One time I shook hands with a pirate
He gave me a map to all his gold
After a lifetime I finally found it
By then I was too old to bring it home
It was a long way down

On a snowy night in late December
I set out to find some mistletoe
She had promised me all kinds of kisses;
None of them were worth the bones I broke
It was a long way down

Long way to fall to have nobody catch ya
Long way to call to have nobody answer
Long walk home if you don't know the mountain roads

One night while playing in a graveyard
Somebody's hand reached up and grabbed my leg
It was my dearly departed grandpa
He said, "I bet you thought that I was dead
I was just a long way down."

And on the night before the day that I got married
The old man said "Hey listen to me son
Make sure you wanna hold that girl forever
'Cause once you say I do you gotta do it 'til it's done
It's a long way down."

Long way to fall to have nobody catch ya
Long way to call to have nobody answer
Long walk home if you don't know the mountain roads

It's a long fall down to Earth from Heaven
A long walk back to there from Hell
And sometimes the difference between them is hard to tell

One time I met a tree out in a forest
I said "Tree I wanna be as big as you."
He said "Boy I wish you never had've found me
'Cause that means that lumberjack can find me too
And it's a long way down."