The Key
12 years old on my paper route, kickin’ the mud off of my left boot when I saw it there.
It was small and brass and it looked kind of funny, figured some day it would get me some money, so I kept it.
Put it in my pocket that day.
Went on my way to deliver the news, pick up the pace, no time to lose…and I thought about what I had.

This key I found layin’ on the ground’s gonna make me rich one day.
Keep it to myself; it’ll bring great wealth, when the right time comes my way
Untold pleasures and unlocked treasures, how much is hard to say
This key I found layin’ on the ground is gonna make me rich one day.

Took that key, kept it close to me, safe and sound as it could be, never out of sight.
Then one day in the classified, an ad about a key caught my eye, had a big reward…. So I picked up the telephone.
Dialed that number just as fast as I could, on the other end a lady’s voice said “Good”…
“Let’s see if we can make a deal”.

Chorus

Knocked on the door of that little shack, it was on my paper route can you imagine that. The door opened.
She said that’s the key I lost the other day, for a box that holds letters since he went away, a while ago.
A tear rolled down her cheek.
I read them to the children every day; it’s like hearin’ his voice, the things he would say…give anything to get it back.

She went to the cupboard for a fifty dollar bill and said “This is yours”, held out a trembling hand.
More money than I ever seen in one place, but I looked away, said “No thank you ma’am.….But this is yours”.

Nothing was worth the smile on her face when she unlocked that box. … It was a reunion
She said come children, come and meet a new friend, hope he visits a while… and comes back again
It meant so much more.
I’ll never forget what that key taught me bout giving and receiving and the way things should be…
And that will always be the key.
Chorus
Last line 2nd time “made me rich that day”