Socrates

I was in a country band in the 1970s

One night we had a flat on the van, on the way out to Tennessee

Asked an old mechanic, name of Johnson, for some air

And everybody called him Socrates

"Hey what's goin' on?"

"Not much of nothin', how 'bout you?"

And that's the way it's done in our hometown

He could talk a stream of nonsense, just as pretty as you please

And everybody called him Socrates

He said, "Fame and fortune are easily confused, as are luck and destiny

Are you bein' loved, boys, or bein' used? Runnin' wild or bein' free?"

He said, "The answers to your questions are more questions such as these"

And everybody called him Socrates

I got to know him well, I even worked with him a while

He had an old guitar we'd pass around once in a while

I never will forget the last few words he said to me

When I finally quit old Socrates

"Do you know what you are capable of knowing?

Do your hands, son, ever touch the soil?

And do you love all that you are capable of lovin'?

And do you want me to check that oil?"

Everybody called him Socrates

Yeah, the Christians found him crazy

And the derelicts agreed

But everybody called him

Everybody called him

Everybody called him

Socrates

Yeah, yeah-yeah-yeah

Yeah, yeah

Yeah, yeah-yeah-yeah

Yeah, yeah