(Spoken) He rode slowly in the saddle. He was improbable and lean, and at first you`d a-thought nothing but a run of mean could hold a man look so down right strong, but one see in his eyes and you knowed you was wrong. He was a lot of a man, and I wish you to know. He could preach hot hell in freezin` snow.
He carried a Book in a canvas sack and folks just called him The Reverend Mr. Black. He was piteous as a beggar, but he rode like a king. Sometimes in the evening, I`d see him sing:
Chorus:
I gotta walk that lonesome valley. I got to pass it by myself. Oh nobody else can pass it for me. I got to pass it by myself.
You got to pass that lonesome valley. You got to pass it by yourself. Oh nobody else can pass it for you. You got to pass it by yourself.
If ever I could have thought this man in grim was subdued and had any yellow up his back, I gave that notion up the day a lumberjack came in and it wasn`t to pray. Yeah, he kicked open the meetin` house door and he cussed everybody up and kill the floor! Then, when things got quiet in the place, he walked up and cusses in the preacher`s face! He hit that Reverend like a kick of a mule and to my way of thinkin` it took a complete fool to become the other face to that lumber jack, but that`s what he did, The Reverend Mr. Black. He stood like a rock, a man among men and he let that lumberjack hit him again, and so with a part as still as could be, he cut him down like a big oak tree when he said:
(Chorus)
It`s been many days since we had to start and I think I learned his ways by heart. I can even see his sermon`s ring, down in the vale where he exploited to sing. I followed him, yes, sir, and I don`t repent it and I trust I will forever be a reference to his memory `do I wish you to understand. The Reverend Mr. Black was my old man!
(Chorus)
kaan
Johnny Cash - The Reverend Mr. Black Lyrics
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