Well, in 1950, I took a little nip
along with Mr. Williams on the way to Mississippi.
We was stacked 8 deep in a Packard limousine
and we met this promoter in the town of New Orleans.
Now, the man told daddy that he had what it took
and he liked the way he sang and he liked the way he shook.
He said pretty soon he'd make us all rich
and we started believing that fat sum bitch.
Daddy told the man: "If you wanna make some dough,
take a little money and book me on a show".
And we played them dates and we filled the places well
but Hank he'd done blowed the profits all to hell.
'Cause he'd run through a 10 and he'd run through a 20
and he'd run through a 100 just as fast as it could go.
Like a big dose of sauce to a little bitty fella,
he'd spend a 1000 dollars on a 100 dollar show.
Hank looked at me with a funny looking grin,
said: "I've been to the Opry and I'm going back again".
We met the owner in a little office there
and a big fat fella with some artificial hair.
He told Hank he wanted half of everything he made
or he'd have to tell Audrey 'bout some women Hank had laid.
And you told daddy he'd better get smart,
get rid of them fellas and make a new start.
And he fired my ass and he fired Jerry Rivers
and he fired everybody just as hard as he could go.
He fired old Cedric and he fired Sammy Pruitt
and he fired some people that he didn't even know.
Well, every song he made it went to number one,
y'all was working like hell and you was having fun.
We was riding every day and playing every night
and every 20 minutes some of us had a fight.
Now, daddy he was making money hand over fist
and y'all was getting screwed but you wasn't getting kissed.
Yeah, I told him to pass a little bit around
but he said he'd rather send it to his folks in Alabama.
So, he fired your ass and he fired Jerry Rivers
and he fired everybody just as hard as he could go.
He fired old Cedric and he fired Sammy Pruitt
and he fired some people that he didn't even know.
Now, the owner of the Opry, he's a doing pretty good,
he's got a music company that they call Cedarwood.
And Hank played nothing but sold out halls
and I was pumping gas in greasy overalls.
'Cause he fired my ass and he fired Jerry Rivers
and he fired everybody just as hard as he could go.
He fired old Cedric and he fired Sammy Pruitt
and he fired some people that he didn't even know
Hank run through a 50 and he'd run through a 100
and he'd run through a 1000 just as hard as he could go.
Buying Cadillac coots, paying double alimony
and he fired some people that he didn't even know.
N.C.
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