Everyone considered him the coward of the county He never stood one single time to prove
the county wrong His mama named him Tommy, but folks just
called him Yellow Something always told me they were reading
Tommy wrong 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
Promise me, son, not to do the things I done Just walk away from trouble if you can
It won't mean you're weak if you turn yellow, gee 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, and there was three
of them Tommy opened up the door and saw his 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 the tears fell on his daddy's face, he
heard these words again Promise me, son, not to do the things I done
Just walk away from trouble if you can It won't mean you're weak if you turn yellow,
gee I hope you're old enough to understand Son, you don't have to fight to be a man
The Gatlin boys just laughed at him when he walked into the bar room
One of them got up, met him halfway across the floor
When Tommy turned around, they said, hey, look, old yellow's leaving
But you could have heard a pin drop, and Tommy stopped and locked the door
Twenty years had crawled, and he was bottled up inside
He wasn't holding nothing back, yeah, he let them 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
And I heard him say, I promised your dad not to do the things you done
I walk away from trouble when I can Now please don't think I'm weak, I didn't turn yellow, gee
And Papa, I sure hope you understand Sometimes you gotta fight when you're a man
Everyone considered him the coward of the county
© BF-WATCH TV 2021