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 But 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 my 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 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 his tears fell on his daddy's face he heard these words again Promise my 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 The Gatlin boys just laughed at him when he walked into the bar room One of them got up and 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 when Tommy stopped and locked the door Twenty years of crawling was bottled up inside him He wasn't holding nothing back, 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've done I'll 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 sure hope you understand Sometimes you gotta fight when you're a man Everyone considered him the coward of the county