The Ride

Well, I was thumbin' from Montgomery

I had my guitar on my back

When a stranger stopped beside me in an antique Cadillac

He was dressed like 1950

Half-drunk and hollow-eyed

He said, "It's a long walk to Nashville

Would you like a ride, son?"

I sat down in the front seat, he turned on the radio

And them sad old songs comin' out of them speakers was solid country gold

Then I noticed the stranger was ghost-white pale

When he asked me for a light

And I knew there was somethin' strange about this ride

He said, "Drifter, can ya make folks cry when you play and sing?

Have you paid your dues, can you moan the blues?

Can you bend them guitar strings?"

He said, "Boy, can you make folks feel what you feel inside?

'Cause if you're big-star bound, let me warn ya, it's a long, hard ride"

Then he cried just south of Nashville

And he turned that car around

He said, "This is where you get off, boy

'Cause I'm goin' back to Alabam'"

As I stepped out of that Cadillac

I said, "Mister, many thanks"

He said, "You don't have to call me Mister, Mister

The whole world called me Hank"

He said, "Drifter, can ya make folks cry when you play and sing?

Have you paid your dues, can you moan the blues?

Can you bend them guitar strings?"

He said, "Boy, can you make folks feel what you feel inside?

'Cause if you're big-star bound, let me warn ya, it's a long, hard ride"

He said, "Drifter, can ya make folks cry when you play and sing?

Have you paid your dues, can you moan the blues?

Can you bend them guitar strings?"

He said, "Boy, can you make folks feel what you feel inside?

'Cause if you're big-star bound, let me warn ya, it's a long, hard ride

If you're big-star bound, let me warn ya, it's a long, hard ride

"You know, you gotta lot of competition out there now, son

It ain't like it was in the 50s when I was here

I mean, you got Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson, Guy Clark, and Billy Joe Shaver

And David Allen Coe

And you even got my son"