Well I was thumbing from Montgomery.
Had my guitar on my back.
When a stranger stopped beside me
in an antique Cadillac.
He was dressed like 1950
half-drunk and hollow-eyed
He said "It's a long walk to Nashville
would you like a ride, son."
I sat down in the front seat.
He turned on the radio and them
sad old songs comin' out of them speakers
was solid country gold.
Then I noticed the stranger was ghost white pale
when he asked me for a light
And I knew there was somthin' strange about this ride.
He said "Drifter can you make folks cry
when you play and sing?
Have you paid your dues? Can you moan the blues?
Can you bend them guitar strings?"
He said "Boy can you make folks feel what you feel inside
CAuse if you're big star bound
let me warn ya' it's a long, hard ride."
Then he cried just south of Nashville
and he turned that car around.
He said "This is where you get off boy
'cause I'm goin' back to Alabam
As I stepped out of that old Cadillac
I said "Mister, many thanks."
He said "You don't have to call me Mister, Mister.
The whole world called me Hank."
'Cause if you're big star bound
let me warn ya' it's a long, hard ride."