The Ballad of Forty Dollars Songtext

von The Highwaymen

The man who preached the funeral said it really was a simple way to die,
He lay down to rest one afternoon and never opened up his eyes.
They hired me and Fred and Joe to dig the grave and carry up some chairs,
They took us 7 hours and I guess we must have drunk a case of beer.

Well, I guess I ought to go and watch them put him down, but I don't own a suit,
And anyway when they start talking about the fire in Hell, I get spooked,
So let's just sit here in the truck and act like we don't know him when they pass,
Anyway, when they're all through, we got to go to work and mow the grass.

Here they come and who's that riding in that big old shiny limousine,
Look at all that chrome, I do believe that that's the sharpest thing I've seen,
That must belong to his rich uncle, someone said he owned a big old farm.
When they get parked, let's mosey down and look it over, that won't do no harm.

That must be the widow in the car, and won't you take a look at that,
That sure is a pretty dress, you know some women do look good in black,
He's not even in the ground and they tell me his truck is up for sale,
They say she took it pretty hard, but you can't tell too much behind the veil.

Listen, ain't that pretty when the bugler plays the military TAPS
I think that when he's in the war, they always hide and play a song like that,
Here we are and there he goes, and I guess that you might call it our bad luck,
I hope he rests in peace, but the trouble is, the fella owes us forty bucks!