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Well I was thumbin' from Montgomery,

had my guitar on my back,

when a stranger stopped beside me

in an antique Cadillac.

Now he was dressed like 1950,

half drunk and hollow-eyed.

Said, "It's a long walk to Nashville,

would you like a ride, son?"

Well I sat down in the front seat

and turned on the radio,

and the sad old songs comin' out of them

speakers was solid country gold.

Then I noticed the stranger was ghost-white

pale when he asked me for a light,

and I knew there was something

strange about this ride.

He said, "Drifter can ya make folks

cry when you play and sing?

Have you paid your dues,

can you moan the blues?

Can you bend them, guitar strings?"

He said, "Boy can you make folks

feel what you feel inside?

Because if you're big star bound

let me warn ya, it's a long, hard ride".

Then he cried just south of Nashville

and he turned that car around.

He said, "This is where you get off boy

I'm goin' back to Alabam".

As I stepped out of that Cadillac

I said, "Mr., many thanks"

He said, "You don't have to call me Mr., Mr.

The whole world called me Hank!

He said, "Drifter can ya make folks

cry when you play and sing?

Have you paid your dues,

can you moan the blues?

Can you bend them, guitar strings?"

He said, "Boy can you make folks

feel what you feel inside?

Because if you're big star bound

let me warn ya, it's a long, hard ride".