From the recording Apple & Setser / WAVE
3. A Friend You'd Never Met (3:16) (Brad Apple/Brad Apple Publishing/BMI) Mid-tempo fingerpicking - folk/roots/Americana. ISRC: USCGH 2222632. Brad says the story behind this nostalgic song comes from a line spoken by Uncle Jessie in a Dukes of Hazzard episode that "a stranger is just a friend you've never met," which made him reminisce about old times when everyone was your neighbor and a handshake was all you needed to make a deal.
(Brad Apple-lead vocals, fingerstyle guitar, acoustic bass; Pam Setser-harmony vocals; Sam Cobb-mandolin)
Lyrics
A Friend You’d Never Met
Grandpa, can you tell me how things used to be In your first days under the sun When you walked to school each and every day And took a leftover biscuit for your lunch
Was the world not as busy as it is today Did time not seem to go so fast Was a handshake a promise that you would not forget Was a stranger just a friend you’d never met
Chorus
Before there was electric power And you worked hard in the fields everyday Was a handshake a promise that you would not forget Was a stranger just a friend you’d never met
Grandson, let me tell you how things used to be In my first days under the sun Well, I walked to school each and everyday And took a leftover biscuit for my lunch
The world was not as busy as it is today I can tell you that things have really changed