The Ride

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[00:12.42] Well, I was thumbin' from Montgomery [00:15.15] I had my guitar on my back [00:18.25] When a stranger stopped beside me in an antique Cadillac [00:22.88] He was dressed like 1950 [00:25.97] Half drunk and hollow-eyed [00:28.66] He said, "It's a long walk to Nashville [00:31.17] Would you like a ride, son?" [00:33.26] [00:40.46] And I sat down in the front seat, he turned on the radio [00:45.72] And them sad old songs comin' out of them speakers [00:48.81] Was solid country gold [00:51.75] Then I noticed the stranger was ghost-white pale [00:54.54] When he asked me for a light [00:57.28] And I knew there was something strange about this ride [01:02.55] He said, "Drifter, can ya make folks cry when you play and sing? [01:08.59] Have you paid your dues, can you moan the blues? [01:11.62] Can you bend them guitar strings?" [01:14.39] He said, "Boy, can you make folks feel what you feel inside? [01:19.94] 'Cause if you're big star bound let me warn ya, it's a long, hard ride" [01:24.38] [01:31.68] Then he cried just south of Nashville [01:34.65] And he turned that car around [01:37.03] He said, "This is where you get off, boy [01:40.57] 'Cause I'm goin' back to Alabam'" [01:43.87] As I stepped out of that Cadillac [01:46.85] I said, "Mister, many thanks" [01:49.66] He said, "You don't have to call me Mister, Mister [01:52.36] The whole world called me Hank" [01:54.65] He said, "Drifter, can ya make folks cry when you play and sing? [02:00.56] Have you paid your dues, can you moan the blues? [02:03.42] Can you bend them guitar strings?" [02:06.09] He said, "Boy, can you make folks feel what you feel inside? [02:11.73] 'Cause if you're big star bound let me warn ya, it's a long, hard ride" [02:17.75] He said, "Drifter, can ya make folks cry when you play and sing? [02:23.34] Have you paid your dues, can you moan the blues? [02:26.48] Can you bend them guitar strings?" [02:28.84] He said, "Boy, can you make folks feel what you feel inside? [02:34.52] 'Cause if you're big star bound let me warn ya, it's a long, hard ride" [02:40.34] If you're big star bound let me warn ya, it's a long, hard ride [02:46.11] You know you got a lot of competition out there [02:48.28] Now the sound, it ain't like it was in the '50s when I was here [02:52.27] And then you got Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson [02:55.82] You got Clarke and Billy Joe Shaver and David Allan Coe [03:01.23] And you even got my son [03:03.33]