The Nutcracker Buck Sessions

They cleared him for takeoff on that northeast runway
Cold day in January at LaGuardia airport
Flight 1549 was bound for Charlotte, North Carolina
Little did they know that the trip would be so short

The crew was first officer Jeffrey Skiles
Flight attendants Doreen Welsh, Sheila Dail and Donna Dent
And a man named Sully Sullenberger from Denison, Texas,
Was sitting in the captain’s chair when the plane made its ascent

An Airbus A320 is a mighty awesome creature
75 tons of majesty and grace
But it feels a might bit different when you’re sitting in a cockpit
With a brace of geese’s asses suddenly staring you in the face

Three thousand feet above the Broncs, they felt the thumps, didn’t hear the honks
They smelled that gooseflesh burning and they heard that deathly hum
Sully looked back at LaGuardia and ahead to Teeterboro
Said, “Boys, we’ll never make it, mighty Hudson, here we come.”

The river lay below them as flat as a highway
Nary a wrinkle or a ripple to be seen
Doreen hollered out, “Y’all better brace yourselves for impact.
The flight is nearly over, time to board the submarine.”

That plane hit the water at 200 miles an hour
Gave a little bounce when Sully lifted up the nose
And the harbormaster said that when he saw that big bird landing
He swore off the drink forever, but if he did nobody knows

The passengers filed out in an orderly fashion
And stood on the wings like creatures to the world reborn
And the last to  emerge from that half-sunken wreckage
Was a mild-looking fellow in a captain’s uniform

That is the story of the miracle on the Hudson
And the bravery of the Cactus Airways Five
Just when you think this old world’s hardly fit for living in
Somebody will do something to make you proud to be alive