Reverend Mr. Black

Artists: The Kingston Trio (peak Billboard position # 8 in 1963)
Words and Music by Billy Edd Wheeler, Jed Peters, Jerry Lieber, and Mike Stoller


He rode easy in the saddle, he was tall and lean
And at first ya thought nothin' but a streak of mean
Could make a man look so downright strong
But one look in his eyes and ya knowed ya was wrong
He was a mountain of a man and I want ya to know
He could preach hot hell in the freezin' snow
He carried a bible in a canvas sack
The folks just called him the Reverend Mr. Black
He was poor as a beggar but he rode like a king
And sometimes in the evenin' I could hear him sing

I got to walk that lonesome valley
I got to walk it by myself
for nobody else can walk it for me
I got to walk it by myself.

If ever I could have thought this man in black
Was soft , had any yellow up his back
I gave that notion up the day
A lumberjack came in and a-wasn't a-prayin'
Yeah, he kicked open the meetin'house door
And he cussed everybody up and down the floor
And then when things got quiet in the place
He walked up and cussed in the preacher's face.
He hit that reverend like the kick of a mule
And to my way of thinkin' it took a pure fool
To turn the other cheek to that lumberjack
But that's what he did, the Reverend Mr. Black.
He stood like a rock, a man among men
Then he let that lumberjack hit him again
And then with a voice as kind as could be
He cut him down like a big oak tree when he said

You got to walk that lonesome valley
You got to walk it by yourself
for nobody else can walk it for you
You got to walk it by yourself.

It's been many years since we had to part
And I guess I learned his ways by heart
I can still hear his sermons ring down in the valley where he used to sing
I followed him, yes sir, and I don't regret it
Hope that I'll always be a credit to his memory
˜cause I want ya to understand
The Reverend Mr. Black was my old man

You got to walk that lonesome valley
You got to walk it by yourself
for nobody else can walk it for you
You got to walk it by yourself.

You got to walk that lonesome valley
FADE: You got to walk it by yourself
for nobody

Transcribed by Ronald E. Hontz
ronhontz@worldnet.att.net