Reverend Mr. Black

(album: 18 Yellow Roses & 11 Other Hits - 1963)

He rode easy in the saddle
He was tall and lean
And at first you'd thought nothing
But a streak of mean
Could make any man
Look so down right strong
But one look in his eyes
And you knowed you was wrong

He was a mountain of a man
And I want you to know
He could preach hot hell
Or freezing snow
He carried a Bible
In a canvas sack
And folks just called him
The Reverend Mr. Black

He was poor as a beggar
But he rode like a king
Sometimes in the evening
I could hear him sing

I gotta walk that lonesome valley
I got to walk it by myself
Yeah nobody else can walk it for me
I got to walk it by myself

If ever I could have thought
This man in black
Was soft and had any yellow up his back
I gave that notion up the day
A lumberjack came in
And it wasn't to pray

Yeah, he kicked open the meeting house door
And he cussed everybody up and down the floor
Then, when things got quiet in the place
He walked up and cusses in the preacher's face

He hit that Reverend like a kick of a mule
And to my way of thinking
It took a real fool
To turn the other face to that lumber jack
But that's what he did, The Reverend Mr. Black

He stood like a rock
A man among men
And he let that lumberjack hit him again
And then with a voice as quiet as could be
He cut him down like a big oak tree
When he said

You got to walk that lonesome valley
You got to walk it by yourself
Oh nobody else can walk it for you
You got to walk it by yourself

Now it's been many years
Since we had to part
And I guess I learned
His ways by heart
I can still hear his sermon's ring
Down in the valley where he used to sing

I followed him, yes, sir
And I don't regret it
And I hope I will always be a credit to his memory
Cause I want you to understand
The Reverend Mr. Black was my old man

You got to walk that lonesome valley
You got to walk it by yourself
Oh nobody else can walk it for you
You got to walk it by yourself

You got to walk that lonesome valley
You got to walk it by yourself
Oh nobody else can walk it for you
You got to walk it by yourself