[Intro]

[Verse 1]
The snow is finally off the yard, the truck's been idling since dawn
I'm bouncing down the highway to the lumber yard at Chimo
Straight past the big-box store, past the pallets of cheap pine
Where the weekend warriors pick their boards in a grocery line

The rack is fresh and full, I'm a bomb squad with a glove
I sight each two-by-four for crown and wane and love
I check the knots for soundness, I tap them with a nail
The ones that fail my test get tossed into the bone pile jail

[Chorus]
That chalk line pop is a metronome
One crooked stud can wreck a home
That chalk line pop is a metronome
One crooked stud can wreck a home

[Verse 2]
My sons, they think I'm fussy, they just grab the first they see
But they don't know a twisted stud will bow a wall by three degrees
I bring the chosen boards back home, I stack them nice and flat
And then I pull the chalk line, hear that snap, and that's that

[Chorus]
That chalk line pop is a metronome
One crooked stud can wreck a home
That chalk line pop is a metronome
One crooked stud can wreck a home

[Bridge]
I learned the hard way back in '89, a partition wall I framed
A quarter-inch out of plumb and the marriage nearly came
Undone along with the drywall, because a stud was crowned
Now I don't trust a board unless it's been inspected upside-down

[Chorus]
That chalk line pop is a metronome
One crooked stud can wreck a home
That chalk line pop is a metronome
One crooked stud can wreck a home

[Outro]