Tablature old doc brown - Hank Snow

          



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  Date: Mon, 22 Dec 97 11:29:02 MST

  From: ah827@rgfn.epcc.Edu (Gene L. Graham)

  Subject: OLD DOC BROWN

  

  

  OLD DOC BROWN

  (To the tune of Just A Closer Walk With Thee)

  Recorded by Hank Snow

  Written by R. E. Winsett

  

  (SPOKEN)

  He was just an old country doctor 

  In a little Kentucky town

  Fame and fortune had passed him by

  But we never saw him frown

  As day by day in his kindly way

  He served us one and all

  Many a patient forgot to pay

  Altho' doc's fees were small;

  

  But Old Doc Brown didn't seem to mind

  He didn't even send out bills

  His only ambition was to find

  It seems, sure cures for aches and ills

  Why nearly half the folks in my home town

  Yes, I'm one of them too

  Were ushered in by Old Doc Brown

  When we made our first debut;

  

  Tho' he needed his dimes and there were times

  That he'd receive a fee

  He'd pass it on to some poor soul

  That needed it worse than he

  But when the depression hit our town 

  And drained each meager purse

  The scanty income of Old Doc Brown 

  Just went from bad to worse;

  

  He had to sell all of his furniture

  Why, he couldn't even pay his office rent

  So to a dusty room over a Livery stable

  Doc Brown and his practice went

  On the hitchin' post at the curb below

  To advertise his wares

  He nailed a little sign that read

  'Doc Brown has moved upstairs';

  

  There he kept on helpin' folks get well 

  And his heart was just pure gold

  But anyone with eyes could see 

  That Doc was gettin' old

  And then one day he didn't even answer

  When they knocked upon his door

  Old Doc Brown was a-lyin' down

  But his soul - was no more;

  

  They found him there in an old black suit 

  And on his face was a smile of content

  But all the money they could find on him 

  Was a quarter and a copper cent

  So they opened up his ledger 

  And what they saw gave their hearts a pull

  Beside each debter's name 

  Old Doc had (*writ) these words, 'Paid in full';

  

  It looked like the potter's field for Doc

  That caused us some alarm

  Til someone 'membered the family graveyard 

  Out on the Simmons farm

  Old doc had brought six of their kids 

  And Simmons was a grateful cuss

  He said "Doc's been like one of the family

  So, you can let him sleep with us;"

  

  Old Doc should have had a funeral

  Fine enough for a king

  It's a ghastly joke that our town was broke 

  And no one could give a thing

  'Cept Jones, the undertaker

  He did mighty well

  Donatin' an old iron casket 

  That he'd never been able to sell;

  

  And the funeral procession, it wasn't much

  For grace and pomp and style

  But those wagonloads of mourners

  They stretched out for more than a mile

  And we breathed a prayer as we layed him there

  To rest beneath the sod

  This man who'd earned the right 

  To be on speaking terms with God;

  

  His grave was covered with flowers

  But not from the floral shops

  Just roses and things from folks' garden 

  And one or two dandelion pots

  For the depression had hit our little town hard 

  And each man carried a load

  So some just picked the wildflowers 

  As they passed along the road;

  

  We wanted to give him a monument

  Kinda figured we owed him one

  'Cause he'd made our town a better place 

  For all the good he'd done

  But monuments cost money

  So, we did the best we could

  And on his grave we gently placed 

  A monument - of wood;

  

  We pulled up that old hitchin' post

  Where Doc had nailed his sign

  And we painted it white and to all of us

  It certainly did look fine

  Now the rains and snow has washed away

  Our white trimmings of paint

  And there ain't nothin' left but Doc's own sign

  And that is gettin' faint;

  

  Still, when southern breezes and flickering stars

  Carress our sleeping town

  And the pale moon shines through Kentucky pines

  On the grave of Old Doc Brown

  You can still see that old hitchin' post

  As if an answer to our prayers

  Mutely telling the whole wide world

  'Doc Brown has moved up stairs'."

   


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 Old doc brown, de Hank snow 

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