Johnny Cash
"Old Doc Brown" lyrics

Old Doc Brown

He was just an old country doctor
In a little country town
Fame and fortune had passed him by
Though we never saw him frown

As day by day in his kindly way
He'd serve us one and all
Many a patient forgot to pay
Although Doc's fees were small

Though he needed his dimes and there were times
That he'd receive a fee
He'd pass it onto some poor soul
That needed it worse than he

He had to sell his furniture
Couldn't pay his office rent
So to a dusty room over a livery stable
Doc Brown and his satchel went

And on the hitching post at the kerb below
To advertise his wares
He nailed a little sign that read
Doc Brown has moved upstairs

Then one day he didn't answer
When they knocked upon his door
Old Doc Brown was laying down
But his soul was no more

They found him there in that old black suit
On his face was a smile of content
But all the money they could find on him
Was a quarter and a copper cent

So they opened up his ledger and what they saw
Gave their hearts a pull
Beside each debtor's name
Old Doc had write these words
Paid in full

Old Doc should had a funeral
Fine enough for a king
It's a ghastly joke our town was broke
And no one could give a thing

Except Jones an undertaker
He did mighty well
Donating an old iron casket
He had never been able to sell

And the funeral procession it wasn't much
For grace and pomp and the style
But those wagon loads of mourners
They stretched out for more than a mile

We wanted to give him a monument
We kinda figured we owed him one
Cause he made our town a better place
For all the good he'd done

We pulled up that old hitching post
Where Doc had nailed a sign
We'd painted it white and to all of us
It certainly did look fine

Now the rains and the snows have washed away
Our white trimming's of paint
There ain't nothing left but Doc's own sign
And that's getting pretty faint

But you can still see that old hitching post
As if in answer to our prayers
Mutely telling the whole wide world
Doc Brown has moved upstairs