Grandma's Gravy Never Had a Recipe

Lyrics

Her hands never measured a thing
A pinch and a splash and a prayer
The card in the drawer says "to taste"
And the stains say she was there
I stand at the stove in her apron
Three sizes too wide for me
Trying to find what she knew by heart
In the steam of a Sunday tea

Grandma's gravy never had a recipe
Just a wooden spoon and a love that was free
You stir it slow, you stir it slow
Till the kitchen smells like long ago
No page can hold what her hands could show
Grandma's gravy never had a recipe
And it tastes like home to me

I called Aunt Rose for the secret
She laughed till she had to sit down
She said "honey, she never knew either
She just fed the whole town"
So I burn the first pot and I try again
The window fogged up and warm
The radio hums an old gospel tune
And the rain taps out the storm

Grandma's gravy never had a recipe
Just a wooden spoon and a love that was free
You stir it slow, you stir it slow
Till the kitchen smells like long ago
No page can hold what her hands could show
Grandma's gravy never had a recipe
And it tastes like home to me

Maybe the secret was the standing there
The patience and the time
Maybe every cook who ever loved
Just wrote it in a line
Of kids at the table, of doors left wide
Of a light on in the hall
Come on in, come on in, there's plenty here
There was always plenty for all

Tonight my own girl climbs on a chair
And she grabs the spoon from my hand
She stirs it slow with a serious face
Like she's known it all along
I won't write it down, I won't write it down
I'll just let her taste and see

Grandma's gravy never had a recipe
Just a wooden spoon and a love that was free
You stir it slow, you stir it slow
Till the kitchen smells like long ago
No page can hold what her hands could show
Grandma's gravy never had a recipe
And it tastes like home to me

Stir it slow, stir it slow
Tastes like home to me