Back at Menauhant beach
where the sand dunes reach
past the shoals, through the seaside goldenrod

you could find my father’s brother
In his Chevy undercover
After workin' in the heat of Cape Cod

He'd pull his pickup in
past the empty ticket stand
every day on his way home
from the grind

There he'd idle with a cigaret in his hand
tryin’ hard to take a load off his old mind

Cedar shingles in the bed
Cedar shingles in his head
He'd been humpin' cedar since he's 17

With a hammer and a song
He's bangin' all day long
At night he smelled the cedar in his dreams

He's got a thousand-yard stare
A little worse for the wear
There's just a lot on his mind
He's only tryin' to unwind

Cause you can't hang a cedar shingle on a sand dune baby
Couldn't nail 'em to the weather or the waves
He got a little taste of heaven
on those saltwater summer days

Dropped out of high school when his mother needed help makin' money
Started workin' for the father of a friend
I'll give you 7 cents a shingle if you never stop swingin'
you can make a decent living for a kid

After Spring had turned to summer
You could hear his hammer hummin'
And his lean workin' body turnin' heads

He bought a rusty yellow truck
For seven Hundred bucks
And tossed a second hand mattress in the bed

He said "I know a pretty place to watch the sunset baby"
To the daughter of the man who owned the bank

And on that Menauhant sand she wrote her number on his hand
And said to call her if a lonely moment came

He called her as she walked away
She married him in early May
Her father said it was a shame
A boy with cedar in his veins

But you can't hang a cedar shingle on a sand dune baby
Couldn't nail 'em to the weather or the waves
He got a little taste of heaven
on that saltwater summer day

Well they battled like a storm
But the making up was warm
And the making love was always something else

And they lasted seven years
But the tide was getting fierce
Til the swell had all but swallowed up the land

When they finally said goodbye
She kissed him softly on the eye
Whispered "why's it always better at the end"

you were cedar, I was wine
It's a matter of design
That a hammer's gonna break what doesn't bend

So he drove to Menauhant and walked along the rocky shore
Reminiscing all the memories he had

Looking down he saw the muscles in his arms
All the little faded scars
Told the story of a man

His skin was leathery and tan
He dropped his hammer in the sand
He cried with all the windows closed
And headed for the open road

Cause you can't hang a cedar shingle on a sand dune baby
Couldn't nail 'em to the weather or the waves
He gets a little taste of heaven
every saltwater summer day