When Good Ol' Boys Go Bad

Old Clarence was a corn-fed Sunday school teacher
At the Cheephill Church of Christ
A God-fearing, fence-clearing, hay-slinging
Hymn-singing backbreaker all of his life
Came in early one night, found his pretty wife
In the arms of another man
There's hell to pay when a good ol' boy goes bad

In a smoke-filled late-night club by the river
Sat a stranger dealing five-card stud
He was a big-talking, fast-walking, fly-by-nighter
There to take the money and run
They caught the fella cheatin' so they set him up a meetin'
With his maker in the Promised Land
Nobody sees a thing when a good ol' boy goes bad

The Good Book goes out the window
When the gloves go to the floor
His give-a-damn-to-be-a-righteous-man
Don't give a damn no more
Under that blue collar
There's a big ol' long red path
That hides the truth, but it bleeds through
When a good ol' boy goes bad

Now old man Taylor was a fourth-generation
Crop-growin' son-of-a-gun
One dry summer Uncle Sam come a-runnin'
Wantin' money but there wasn't none
He put a crop in the holler, when night came he watered
By fall he had the cold hard cash
When times get hard sometimes a good ol' boy goes bad

The Good Book goes out the window
When the gloves go to the floor
His give-a-damn-to-be-a-righteous-man
Don't give a damn no more
Under that blue collar
There's a big ol' long red path
That hides the truth, but it bleeds through
When a good ol' boy goes bad

The Good Book goes out the window
When the gloves go to the floor
His give-a-damn-to-be-a-righteous-man
Don't give a damn no more
Under that blue collar
There's a big ol' long red path
That hides the truth, but it bleeds through
When a good ol' boy goes bad

It hides the truth, but it bleeds through
When a good ol' boy goes bad