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Everyone considered him the coward of the county --
he'd never stood one single time to prove the county wrong.
his mama named him tommy, but folks just called him yellow,
He was only ten years old when his daddy died in prison;
i looked after tommy, 'cause he was my brother's son.
i still recall the final words my brother said to tommy,
"son my life is over, but yours has just begun". Chorus:
"promise me, son, not to do the things i've done --
walk away from trouble if you can. it won't mean you're weak if you turn the
other cheek i hope you're old enough to understand,
son, you don't have to fight to be a man." There's someone for everyone, and tommy's
love was becky. in her arms he didn't have to prove he was
a man. one day while he was working, the gatlin boys
came calling -- they took turns at becky, n'there was three
of them). Tommy opened up the door, and saw becky crying.
the torn dress, the shattered look was more than he could stand.
he reached above the fireplace, and took down his daddy's picture.
as his tears fell on his daddy's face, he heard these words again:
Repeat chorus The gatlin boys just laughed at him when he
walked into the barroom; one of them got up and met him half way cross
the floor. when tommy turned around they said, "hey look!
old yeller's leaving," but you could've heard a pin drop when tommy
stopped and locked the door. Twenty years of crawling were bottled up inside
him. he wasn't holding nothing back -- he let 'em
have it all. when tommy left the bar room, not a gatlin
boy was standing. he said, "this one's for becky, as he watched
the last one fall. (n' i heard him say,)
"i promised you, dad, not to do the things you've done
i walk away from trouble when i can now please don't think i'm weak, i didn't
turn the other cheek, and papa, i should hope you understand --
sometimes you gotta fight when you're a man". Everyone considered him the coward of the
county.