His picture was in all the papers, they said that a legend had passed
The late evening news did a special report, they swore that his memory would last
They're playing his records all weekend, praising the life that he led
Nashville is rough on the liver, but she surely speaks well of the dead
The wife that they interviewed crying, is the same one who left him last fall
And the record producer who called him a hero, is the one who wouldn't answer his calls
And the ladies they sit over coffee, bragging about sharing his bed
They didn't want him around when he's living, but he's sure a good friend when he's dead
They observed 20 seconds of silence, at the Opry on Saturday night
And they're searching the bars and the basements, for some souvenir of his life
They're planning a book for September, showing his plain country roots
And they're buying the rights to the movie, and the Hall of Fame's getting his boots
At the funeral somebody recited a poem, that told how he'd suffered and bled
Yeah, Nashville is rough on the liver, but she really speaks well of the dead
Yeah, Nashville is rough on the liver, but she really speaks well, really is good
Really does right by the dead