Old Man Tell Me - David Allan Coe

作词：David Allan Coe/Buzz Rabin

作曲：David Allan Coe/Buzz Rabin

I've seen the old man sitting 'round

The courthouse square back home in town

Talkin' about the big war back in 1943

Saying how much good it's done

Medals gleaming in the sun

Cussing at my long hair

And my talk of being free

Their vision like their battle scars

Of other wars has faded

Like the colors on the ribbons

From the battles that they've won

If there's one thing I've learned it's this

You just can't shake hands with a fist

And I once did my talkin' with a gun

And old man I know what you've seen

But yours is not the only dream

I have to believe in something

More than yesterday

Let it die just like the past

I believe there's hope at last

Old man did you ever have to pray

Old man can you show me the way

Shakes his head from time to time

And rambles somewhere in his mind

Mumbling 'bout the civil war

And how we should have won

Setting up his battle plans

On checker boards at his command

Watching all his gallant kings

Go fallin' one by one

And son he'd say There's not much time

For you to straighten out your mind

But you never listen to the things I try to say

And I just turn my head and cry

Never understanding why

He'd set up that checker board

When he knew I couldn't play