John Denver — My Old Man

My old man had a rounder's soul He'd hear an old freight train Then he'd have to go Said he'd been blessed with a gypsy bone That's the reason I guessed He'd been cursed to roam Came into town back before the war Didn't even know what it was He was looking for Carried a tattered bag for his violin It was full of lots of songs The places that he'd been He talked real easy had a smiling way To pass along to you When his fiddle played Making people drop their cares and woes To hum out loud those tunes That his fiddle bowed Till the people there began to join that sound Everyone in town was laughing Singing, dancing round Like the fiddler's tune was all they heard that night As if some dream said "All the world is right" His fiddler's eye caught one beauty there She had that rollin' flowin' Golden kind of hair He played for her as if she danced alone Played his favorite songs Ones he called his own He played until she was the last to go He stopped and packed his case Said he'd take her home All the nights that passed a child was born All the years that passed That love would keep them warm All their lives they'd share a dream come true All because she danced While his fiddle tuned My old man he had a rounder's soul He'd hear an old freight train Then he'd have to go All that I recall he said when I was so young No one else could really Sing those songs he sung