys made it for me

Yeah, she, yeah, she’s got one of them sewin' machines that, that does all that

fancy stuff

Oh yeah