Take Two, They're Small

The other day my dad mentioned a song my grandfather, Lee Jackson Cooper, had written with Dalton Roberts. That sent me digging—and within minutes, thanks to the miracle of the internet, I found it: someone had taken an old Impact! label 45, digitized it, and uploaded it to YouTube. Suddenly, I was hearing my grandfather’s words sung back across the decades. For all its faults, this is the thing the internet is for: echoes of memory.

My grandfather, Lee J. Cooper (who I wrote about here) was born in 1925. He grew up in hard times, served in World War II, and was a man of grit, humor, and insatiable curiosity. He loved music—especially the piano. I can still remember him sitting me on his lap at the keys, trying to explain theory I was far too young to grasp. He passed down not only that love of music, but also a fascination with computers and gadgets (he was tinkering with them in the 1980s), a knack for jokes and storytelling, and a deep interest in genealogy and family history. More than once, people have told me I sound a lot like him. If I ever take up bridge, I may just become him entirely. He was also proud to be named a Kentucky Colonel, because Kentucky meant family and history to him—and those two things were inseparable.

Me and my grandfather Lee J Cooper, who we called Ta.

His friend Dalton Roberts was cut from similar cloth. Around Chattanooga, Dalton was a character in the best sense of the word: songwriter, performer, columnist, and four-term Hamilton County Executive. He wrote songs by the dozens, including one that went to No. 1 on the charts and another that almost became the theme for a NBC TV show. He and my grandfather were good friends, bound by a love of music, humor, politics, and community.

My mom remembers them writing this particular song together—Lee J. at the piano, Dalton with his guitar, the two of them laughing, trading lines, and turning scraps of words and melody into something whole. Finding it online was like turning a family story into something I could actually hear, and now share.

Here’s the track they wrote, Take Two, They’re Small:

Take Two, They’re Small

by Dalton Roberts & Lee J. Cooper

The first time I kissed you, if I recall

You smiled at me and said “they’re free, take two, they’re small.”

It’s really strange how things have changed—Your lawyer just called,

You’re leaving me, seeking custody. Take two, they’re small.

Take two they’re small

They won’t be hurt much, so you say.

Take two they’re small,

They’ll understand it all someday.

They’re just my pride and joy,

That little girl and little boy.

They’re just my whole life, that’s all,

So take two, they’re small.

On Sundays I can see them, how nice of you.

And once a year they’ll visit me, and stay a week or two.

It won’t be long till they’ll forget, they knew me at all.

You’ll have your way—what can I say? Take two, they’re small.

Take two they’re small

They won’t be hurt much, so you say.

Take two they’re small,

They’ll understand it all someday.

They’re just my pride and joy,

That little girl and little boy.

They’re just my whole life, that’s all,

So take two, they’re small.

A song is always more than just chords and words. Sometimes it’s a bridge between generations, a reminder of the people who shaped you, and a little piece of family history set to music.