[00:36.72]The old man was sitting on the tailgate of a '62 Ford flatbed
[00:41.38]Picking on an old guitar,
[00:42.60]he looked at me and said, "The engine's dead"
[00:46.16]"It was a good run son", as he strummed a melancholy chord "
[00:50.24]"Now I've got nothing but time to kill until the coming of the Lord" "
[00:54.92]
[00:57.80]Well he played me a few songs, one about a Randall knife
[01:02.29]One about a train, one about the pain of losing the love of his life
[01:06.68]He took a puff of that cigarette,
[01:08.60]blew a breath of smoke that could smother
[01:11.08]He said, "They always said these would kill me,
[01:13.30]and they did" then he laughed, and he lit another
[01:16.34]
[01:18.29]He said "I hear that you write songs, boy,
[01:20.62]play me one that I might know"
[01:22.43]So I sang him my latest greatest hit, a number one on MusicRow
[01:27.32]He stopped me before I could finish the verse,
[01:29.73]said, "I think I've heard enough of that
[01:31.96]When you've heard one, you've heard 'em all",
[01:33.97]with a grimace of a grin he took his old guitar back
[01:37.25]
[01:38.51]He said, "I guess that's alright if that's all you've got to give
[01:43.22]If that's all you've got to say, in this one life you've got to live
[01:47.61]There's no meaning in your melody, so predictable and weak
[01:52.34]Wasted words and shallow rhymes,
[01:54.75]I'd rather hear a woman cuss me a blue streak"
[01:57.77]
[01:59.79]"You see, the pencil to the pad is like the bullet to the gun"
[02:03.62]The pen is mightier than the sword
[02:05.81]if the words are forged from fire from the sun
[02:08.64]Yet some do it for the fame, the fun, the money and all the glory
[02:13.12]Yet some do it for their weary soul wont rest
[02:15.86]until they tell their story"
[02:18.47]
[02:20.47]"You gotta make 'em feel what you feel, "
[02:22.54]help 'em dream a dream and make 'em wonder
[02:24.89]It's like catch lightning in a bottle,
[02:26.96]make 'em smell the rain and hear the thunder
[02:29.84]Let 'em taste the tears of joy
[02:32.21]or the bittersweet taste of sin
[02:34.48]Find the passion in a four letter word or a Sunday morning Amen"
[02:39.16]
[02:41.36]And then flicked his ashes and he pointed at my heart
[02:45.90]Said, "If you're searching for solid gold,
[02:48.31]that'd be a real good place to start
[02:50.74]Let the words speak for themselves,
[02:53.35]tell the truth, right or wrong
[02:55.56]Bare your soul for all to see,
[02:58.89]all for the sake of the song"