Reverend Mr. Black

He rode easy in the saddle, he was tall and lean At first you thought nothing but a streak of mean Could make a man look so downright strong But one look in his eyes and you knowed you was wrong He was a mountain of a man And I want you to know he could preach hot hell or freezin' snow He carried a Bible in a canvas sack And folks just called him The Reverend Mr. Black He was poor as a beggar But he rode like a king Sometimes in the evening I could hear him sing "I got to walk that lonesome valley I got to walk it by myself Oh, nobody else 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 day A lumberjack came in and it wasn't to pray Yeah, he kicked open the meeting house door And he cussed everybody up and down the floor And then when things got quiet in 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 thinkin' it took a pure fool To turn the other cheek to that lumberjack But that's what he did, The Reverend Mr. Black He stood like a rock, a man among men Then 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 Oh, nobody else can walk it for you You've got to walk it by yourself" It's been many years since we had to part And I guess I learned his ways by heart I can still hear his sermons ring Down in the valley where he used to sing I followed him, "Yes, sir", and I don't regret it Hope that I'll always be a credit to his memory 'Cause I want you to understand The Reverend Mr. Black was my old man You've got to walk that lonesome valley You've got to walk it by yourself Oh, nobody else can walk it for you You've got to walk it by yourself You've got to walk that lonesome valley You've got to walk it by yourself Oh, nobody else can walk it for you You've got to walk it by yourself