He made a little money in cattle
He made a little more in feed
He made a lot of money in real estate
He made a little more in seed.
He made so damn much money
He had more than he'd ever need,
And all the while he never cracked a smile
he never ever did a good deed.
He threw nickels around like a shot put
On a cold and windy day
He always had time for work
He never had time for play
Everybody's good at sumpin'
Makin' money was his game
I don't have to tell you anything more
If you live here, you know his name.
He ended up with a hotel on a hill
That had a nice little bar and grill.
That's where I'd be sittin'--every night,
And I'd be there of my own free will.
I put money into his pocket
That I took right outta mine.
I imagined he'd be up till all hours of the night
Countin' my quarters, nickels and dimes.
But then one New Year's Eve,
along about 11 o'clock
The folks in our humble little burg
were given quite a shock.
The country band took a break for a smoke,
A rumor started, people thought it was a joke.
Pretty soon it spread all around.
The richest man in town was gonna buy a round.
Now I've never seen Haley's Comet,
and I've never seen a UFO
But what I seen that night was an awesome sight
At least as far as strangeness goes.
The old man came down from his house on the hill
And appeared without warning at the bar
He said "This round's on me" and set off a stampede
That resounded near and far.
They came to the bar from the country,
They came from miles around,
People called their kin, you could hardly get in
The line stretched clear out of town
The crossed the Old Covered Bridge
By car, by horse and by foot.
They weren't going to miss the only chance in their lives
To get a free drink from the old coot.
The bartenders worked like crazy
To pour everybody a drink.
I sat there taking the whole scene in--
And finally it made me think:
On this, a night of new beginnings,
when we all forgive what's past,
both the errors and the mortal sinnings
and the failures of the year past
It brings a tear to your eye--it made ME cry—
It almost made me choke, 'cause I was nearly broke
It was a touching scene to see a guy so mean
Open wide the doors to his bar.
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