Write Me a Ballad

High on a hill, deep in a sea, where it is I fall, just bury me. Raise no stone to mark my spot write me a ballad so I'll not be forgot. Say I was a scallywag. Say I was a brute. Say I was good lookin' in my birthday suit. Say I loved the women, say they loved me back. Say my eyes were blue and my hair was black. Say I didn't live this long, say I died a youth. Write for me a ballad it doesn't have to be the truth. Make my ballad a joyful song so they'll sing of me for ages long. Remember me; name or face write me a ballad in either case. Say I drove the husbands and the preachers mad. Say I drank up all the beer, before a drop went bad. Say the law could not catch me, say I ran too fast. Say I kissed the ladies, before I made my dash. Say I was a rounder and I was forever on the sly. Write a ballad about me, even if it is a lie. Put my ballad to a tune sing it from July to June. Sing it to every drunk and bum too drunk to sing they can only hum. Don't say I was a gentleman. Don't say I loved my wife.. Don't say I helped my neighbors, almost all my life. Don't let them know how hard I work,. don't let them know I cry. Don't let them know I love the Lord until the day I die. Don't say I went to church or I had a heart of gold. Don't write a ballad about me, the truth is better told.