Old Doc Brown-Hank Snow

[ti:Old Doc Brown] [ar:Hank Snow] [al:The Hank Snow Anthology - 50 Classics, Vol. 3] [by:] [offset:0] [00:00.00]Old Doc Brown - Hank Snow [00:12.89]He was just an old country doctor [00:15.03]In a little Kentucky town [00:17.14]Fame and fortune had passed him by [00:19.20]But we never saw him frown [00:21.04] [00:22.18]As day by day in his kindly way [00:24.06]He served us one and all [00:25.85] [00:26.89]Many a patient forgot to pay [00:28.27]Altho' doc's fees were small [00:30.11] [00:31.23]But old doc brown didn't seem to mind [00:33.43]He didn't even send out bills [00:35.46] [00:36.14]His only ambition was to find [00:37.98]It seems sure cures for aches and ills [00:40.95] [00:42.03]Why nearly half the folks in my home town [00:44.16]Yes I'm one of them too [00:46.42]Were ushered in by old doc brown [00:48.40]When we made our first debut [00:50.05] [00:51.41]Tho' he needed his dimes and there were times [00:53.83]That he'd receive a fee [00:55.47] [00:56.40]He'd pass it on to some poor soul [00:58.16]That needed it worse than he [01:00.01] [01:01.06]But when the depression hit our town [01:03.07]And drained each meager purse [01:04.90] [01:05.44]The scanty income of old doc brown [01:07.62]Just went from bad to worse [01:09.46] [01:10.50]He had to sell all of his furniture [01:12.63]Why he couldn't even pay his office rent [01:14.93] [01:15.52]So to a dusty room over a livery stable [01:17.80]Doc brown and his practice went [01:19.85] [01:21.00]On the hitchin' post at the curb below [01:22.89]To advertise his wares [01:25.07]He nailed a little sign that read [01:27.08]'Doc brown has moved upstairs' [01:29.23] [01:30.25]There he kept on helpin' folks get well [01:32.53]And his heart was just pure gold [01:34.95] [01:35.79]But anyone with eyes could see [01:37.61]That doc was gettin' old [01:39.48] [01:40.69]And then one day he didn't even answer [01:42.56]When they knocked upon his door [01:44.06] [01:45.13]Old doc brown was a lyin' down [01:47.16]But his soul was no more [01:49.25] [01:50.27]They found him there in an old black suit [01:52.51]And on his face was a smile of content [01:54.85] [01:55.59]But all the money they could find on him [01:57.30]Was a quarter and a copper cent [01:59.35] [02:00.45]So they opened up his ledger [02:02.06]And what they saw gave their hearts a pull [02:04.55] [02:05.49]Beside each debtor's name [02:06.91]Old doc had *writ these words 'Paid in full' [02:10.07] [02:10.80]It looked like the potter's field for doc [02:13.53]That caused us some alarm [02:15.03] [02:16.00]'Til someone 'membered the family graveyard [02:18.04]Out on the simmons farm [02:19.59] [02:20.54]Old doc had brought six of their kids [02:22.51]And simmons was a grateful cuss [02:24.96] [02:25.68]He said doc's been like one of the family [02:27.69]So you can let him sleep with us [02:29.88] [02:30.89]Old doc should have had a funeral [02:32.78]Fine enough for a king [02:34.43]It's a ghastly joke that our town was broke [02:37.03]And no one could give a thing [02:39.18]'Cept jones the undertaker [02:40.61]He did mighty well [02:42.16]Donatin' an old iron casket [02:43.82]That he'd never been able to sell [02:46.00]And the funeral procession it wasn't much [02:48.74]For grace and pomp and style [02:50.68] [02:51.27]But those wagon loads of mourners [02:52.96]They stretched out for more than a mile [02:55.22] [02:56.44]And we breathed a prayer as we laid him there [02:58.59]To rest beneath the sod [03:00.41]This man who'd earned the right [03:01.62]To be on speaking terms with god [03:04.01] [03:05.12]His grave was covered with flowers [03:06.85]But not from the floral shops [03:09.22]Just roses and things from folks' garden [03:11.56]And one or two dandelion pots [03:13.99] [03:15.00]For the depression had hit our little town hard [03:17.24]And each man carried a load [03:19.11] [03:20.05]So some just picked the wildflowers [03:21.89]As they passed along the road [03:23.71] [03:24.74]We wanted to give him a monument [03:26.45]Kinda figured we owed him one [03:28.33] [03:28.91]'Cause he'd made our town a better place [03:31.02]For all the good he'd done [03:32.48] [03:33.46]But monuments cost money [03:34.99]So we did the best we could [03:36.99] [03:37.80]And on his grave we gently placed [03:39.53]A monument of wood [03:41.04] [03:42.00]We pulled up that old hitchin' post [03:43.99]Where doc had nailed his sign [03:45.43]And we painted it white and to all of us [03:48.29]It certainly did look fine [03:49.61] [03:50.64]Now the rains and snow has washed away [03:52.74]Our white trimmings of paint [03:54.45] [03:54.98]And there ain't nothin' left but doc's own sign [03:57.10]And that is gettin' faint [03:59.07] [04:00.03]Still when southern breezes and flickering stars [04:02.64]Caress our sleeping town [04:04.46] [04:04.97]And the pale moon shines through Kentucky pines [04:07.74]On the grave of old doc brown [04:09.59] [04:10.21]You can still see that old hitchin' post [04:12.51]As if an answer to our prayers [04:14.82]Mutely telling the whole wide world [04:17.43]Doc brown has moved up stairs