Lyrics

The Pope Valley Hubcap King

Words & Music by Pete Hamilton and Dave Nachmanoff


As the dust settled
In the wake of the shaking, of 1906
Up in Napa County
Another claim was staked on a bend in the Pope Valley Road
Was a dream of a ranch of his own
Gonna raise some cattle and graze some sheep
That farm by the creek in the valley,
Emanuel Damonte’s motherlode

With the doughboys on the frontline
Hard times with a wife and a newborn son
Out there fixin’ fences
A shiny disc hit by a ricochet stone
Reflecting in the sunlight, the face of an old coyote run to ground
That man they nicknamed ‘Litto’ he nailed up that polished piece of chrome

CHORUS:

Tokens of travellers
Under stars a’wanderin’
Emanuel Litto Damonte
Pope Valley Hubcap king, the Pope Valley Hubcap king

Said it was a flying frisbee from a Rejo Chief
Caught in a grizzly trap
A piece of armor from a conquistador or a Chinese pointed hat
One of James Marshall’s old gold pans from the rush of ’49
For miles around you could see ‘em shine…
For miles around you could see ‘em shine

Now it’s better times
And the grapevines of the big chateaux surround ol’ Litto’s ranch
Never could raise sheep
One by one he watched his cattle die
Well he just went on collecting, nailed up every hubcap that he found
Word spread through the valley, that he had the knack to make ‘em multiply

CHORUS

CHORUS