Coca-Cola: The Secret Syrup

Lyrics

[Intro]
In my backyard, the Georgia sun is high.
Got my three-legged brass kettle.
Got an oar to stir with.
Something for the head... something for the nerves.

[Verse 1]
John Stith Pemberton, that's my name.
Eighteen eighty-six is the year.
The air is thick with Atlanta dust and the scent of kola nut, a little coca leaf.
Just a pharmacist, tinkering with a cure.
A temperance drink, they call it.
A brain tonic for the modern age.
This thick, brown syrup...
It has a certain... potential.

[Chorus]
Just take a little spoonful of the secret.
Pour it over fizzing water from the fountain.
Hear that hiss? That's the sound of something new.
Frank says the two C's will look good in the paper.
Coca-Cola.
Delicious. Refreshing. Exhilarating.
Five cents a glass.

[Verse 2]
Down at Jacob's Pharmacy on Whitehall Street.
We're only selling nine a day.
Not exactly setting the world on fire.
But Frank, he draws this beautiful script, all swirls and grace.
Spencerian, he calls it.
Paints it on a piece of oilcloth, hangs it from the awning.
He says, "It just looks right, John."
And it does.

[Chorus]
Just take a little spoonful of the secret.
Pour it over fizzing water from the fountain.
Hear that hiss? That's the sound of something new.
Frank says the two C's will look good in the paper.
Coca-Cola.
Invigorating!
Five cents a glass.

[Bridge]
But a man's time is what it is.
And my health... well.
Then comes Asa Candler. A businessman.
He doesn't taste a tonic for headaches.
He tastes... tomorrow.
A few signed documents, a handful of dollars.
The secret isn't mine anymore.
The kettle in the backyard grows cold.

[Outro]
From Jacob's fountain to the whole wide world.
That Spencerian script on everything.
It was never about the headache, was it?
It was always about the thirst.
And the secret...
Well. The secret is safe.