He rode easy in the saddle
He was tall and lean
And you'd have thought nothing
But a streak of mean
Could make a man look so downright strong
But one look in his eyes
And you'd know you were wrong
He was a mountain of a man
And I want you to know
He could preach hot hell
Or freezing snow
He carried a Bible
In a canvas sack
And everybody called him
The Reverend Mister Black
He was poor as a beggar
But he rode like a king
Sometimes in the evening
I could hear him sing
"I've got to walk
That lonesome valley
I've got to walk it by myself
There ain't nobody here
Can walk it for me
I got to walk it by myself"
If ever I could have thought
That this man in black
Was soft and had
Any yellow up his back
I gave that notion up the very day
A lumberjack came in
And it wasn't to pray
He kicked open
The meeting house door
And he cussed everybody
Up and down the floor
Then when things got quiet
All over the place
He walked up and cussed
In the preacher's face
He hit that Reverend
Like a kick of a mule
And to my way of thinking
It took a pure fool
To turn the other cheek to that lumberjack
But that's what he did
The Reverend Mister Black
He stood like a rock
A man among men
And he let that lumberjack
Hit him again
And then with a voice
As kind as could be
He cut him down
Like a big oak tree
When he said
"You've got to walk
That lonesome valley
You've got to walk it by yourself
There ain't nobody here
Can walk it for you
You got to walk it by yourself"
Well, it's been many years
Since we've had to part
And I guess I learned
All his ways by heart
Yes, I can still hear
His sermons ring
Down in the valley
Where he used to sing
"You've got to walk
That lonesome valley
You've got to walk it by yourself
There ain't nobody here
Can walk it for you
You got to walk it by yourself
You've got to walk
That lonesome valley
You've got to walk it by yourself
There ain't nobody here
Can walk it for you
You got to walk"