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
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'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 workin'
The
Gatlin boys came callin'
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 pic ture
As his tears fell on his daddy's face,
he heard these words again
Promise me,
not to do the things I've done
Walk away from trouble if you can
Now 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 leavin'
But you could have heard a pin drop
When
Tommy stopped and locked the door
Twenty years of crawlin'
Was bottled up inside him
He wasn't holdin' nothin' back
He let him have it all
When
Tommy left the bar room
Not a
Gatlin' boy was standin'
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.