Johnny Cash – Old Doc Brown lyrics

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 hitchin' post at the kerb below
To advertise his wares
He nailed a little sign that read
"Doc Brown has moved upstairs"

And one day he didn't answer
When they knocked upon his door
Old Doc Brown was layin' 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

'Cept Jones an undertaker
He did mighty well
Donated 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 hitchin' 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 trimmin's of paint
There ain't nothin' left but Doc's own sign
And that's gettin' pretty faint

But you can still see that old hitchin' post
As if in answer to our prayers
Mutually tellin' the whole wide world
Doc Brown has moved upstairs