Old Hickory

Virgil Lee was a mighty man, he could out run the L&N

Caught a wild cat and made him his friend

He was a flat woods boy

Caught his learnin' from a runnin' brook

Taught him got 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 play boy 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

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

Tell everyone of them songs he would play was twisted

Fallin' 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 britches, 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

Oh, you can fool all the jokers with diamonds

You can play boy ramblin' roots

You can lie like a penny on the C.N.O. line

But the good Lord knows the truth

Just like it

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