Old Man With a Hard Hat

I saw an old man with a hard hat on Walkin' down the road as the sky turned dawn. I said, "Howdy Bub, where you headed to?" He said, "Don't much matter - just west will do. I been roughneckin' seems like all my days - Got to thinkin' 'bout how little it pays. Then I thought hard about this drizzlin' rain - Whether the sun would ever come again. An' then I remembered last summer's heat With the oil soaked boots that ruined your feet Well, I broke my glasses and swore THAT"S IT ! Stormed off the floor and fell in the mud pit. I got back on dry land, drippin' and soaked The young rascals just laughed, pointed and joked. Well, I just shrugged and said 'send me my pay' Hiked up my britches and went on my way." I said,"Well, Friend. have you figgered it out Are you gonna make money or do without ?" He said,"Yessir, there's somethin' I'll espouse, Play the piano in a bawdy house." Well sir, I laughed so hard the tears ran down This mudsoaked roughneck was surely some clown I let him out when it came to my stop He told me his name - he looked more like "Pop" Years later I saw that name in newsprint In the Obit section - his life was spent. Seems he was famous, jazz played at its best Got his start in a whorehouse, somewhere out west All I could see was that muddy roughneck Leavin' that rig headed west sure as heck Mudpit to cathouse ain't a new story, But it's a long road from cathouse to glory April, 2013 Rhyme AABB