call me the donkey, the one who bore

your water, your grain, your winning, your war

i never asked whose name they'd cheer

i just knew the mountain, and i brought you here

they gave the horse the poem and the crown

i took the load and i never set it down

so laugh if you like at my crooked ear

the arrival was theirs, the carrying was here

but a donkey knows a secret the horses don't

the ones who carry are the ones who won't

be moved, be bought, be spooked, be gone

loyal isn't dumb, loyal is a throne

so credit the horse, i'll keep the road

i am the one who remembers the load

and every name that was ever carried up high

rode a loyal donkey with a knowing eye

hee-haw, hee-haw, carry it home

hee-haw, hee-haw, you're never alone

the load ain't a curse, the load is a song

carry it careful, carry it long

hee-haw, hee-haw, the crooked and true

the road remembers, the road knows you

they think that i'm bent, i'm just built to bend

a back that can carry can carry a friend

they think that i'm slow, but slow is how

you notice the flower the racers don't allow

pity me? save it, i don't need the tears

i turned every burden to years upon years

of knowing the weight of a thing is the worth

the heaviest carried is the closest to earth

and i who once rode you, i climb down now

i'll walk beside you, i'll wipe your brow

no more the horse and the beast apart

two carry lighter, and that's the art

you bore my name when i had none

so take mine now, we carry as one

so hee-haw proud, let the mountain hear

the donkey and the rider, gear to gear

what looked like pity was patience in disguise

a loyal thing carrying paradise

the horse rode ahead and the horse rode fast

but the donkey and the rider, they made it last

hee-haw, hee-haw, carry it home

hee-haw, hee-haw, you're never alone

the load ain't a curse, the load is a song

carry it careful, carry it long

hee-haw, hee-haw, the crooked and true

the road remembers, the road knows you

so lay down the grain, lay down the war

i'll carry the morning like i carried before

laugh at my ear, my slow, my bray

i'm the loyal one, and i chose to stay

i chose to stay

i chose to stay