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
Copyright © Larry Bradfield | Year Posted 2016
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