Coward of the County
Everyone considered himThe coward of the countyHe'd never stood one single timeTo prove the county wrongHis mama named him TommyBut folks just called him yellowSomething always told meThey were reading Tommy wrong
He was only ten years oldWhen his daddy died in prisonI looked after Tommy'Cause he was my brother's sonI still recall the final wordsMy brother said to TommySon my life is overBut yours has just begun
Promise me, sonNot to do the things I've doneWalk away from trouble if you canNow it don't mean you're weakIf you turn the other cheekAnd I hope you're old enough to understandSon, you don't have to fight to be a man
There's someone for everyoneAnd Tommy's love was BeckyIn her arms he didn't haveTo prove he was a manOne day while he was workingThe Gatlin boys came callingThey took turns at BeckyN'there was three of themTommy opened up the doorAnd saw Becky cryingThe torn dress, the shattered lookWas more than he could standHe reached above the fireplaceTook down his daddy's pictureAs his tears fell on his daddy's faceI heard these words again
Promise me, sonNot to do the things I've doneWalk away from trouble if you canNow it don't mean you're weakIf you turn the other cheekAnd I hope you're old enough to understandSon, you don't have to fight to be a man
The Gatlin boys just laughed at himWhen he walked into the barroomOne of them got upAnd met him half way cross the floorTommy turned around they saidHey look, old yeller's leavin'You could've heard a pin dropWhen Tommy stopped and locked the door
Twenty years of crawlingWas bottled up inside himHe wasn't holding nothing backHe let 'em have it allTommy left the bar roomNot a Gatlin boy was standingHe said, This one's for BeckyAs he watched the last one fallN' I heard him say
I promised you, DadNot to do the things you've doneI walk away from trouble when I canNow please don't think I'm weakI didn't turn the other cheekPapa, I should hope you understandSometimes you gotta fightWhen you're a man
Everyone considered himThe coward of the county