Chords for Old Doc Brown by Smiley Bates

_ _ _ [Eb] _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ [Ab] _ _ _ _
_ _ [F] _ _ [Ab] _ He was just an old country doctor [C] _ [Db] in a little Kentucky town.
_ _ _ _ [Eb] _ Fame and fortune had passed him by, _ _ [Ab] but we never saw him frown.
_ _ [F] _ _ [Ab] _ _
As day by day in his timely way [Db] _ he helped us one and [Ab] all.
_ _ _ [Eb] _
Many a patient forgot to pay, _ [Ab] although doc's fees were small.
_ _ _ _ Though he needed his dimes, there was times _ [Db] that he'd receive a fee.
_ _ _ [Eb] He'd pass it on to some poor soul that he did it worse [Ab] than he. _
_ _ _ _ [Fm] _ _ _ [Ab]
Then the Depression hit our little town and [Db] _
drained each nigger purse,
_ _ _ [Eb] _
and the scanty income of old Doc Brown just [Ab] went from bad to worse. _ _ _ _ _ _
He had to sell all of his furniture [Db] while he couldn't even pay his office rent.
_ _ [Eb] _
So to a dusty room over a livery stable, _ [Ab] Doc Brown and his sacks of wet. _ _ _ _ _
On the hitching post below to [Db] _
advertise his wares,
_ _ _ [Eb] he nailed a little sign that read, _ Doc Brown [Ab] has moved upstairs. _ _ _ _ _
There he went on helping folks, _ _ [Db] _
and his heart was just pure gold.
_ _ [Eb] _
But anyone with eyes could see _ [Ab] that Doc was getting old. _ _ _ _ _ _
Then one day he didn't even answer _ [Db] when they knocked upon his door.
_ _ _ _ [Eb] An old Doc Brown was a-lying down, but [Ab] his soul was no more. _ _ _ _ _ _
They found him there in that old black suit.
_ [Db] _
On his face was a smile of contempt,
_ _ [Eb] _
but all the money they could find on him was [Ab] a quarter and a half a cent.
_ _ _ _ So they opened up his legs, _ _ _ [Db] and what they saw gave their hearts a pull.
_ _ [Eb] _ _
Beside each debtor's name, old Doc had written these [Ab] words, _
_ _ _ _ [Fm] _ _ [Ab] _
It looked like the potter's spill for Doc.
_ [Db] _
That caused us some alarm.
_ _ _ [Eb] Till someone member of the family graveyard, _ _ [Ab] out on the Simmons spot, _ _ _ _ _
old Doc had brought six of their children, _ [Db] and Simmons was a grateful guy.
_ _ _ _ [Eb] _
He said old Doc has been like one of the family, _ [Ab] so you can let him sleep with us. _ _ _ _
Old Doc should have had a funeral, [Fm] _ _ [Db] _
filed him off for a king.
_ _ _ [Eb] _
It's a ghastly joke that our town was strong, [Ab] and no one could give a fine. _ _ _ _ _ _
Except Jones the Undertaker, _ _ [Db] why he did mighty well.
_ _ _ _ [Eb] _
Donated an old iron casket, _ _ [Ab] that he'd never been able to sell.
_ _ _ And the funeral possession it wasn't much, _ _ [Db] but grace and pomp and style.
_ _ _ [Eb] But those wagon loads of mourners, _ [Ab] why they stretched out from old Lamar. _ _ _ _ _
And we breathed the prayer as we laid in bed, _ [Db] to rest beneath the sod.
_ _ _ _ [Eb] _
This man who'd earned the right to be on [Ab] speaking terms with God.
_ _ [Db] _ _ _ [Ab] His grave was covered with flowers, _ _ [Db] _ but not from the floral shops.
_ _ [Eb] _ _
Just roses and things from folks gardens, _ [Ab] and one or two dandelion tops.
For _ the depression had hit our little town hard, _ [Db] and each man carried a load.
_ _ _ [Eb] So some just take their wild bars as they [Ab] pass the long road.
_ _ _ _ _ We wanted to give him a monument, _ _ [Db] we kind of figured we owed him.
_ _ _ _ [Eb] _ Because he'd made our town a better place, [Ab] with all the goodies there. _
_ _ _ _ But monuments cost money, _ _ [Db] so we did the best we could.
_ _ _ _ [Eb] _ And on his grave we gently placed, _ [Ab] a monument of wood. _
_ _ _ _ We pulled up that old hitching post, _ where [Db] Doc had nailed his sign. _
_ _ _ [Eb] We painted it white, and to all of us, _ it [Ab] certainly did look fine. _ _
_ _ _ _ Now the rains and snows have washed away, _ [Db] all our black tunnels of pain.
_ _ _ [Eb] And there ain't nothing left but Doc's old sign, _ [Ab] and even that is getting faint. _ _
_ _ _ Still when southern breezes and blinking stars, _ _ [Db] caress our slithering town. _
_ _ [Eb] And the pale moon shines through Kentucky pines, on [Ab] the grave of old Doc Brown. _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ You can still see that old [Db] hitching post, as if an answer to our prayer.
_ _ [Eb] _ Mutely tell him the whole wide world, Doc Brown [Ab] has moved upstairs. _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ [B] _ _
_ [Eb] _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ [Ab] _ He was just an old country doctor, _ _ [Db] _ in a little Kentucky town. _