Reverend Mr Black    (video)

 

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1. He rode easy in the saddle, he was tall and lean,

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    and at first you'd a-thought nothing but a streak of mean

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    could make a man look so down right strong,

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    but one look in his eyes and you knowed you was wrong.

 

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2. He was a mountain of a man, and I want you to know.

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    he could preach hot hell or freezin' snow.

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    He carried a Bible in a canvas sack,

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    and folks just called him the Reverend Mr. Black.

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    He was poor as a beggar, but he rode like a king.

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    sometimes in the evening, I could hear him sing :

 

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I gotta walk that lonesome valley, I got to walk it by myself,

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oh, nobody else can walk it for me, I got to walk it by myself.

 

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3. If ever I could have thought this man in black

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    was soft and had any yellow up his back,

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    I gave that notion up the day,

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    a lumberjack came in and it wasn't to pray.

 

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4. Yeah, he kicked open the meeting house door,

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    and he cussed everybody up and down the floor.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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    Then, when things got quiet in the place,

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    he walked up and cussed in the preacher's face.

 

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5. He hit that Reverend like the kick of a mule,

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    and to my way of thinkin' it took a real fool

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    to turn the other cheek to that lumber jack,

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    but that's what he did, the Reverend Mr. Black.

 

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6. He stood like a rock, a man among men

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    then he let that lumberjack hit him again,

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    and then with a voice as quiet as could be,

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    he cut him down like a big oak tree when he said :

 

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You gotta walk that lonesome valley, you got to walk it by yourself,

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oh nobody else can walk it for you, you got to walk it by yourself.

 

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7. It's been many years since we had to part

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    and I guess I learned his ways by heart.

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    I can still hear his sermons ring,

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    down in the valley where he used to sing.

 

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8. I followed him, yes, sir, and I don't regret it

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    and I hope I will always be a credit

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    to his memory, 'cause I want you to understand.

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    the Reverend Mr. Black was my old man !

 

+ last CHORUS….             (The Kingston Trio)