Coalman Bonne
Was a fiddle playing fool
He was a backwoods rounder
And a breaker of mules
Coalman Bonner's got a wore out bow
He been playing two days
Down a new cut road
Now Coalman's little sister said
You better act right, Coalman
Daddy's going to Louisville
He'll be back tonight
He gonna get another wagon
And a good pair of mules
Oh, we gonna move to Texas
We just waiting on mules
Now Coalman's daddy
He pulled up in the yard
He said back up your lives kids
It's getting too hard
Kentucky's alright
But there's too many people
Well, just the other day
I thought I saw a church steeple
Now Coalman said daddy
Don't you worry about me
I'm gonna stay here in Kentucky
Till the day I dee
I'm wanna drink that sour mash
I'm gonna raise that mare
Yeah, I got me a woman
With a foxy red hair
We all been moving West
Since the day he got married
I'm getting off the wagon
I'm too old to be carried
I'm gonna stay in Kentucky
Where the blue grass grows
I'm gonna play it all night
Down a new cut road
Now Coalman's daddy said
"What's it all coming to
Young people these days
Are just stubborn as mules"
He can't make him go
He's too old for that
It's that damned old fiddle
And that bowler hat
Now Coalman's momma said
"Let the boy stay
Cause he's raised up solid
He can find his own way
But as for me
Honey, I'm with you
Well I always thought Kentucky
Was just passing through"
Coalman's little sister
She started in a cry
And her daddy shook his head
For the very last time
Coalman's momma said
"Somebody gotta do it
Wouldn't be no Kentucky
Less you didn't stick to it, Coalman
Coalman Bonner stood
On the porch of that cabin
Watched um all go to Texas
In a covered wagon
He pulled out his fiddle
And he rosined up his bow
And he played a little tune
Down a new cut road