Old Hickory

Virgil Lee was a mighty man
 He could outrun the elements
 Caught a wild cat and made him his friend
 He was a flat woods boy
 Caught his learnin' from a runnin' brook
 Taught him go with the flow and don't get hooked
 But Virgil Lee kindly mistook
 The devil for a dear friend
 You can fool all the jokers with diamonds
 You can playboy ramblin' roots
 You can lie like a penny on the CNO line
 But the good Lord knows the truth
 Just like a old hickory
 Shadin' the porch of a house that's been torn down
 There ain't nothin' that's left but the memory
 And that long, tall, scraggily, bitter nut old hickory
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 It was Gainsboro at the Glow Worm Bar
 We were passin' around a jug and a guitar
 Virgil picked it like an Opry star
 I mean the boy was on fire
 I said, "Hey Virgil Lee, where'd you get that stuff?"
 He said, "I don't know, I guess I made it up?"
 Well sometimes an empty cup
 Just overflows
 And all that summer was fire and rain
 Virgil Lee started nursin' the pain
 'Til every one of them songs he would play
 Was twisted, falling down
 Like a old hickory
 Shadin' the porch of a house that's been torn down
 There ain't nothin' that's left but the memory
 And that long, tall, scraggily, bitter nut old hickory
 ♪
 Laid him out in his overalls
 'Cause when you get too big for your breeches well that's all
 Hung his fiddle and his flat top guitar
 Up in the high school gym
 Nobody remembers his name
 And I can't say anyone's to blame
 One of these times you gotta hear him play
 He was the greatest that's ever been
 You can fool all the jokers with diamonds
 You can playboy ramblin' roots
 You can lie like a penny on the CNO line
 But the good Lord knows the truth
 Just like a old hickory
 Shadin' the porch of a house that's been torn down
 There ain't nothin' that's left but the memory
 And that long, tall, scraggily, bitter nut
 Old hickory
 Shadin' the porch of a house that's been torn down
 There ain't nothin' that's left but the memory
 And that long, tall, scraggily, bitter nut old hickory
 Oh and that long, tall, scraggily, bitter nut old hickory